That alternative is likely through the old ERCO property, which is of significant historical value, but would be prohibitively expensive to preserve. It will not be cheap to tear it down, either, since it almost certainly has plenty of asbestos.

University Park Town Council Member Michael Cron should keep his insults to himself. First of all, your elitist little town needs to stay out of Riverdale Park's business and while your at it, stay out of Hyattsville's business. Secondly, if you want to improve access to Cafritz, open up Queens Chapel rd. University town center is hardly an eyesore, so, on behalf of all the people who live, own business and shop there, keep your mouth shut.

You go Neighbor... I hear that!

I question the historic value of ERCO. Truly it is an eyesore and should be removed. The history of ERCO is archived at the Aviation museum. That should be enough.

Thank you, Ms. Cunningham !

Empty store fronts and failed businesses at UTC makes it an eyesore. The same thing will happen to the Cafritz site if it is not thought out properly.

I'm wondering how serene the ACP environment is being located next to the CSX rail lines.

It seems like access between River Road and the Cafritz property would benefit the UoMd technology park as well. There are a lot of vacant sites there.

Does PG County and/or the state of Maryland play any role in facilitating development like this? I don't get that impression.

I drive to Annapolis or Silver Spring to shop at Whole Foods Market. This location would be more convenient for me.

Queensbury rd goes right over those tracks without a bridge. Who originated the bridge stipulation anyway? What the Cafritz family should do in order to coerce the local naysayers is threaten to cut down the forest and put a giant parking lot. What university park should do is transplant an endangered species onto the property and then it will be impossible to ever develop. Thousands of trees will be saved. Riverdale Park should acquire the property via eminent domain and turn it into a public park, and Hyattsville should nab the whole foods and all the rest of development and place it around Its metro stops.

The University Park police will likely be first responders in many instances to calls at Cafritz because the Riverdale Park police are rather far away, unless there is a sub-station. The traffic from virtually the only exits, as currently planned, will dump thousands upon thousands of cars onto Rt. 1, bordering University Park, making it very difficult for University Park residents to get to and from their homes.

In terms of University Town Center, it had the potential to be the beginning of something great in Hyattsville, but the owners and landlords, who were clueless about how to develop and manage a retail center, never finished developing the area along East-West Highway. I believe the reporter from The Patch, who called Mr. Cron to solicit his opinion, focused more on the term "eyesore" rather than being a failed town center - and it is definitely a failed center - from the condos, the movie theater, the Safeway, the hotel, the box store, the non-existent Hyattsville police sub-station, and of course, the dozen restaurants, of which more than half have closed, and none of which are successful (including the one which was ours, in which we lost a million dollars.) Whole Foods should consider moving their location to UTC, which is probably shovel-ready.

Wow Carol, I appreciate your explanation and I agree with you. I'm also sorry about your own personal loss associated with UTC.
I think we all really want the same thing which is to love where we live. It would be nice to see UTC doing more to fill in it's storefronts. Perhaps lowering its commercial rent until demand increases? It seems that allowing businesses to pay what they can is better than empty stores and no rent whatsoever.

This entire episode is a case study on how not to do an economic development project, from the developers to the local officials. And, we wonder why we have difficulty in attracting quality businesses to the county.

Good to hear that, unlike SOME local businesses and the politicians, American Physics cares about their surroundings. When they first built in that location, I tought it was great that they kept the trees and natural surroundings rather than just raze everything around as other businesses in that area have done. We've gotten along for years without Cafritz and we don't need them now. There's enough traffic and empty buildings, now.

to Mr. Lobb; I never said I was against development, never said the place should be Mayberry (and I remember back to the days when Riverdale Plaza was a farm, so I've been in the area a while). Responsible development is the key; as in my post, I didn't say I was against the American Physics building, in fact I said I thought it was good that they preserved their environment. However, I still say there are far too many empty buildings and areas which have had businesses that are now vacant around here; why do we need to tear down one of the few 'green' places left around Riverdale/University Park? Too, I haven't heard too many of the "powers that be" adequately address how the towns will handle the huge increase in traffic, the increase in usage of utilities, water supply, etc.; guess like everyplace else, they'll worry about that after the fact. But there I go again, being silly and trying to plan for the future....

I'm happy that the trees have remained unmolested for as long as they have. It's a miracle.

When the Cafritz project reaches the construction stage, there is no mention of infrastructure construction of schools, fire department and a police sub-station. This project will add thousands of residents and daily visitors to this area. What about the increased road noise from the numerous tractor trailers that will be restocking the Whole Foods and other venues from route 1 at all hours of the day and night. If the CSX overpass is built, there is no guarantee that the bridge will even be wide enough to safely handle the over-sized delivery trucks. How about the ability of EMS and hook and ladder trucks to traverse the limited ingress and egress points of the project? All of these things need to be addressed before a backhoe uproots the first tree on that property.