Development
As urban center, New Carrollton faces uphill battle
Since 1978, the rail station at New Carrollton has been a transportation hub of increasing importance. For Prince George's County, it's the transit hub, hosting some 25 local bus routes, inter-city buses, Amtrak and MARC trains, and the Orange Line. Sometime early in the next decade, it will also be home to the Purple Line.
New Carrollton Amtrak/MARC platform. Photo by author.
But despite these advantages, the area around the station remains woefully underutilized 3 decades later.
The State of Maryland and WMATA have high hopes for the neighborhood, though. The New York Times reported Tuesday on efforts to create a new plan for transit-oriented development on 39 acres owned by Maryland and WMATA.
By all indications, the man Metro has working on this project, Steven Goldin, is the right one for the job. He's serious about converting underutilized WMATA property into an asset that generates both revenue and riders. But in Prince George's County, his job won't be easy.
The Times alludes to a few hurdles that it claims have stymied transit-oriented development at New Carrollton. They mention corruption in the county government and Prince George's blue-collar roots among the reasons TOD hasn't appeared around the county's 15 Metro stops.
But in real estate, the key is location, location, location. And in that regard, New Carrollton faces an uphill battle.
Even if Metro is successful in attracting transit-oriented development to the site, the area is likely still going to fall short of becoming an urban center like Silver Spring or Ballston, mainly because the station is in the wrong place.
Like most Metro stations in Prince George's County, New Carrollton is located off the beaten path. Here, the station is sandwiched between 2 freeways and a high-speed rail line, and has few connections to surrounding neighborhoods. No through surface streets get very close to the station, which means there's little incentive for retail to locate there, despite ample freeway access.
This is in stark contrast to Silver Spring. The Metro station there has many similarities to New Carrollton. Both stations opened in 1978. Silver Spring is one of the largest bus hubs in the region and is also home to MARC commuter trains. And until just a few years ago, the area suffered from some of the same negative perceptions that New Carrollton faces today.
Yet Silver Spring has become a vibrant neighborhood where people live, work, and play. It's held up as a national example of how to build a transit-friendly urban center in the suburbs.
What can account for the difference?
I think the primary difference is that when the Metro station was sited in Silver Spring in the late 1970s, Silver Spring was already a place. It already had a walkable street grid, neighborhood-serving retail, and was a nascent office node. But more importantly, it was already a hub. Two of the primary roadways serving the county In 1978, as today, Silver Spring was a place people lived in, worked in, shopped in, played in, and passed through.
Prior to the opening of the Metro station at New Carrollton in 1978, the site was vacant. It was not at a crossroads and not a neighborhood center; it was just a stand of trees next to the train tracks. If there was ever a hope of building a cohesive street grid around what would become the station site, it had been dashed years before with the construction of the Capital Beltway and Route 50.
The single-family neighborhoods in the general vicinity of the station are all separated from it by 4-lane expressways or suburban arterials. It is not possible for many people to walk to the station or to any of the TOD that might one day appear.
In Silver Spring, on the other hand, the station and the vibrant downtown are both easily accessible to pedestrians coming from most of the surrounding neighborhoods.
The Northeast Corridor essentially divides the station's transit shed into two halves. There is no direct roadway connection between the east and west sides of the station. Pedestrians can pass through the station's tunnel, but to get a car from the east to west entrances requires a drive of over 2 miles.
North of the station, much of the half-mile transit shed is taken up by the massive New Carrollton rail yard. This takes up a good deal of space, and further divides the two halves of the station area.
This limited circulation for both cars and pedestrians presents a severe barrier to creating a place at New Carrollton. It's far more severe than the division caused by the Metropolitan Branch in Silver Spring, where the roads are also scaled more for an urban setting than a dragway.
Whereas there are no road crossings of the Northeast Corridor/Orange Line within the half-mile radius of New Carrollton, there are 3 within Silver Spring's half-mile radius: Spring Street, Colesville Road, and Georgia Avenue.
That doesn't mean that Metro and Maryland will fail at building TOD in the area, though. The infrastructure in the neighborhood can be made more pedestrian friendly. A better street grid can be created. Apartments, offices, and shops can be constructed.
