Glenarden development expected to finish in spring 2010

by Natalie McGill | Staff Writer

Developers are one step closer to building the Woodmore Towne Centre at Glenarden after the county's Planning Board approved the detailed site plan Jan. 15.

A Wegmans supermarket and Costco Wholesale will anchor the 245-acre mixed-use development featuring more than 705,000 square feet of retail, more than 24,000 square feet of office space and 108 apartments or condominiums above street-level retail. A Best Buy and PNC Bank are also planned. The project is expected to finish in spring 2010.

The Planning Board also approved 202 single family homes, 203 townhouses and 98 two-family homes to be built at the development in September 2008. Terry Richardson, executive vice president of Petrie-Ross Ventures, a project partner, said the plan will go before the District Council in a month before building permits can be released.

A 75-foot-tall, four-sided sign is planned to face drivers on I-495. Susan Lareuse, a Prince George's County Planning Department staff reviewer, said Largo's Boulevard at the Capital Centre sign that can be seen from I-495 is 80 feet tall.

During the meeting, Edward C. Gibbs Jr., attorney for Petrie-Ross Ventures and joint project partners Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corporation and Hovnanian Land Investment Group described the Wegmans as the "jewel" of the development. Gibbs said it will bring in 750 jobs and boost the county's tax base.

Suellen M. Ferguson, the city of Glenarden's attorney, listed a number of requests the City Council would like to approve in addition to the county's Planning Department approval. Among them were making sure a 3,500-square-foot community building space is painted, carpeted and equipped with a kitchenette and bathrooms. The building will house a Glenarden police substation.

Towson-based attorney Paul De Santis from the Law Office of G. Macy Nelson spoke on behalf of Glenarden residents Vivian Hicks and Douglas Haynes, who couldn't attend. De Santis said Hicks and Haynes, who live on the corner of Glenarden Parkway and 11th Street, are concerned about the noise from construction and traffic when the project completes.

"They're really looking to maintain the status quo of the neighborhood," De Santis said.

Gibbs said any issues about transportation were addressed in the preliminary site plan. Planning Board Chairman Samuel H. Parker Jr. agreed those concerns were addressed in previous hearings.

A second concern was whether to place a bridge or culvert over two Southwest Branch streams on Ruby Lockhart Drive and Evarts Drive, roads that feed into the development. A culvert is a stone or concrete arch supporting an overpass. The Planning Department and Gibbs agreed a bottomless culvert would be less expensive than maintaining a bridge.

Arthur Turner Jr., president of the Coalition of Central Prince George's Community Organizations, said residents want the Costco and Wegmans to arrive. He asked the Planning Board to consider the county's economic future.

"We can't allow things to just drag and continue, because the market of today is not going to be the market of six months from now," Turner said.

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.