But even if every acre of the site is built up with high-quality, well-designed TOD, New Carrollton probably won't become the region's next Silver Spring. The station's site is simply too isolated and divided for that.
Right now, the only reason to visit the site is to park (or drop someone off) at the Metro station or one of the isolated, auto-oriented office buildings. More TOD will generate more trips, but I doubt it will reach the critical mass necessary to truly transform New Carrollton.
Despite these flaws, though, New Carrollton remains one of the best candidates for TOD in Prince George's due to its role as a hub. But that's only because almost all the other stations in the county are sited just as poorly.
Left, half-mile radius from New Carrollton. Right, half-mile radius from Silver Spring.
The siting of other Metro stations in Prince George's often means half of the walkshed is
on the wrong side of a freeway. From left to right, Cheverly, Landover, and Suitland.
Matt Johnson has lived in the Washington region since mid-2007. He has a Master's degree in Community Planning from the University of Maryland and a BS in Public Policy from Georgia Tech. He has worked in the planning field since 2006 and lives in Greenbelt, where he serves on the city's Advisory Planning Board. 
Comments
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Greenbelt - while I understand the importance of being near the beltway, is not very close to anything.
College Park - Wrong end of the town.
by Matt R on Jun 3, 2011 10:31 am • link • report
Short answer, Prince George's put their Metro stations where it was either easy or cheap (or both).
Let's take College Park, for instance. Metro considered an alternative that would have put the Green Line underneath Route 1 in subway. That would have been more expensive. The University of Maryland and the City of College Park both objected to that alignment as well.
As a result, the Green Line got built on the surface adjacent to an existing railroad track, in a way that allowed for the closure of Calvert Road (and therefore less through traffic through the residential neighborhood there).
I think the fundamental difference is that in the 1960s and 1970s, Montgomery County saw the coming of Metro as a way to transform the downcounty area into a more urban, sustainable place.
Contrastingly, Prince George's County saw the coming of Metro as a way to get car commuters downtown faster.
by Matt Johnson on Jun 3, 2011 10:41 am • link • report
Yes, they should have done station area planning focused on "creating" places. Yes, they should have reoriented their public facilities, such as the county government buildings to Metro locations, etc.
But PG County, because of the planning for and eventual construction and operation of the Purple Line has a second chance.
They can use the coming of the Purple Line to reorient how they plan, develop, and build towards the integration of transit and land use and placemaking.
They can use the opportunity they have before them to develop a transportation and land use vision that is transit centric.
It's maybe a different opportunity than is presented by the revisioning of White Flint or Tysons Corner, but it is no less transformative.
You're still young enough to be able to see the kinds of effects such a change in vision and practice could bring about...
by Richard Layman on Jun 3, 2011 11:01 am • link • report
That's why, if I'd put my money anywhere in Prince George's, it'd be along the Green Line. Yeah, it was a mistake not running it down Route 1, but you already have established, economically diverse neighborhoods; the state's largest school and employer (U-Md., of course), actual towns with street grids and historic building stock, and is adjacent to the Favored Quarter. There isn't as much available land as there is in New Carrollton, and the road and rail connections aren't as strong. But I'd consider it a folly to throw money and investment at New Carrollton before putting it in the places in Prince George's that have more potential.
If anything, I'd see building apartments and an outdoor mall like at Largo, but I'm not sure if that takes full advantage of the transportation connections available at New Carrollton. Maybe we should just keep it industrial until the market's ready.
by dan reed! on Jun 3, 2011 11:05 am • link • report
It's a real shame that New Carrollton doesn't have at least SOME TOD nearby. Not only is it near a Metro station, but an Amtrak stop and bus hub as well. You would think more businesses would want to be near an Amtrak stop without paying DC-style rents.
IMHO, making a grid near NC station would improve conditions drastically. There are already garden apartments in the area where commuters attempt to walk there.
by John M on Jun 3, 2011 11:05 am • link • report
Van Dorn is kind of in a wasteland, next to the Beltway, but has some apaprtments and condos close and some bus connections.
Eisenhower is still in the center of a big parking lot and between two new Beltway exits.
And Franconia-Springfield... sigh, has no access to the neighborhood in the back, and is hidden behind a parking desk, a highway and a Mall where nobody lives.
by Jasper on Jun 3, 2011 11:07 am • link • report
by MattF on Jun 3, 2011 11:49 am • link • report
by David C on Jun 3, 2011 11:51 am • link • report
a) Official corruption is the norm, not the exception.
b) Violent, uncontrolled police force.
Is it any wonder smart money looks elsewhere?
by George B on Jun 3, 2011 1:07 pm • link • report
I have to think that when DC builds its Rhode Island Avenue streetcar, the pull to extend it into PG will be really hard for Maryland to pass up. It won't be a subway, but it'll still offer some chance to partially correct that mistake.
by BeyondDC on Jun 3, 2011 1:15 pm • link • report
by Lance on Jun 3, 2011 1:27 pm • link • report
Prince George's County has had an apostrophe in its name since 1696.
by Matt Johnson on Jun 3, 2011 1:29 pm • link • report
by Tina on Jun 3, 2011 1:34 pm • link • report
The reason I believe the second alternative was not chosen was due to neighborhood opposition from the University Park neighborhood as well as the higher construction cost compared with using the existing B&O right of way. But it would be interesting to see if there would have been any push to develop land around the Stadium Drive station had it been built (the university golf course is directly across University Blvd and the Clarice Smith Center was built where the station would have been located).
by Reza on Jun 3, 2011 1:37 pm • link • report
by Andrew on Jun 3, 2011 1:43 pm • link • report
Sure, they take up less space than freeways and they presumably don't spew nearly as much pollution. But they're still there, and they're still disruptive. They're also necessary of course.
by EJ on Jun 3, 2011 1:46 pm • link • report
I think the area around West Hyattsville has a great footprint for future development. You have a (less) major arterial with Queen's Chapel, intersecting with 410 to the north, Riggs Rd. to the south, and Ager Rd. at the station. Each of these roads are criss crossed with (mostly) grid style neighborhoods. Much of the land surrounding the station is vacant, and much of the existing retail is ready to be replaced/upgraded.
The Queen's Chapel retail center could be rebuilt along the lines of Shirlington with street level retail and apartment/condo/townhome living retail above.
There's a major development project, Belcrest Plaza, at PG Plaza to the north but it remains to be seen if/when that will begin.
by Scott on Jun 3, 2011 2:26 pm • link • report
by Lance on Jun 3, 2011 2:46 pm • link • report
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/28/AR2009112802033.html
by Lance on Jun 3, 2011 2:51 pm • link • report
by David C on Jun 3, 2011 2:56 pm • link • report
That being said, there is tons of potential, and there are great neighborhoods on both sides of Rt. 1. My wife and I were shocked at how little we paid for a SFH with a pretty good size yard literally 1 stoplight from DC. We're already talking here in Mt. Rainier about how to take advantage of the streetcar and how to make sure that it does, indeed, come into PG county. We WANT to be a "streetcar suburb" again! Frankly the line should extend all the way up to College Park. On a side note, it'd be great if Harry Thomas Jr. seemed to care as much about the large quantity of vacant and underutilized property on RIA/Rt. 1 as he does about bringing big box stores to NY Ave. There are great 1 and two story historic buildings from SD Ave all the way to RI Metro station and at least a 1/3rd aren't used at all.
@Scott-You're right...West Hyattsville station is ripe for redevelopment. I thought after the last time GGW talked about a new stadium for DC United how great it would be if they looked to the area around the station. It's not quite as accessible as the FL Market site, but still has a lot going for it. It's a shame PG county continues to (re)develop at the periphery instead of concentrating it closer to DC.
by thump on Jun 3, 2011 4:29 pm • link • report
by BeyondDC on Jun 3, 2011 4:42 pm • link • report
1. MTA did a streetcar study for RI Ave. in the mid-1990s in association for the planning of the arts district. I have a copy somewhere. PG MNCPPC probably has it too.
2. I didn't know about it when I suggested that a RI Ave. streetcar line be included in the DC Alternatives Analysis in 2003. It didn't make it in, even though I had extensive conversations with Dan Tangherlini about it.
3. Although Karina Ricks suggested it more recently and it's now in the streetcar long range plan.
4. Note that in 2008 maybe when I discussed this idea with somenone who was then on the board of the Gateway CDC, he made a very good suggestion that rather than starting from RI Metro, it should start from Dupont Circle...
5. Although now I might suggest LR. Maybe not though.
by Richard Layman on Jun 3, 2011 4:51 pm • link • report
SS is a poor analog for "success"--it was different 30 years ago and it's been limping along for ages. The area immediately around the Metro still isn't exactly teeming with activity. It's often as dead as it was 20 years ago, partly because it's NOAA and some large apartments. The main retail area a bit far from the Metro for many people and has poor circulation for cars. The area has security problems--when I've been there on weekday evenings, I'm not heartened by all the cops and the stop is a place where there are frequent reports of hassling of passengers.
Bethesda was relatively successful even 20 years ago, but dead at night. The addition of housing and the updating of retail helped. Wisconsin and areas East are still dead. The process of bringing life to places is a long and uneven process.
by Rich on Jun 3, 2011 10:37 pm • link • report
@Scott Belcrest Plaza is letting tenant leases expire. They are not renewing any. They plan to break ground by the end of this year. The first phase should be complete by 2014. Though I can't confirm from a reliable source. I do feel that Belcrest Plaza will revitalize UTC. Now if we can just get a GSA lease on the huge parking lot behind UTC. Or at least some development facing 410. Harris Teeter anyone?
by adelphi_sky on Jun 3, 2011 10:54 pm • link • report
by JM on Jun 4, 2011 4:10 am • link • report
Stations that function as car/transit/bus points often don't serve that function well, anyway and could use rethinking. Greenbelt has no Zipcars (which seems bizarre) and is an unpleasant, treeless place to wait for buses. It also fails to relate to the nearby residential area. Shady Grove is equally depressing. Despite the expressway entrance, etc., Shady Grove could develop in denser ways on the Rt 355 side, although that would be far in the future.
Redevelopment of New Carrollton station could help revive Annapolis Road as a commercial area if ways could be found to bridge the two. Redevelopment of open space and existing commercial areas could accomplish this.Tthere's always a lot of hang wringing about PG County, but there are plenty of jurisdictions, here and elsewhere that have had forward thinking development despite corruption. And when something clever happens like the Wegman's, it often works. The Green line, as others have noted offers great potential and on a recent trip to the PG Plaza area, I was impressed at how much has been accomplished in the past few years, building on the original mall as an anchor. The presence of NCHS is a help, too, because it diversifies the base and new development has ended the isolation of their space. PG has a lot of old suburban areas that seem ripe for redevelopment because they are filled with faltering retail and tired housing. W Hyattsville and Greenbelt seem like stations that are well located to catylize that. Gentrification has slowly been moving in this direction since before the Green line opened, a generational change in housing ownership in upper NE might begin to draw more interest into PG County. It never will be hip, but it never has been.
Although the architectural requirements for DoD would pose some barriers to urbanism, PG should consider ways to benefit from BRAC. I wouldn't be surprised if the Army winds up renting long-term space rather than truly consolidating at Fort Meade. DoD long has rented space far from posts for satellite activities and these often draw contractors, as well. Walter Reed rents lab space in Rockville. Back office and even strategic functions for the Pentagon have been scattered throughout the Virginia suburbs, including places like Dulles and obscure parts of Falls Church. The consolidation at Fort Meade could benefit the further out Metro stations in PG with creative marketing and packaging and an effort by DoD to provide convenient and frequent shuttles among sites.
by Rich on Jun 4, 2011 11:57 am • link • report
by Agnes on Jun 5, 2011 3:48 pm • link • report
by Stanton Park on Jun 6, 2011 11:06 am • link • report
I thank you all for the background on this issue and the support of the route 1 corridor including Mt. Rainier, Hyattsville, and Greenbelt. Our Heritage Area which cover much of this region works with the CDC groups on encouraging tourism of history, culture, and nature. I think the thoughts made here have merit to examine - better trail connections, zipcars, improved TOD etc.
by ATHA on Jun 26, 2011 2:47 pm • link • report
by Justin on Mar 11, 2012 3:09 pm • link • report
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