Construction begins on parking deck and MOD Pizza is open now

Construction on the parking deck/apartment I detailed in this post from earlier this month has begun:

http://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-apartments-of-riverdale-park-station.html

At long last they finally broke ground yesterday.  (10/17/17)

What's odd about this is the company building this is saying this is only a parking deck and not also an apartment building.   See the link about the building here:

http://www.cbgbuildingcompany.com/Portfolio/Project/Riverdale-Park-Station

473 parking spots is a bit smaller than what was expected but there are also supposed to be 230 apartment units.

What I am thinking is they may be building this in two phases with the parking deck coming first followed by the apartment building.   If you look at the diagram from my previous blog post it appears to be one building but could also be two buildings connected to each other.   (Parking deck to the west and apartment building to the east.)

Also check out the artist rendering on this page of the blog:

http://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/p/riverdale-park-station.html

It almost looks like two separate but connected buildings.  The only surprise here is that it will only be 4 stories instead of 5.

The sooner they get the parking deck up the better as if they open that gym without a parking deck I think parking on Woodberry is going to get really difficult very quickly.  At least there is another parking deck next to District Taco that should open around the same time as District Taco.

In other news MOD pizza is already open early. 

The grand opening is not till Friday but you can go in now for half price pizza as they gear up for their grand opening. 

They are open:

Wed, Oct 18 and Thu, Oct 19
12-2pm and 5-8pm

With the official grand opening happening on Friday at noon....  They are giving away free pizza to the first 52 folks there for their Grand Opening.

Check out pictures from inside here:

http://www.routeonefun.com/2017/10/sneak-peek-inside-mod-pizza-riverdale.html

 

Burton’s opening delayed 2 months and other retail news

I spoke with the manager of Burton's and although the signs on the door still says "coming in November" they are actually not opening until January 2018.

I also spoke with the Jersey Mike's folks and they said they would not be able to start building out until February so they believe they can open by the end of the second quarter 2018.

I heard from the developer that they are trying to get Gold's Gym to open by January 2018.

Although MOD Pizza and District Taco started building out on the same day MOD Pizza is there working each day and District Taco is taking a much more casual approach.   They never provided a date to me and just said it was coming "very soon" but from looking at the situation at the store I am moving their estimated opening date to November of this year.   If it were to open in October they would really have to get into gear.

I am replacing the "About Us" tab of this blog with Retail Timeline which I will keep updated as I get more information.

1.             MOD Pizza - October 22^nd 2017

2.             District Taco – November 2017

3.             Burtons  -  January 2018

4.             Gold’s Gym – January 2018

5.             Jersey Mikes – End of 2^nd quarter of 2018

6.             Habit Burger – Mid-2018   

7.             Hyatt House Hotel – Early 2020  

The Apartments of Riverdale Park Station

Many folks on the blog have asked me in the site plan what the huge "Future Residential" building would be.   From the Stanley Martin site map this is what I am talking about:

Since I have moved in I have been told this building is going to start next month.

Each update from the developer has read:

"Additionally a new multi-family residential building is slated to start construction in mid-FILL IN MONTH HERE immediately adjacent to the hiker-biker trail between Woodberry Avenue and Van Buren Street which is expected to take between 18-24 months to complete."

I put FILL IN MONTH here as this month has kept slipping.  The current update from the developer says mid-September even though it was posted in October and they still have not started.   It will probably be updated again to mid-October during their next update.

I do think that maybe, just maybe they will actually start building this soon as I have seen surveyors out just in the past few days.  I will post when construction actually begins.

What this building is going to be is a large parking deck and a 5 level apartment building with 230 apartment units along with parking.

From the time this begins they are saying 18-24 months to complete so this may not be open until late 2019 or 2020.

There are also plans to build two other large multifamily units in Riverdale Park station down by the railroad tracks.  These buildings are in Phase 3 and Phase 4 after the Hyatt House is completed in 2020.   (see diagram below)

Between all of the multi-family buildings, Riverdale Park Station will have a total of 855 multi-family (Apartment) units... although this may be many years off with Phase 3 and 4 so far in the future.

This is directly from the detailed site plan:

There is also a plan to build a noise wall for the railroad tracks prior to occupancy for the two multi-family buildings down by the railroad tracks.  This will be good for all of Riverdale Park Station as even up in building 2 the train can be fairly loud at night.... 

Coupled with all of the other apartments that are coming online in the next few years in this area, I hope there is the demand for this many "luxury apartment units".  PG Plaza is adding hundreds of apartment units (Next to Editors Park), West Hyattsville is adding hundreds of apartment units (Riverfront at West Hyattsville Metro) and Buzzuto is adding another couple hundred luxury apartments a half mile up the street from Riverdale Park Station on route 1.

https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/top-shelf/2016/05/huge-new-retail-and-residential-complex-coming-to.html

One thing is for sure, the yellow line is going to need to come back to College Park Metro Station as the green line alone will not handle all of this extra demand.

Price and Sales Update

In my previous Price and Sales update on 9/4/17 I said that I wouldn't be surprised to see another price hike for the Parker (mid-sized floorplan) very soon.

They followed through and raised the Parker $10,000 and left the Dawson and Cassidy priced where they were:

 The pricing history on the smallest floor plan (Dawson) has been:

12/9/16:               $415,000

1/22/16:               $425,000

3/2/17:                 $430,000    

3/28/17:               $440,000

6/5/17:                 $443,000

 The pricing history on the middle floor plan (Parker) has been:

12/9/16:               $440,000

1/22/16:               $450,000

3/2/17:                 $455,000

3/28/17:               $470,000

6/5/17:                 $473,000

10/1/17:               $483,000

 The pricing history on the largest floor plan (Cassidy) has been:

12/9/16:               $465,000

1/22/16:               $475,000

3/2/17:                 $480,000

3/28/17:               $495,000

6/5/17:                 $518,000

8/25/17:               $537,490

Currently there is one Dawson for sale in Building #3 with pre-selected options for $470,000.

Building #4 which is just starting to close throughout this month is sold out.

In Building #5 which is slated to be completed in December there are currently 5 units still available.   (1 Cassidy, 1 Parker and 3 Dawson's)   Seems they are having more trouble moving the Dawson's even though that is the one they have least aggressively raised the price on.

This is the very first time they have actually had a Cassidy listed for sale.   I guess at $537,500 ($554,354 with options) they finally found the price point where it wouldn't sell before it was even started.

This small slowdown is probably a combination of the higher prices and seasonality  (not too many folks buying homes in Fall)

I am thinking some of the retail in the neighborhood opening may draw some more interest and get these sold.   Burton's, District Taco and MOD Pizza are all opening within the next month.  The parking deck next to District Taco is also slated to open then.

The fact that they are still raising prices this far into the development process is a great sign.   Remember over at Editors Park they have dropped prices $40,000 and since then have only held prices steady. 

Construction Update

For clarity I have numbered the buildings so it's easier to know which one I am talking about.   I have added this to the "Riverdale Park Station Info" tab of this blog in the spot where I had the site plan.

Building 4 is completed and they are just finishing up some interior work...  I saw them there today cleaning some of the units so it looks like that building will be closing in October for sure.  (see below)

The are working on the brick exteriors of Building 5...  Still appears to be on track for December.  You can also see the start of building 6 in this picture on the right (see below)

Building 6 is just getting started...  maybe on track for January 2018?  (see two pictures below)

They are still working on the tot lot but it does not look much different than last time I posted.

Something I mentioned in the last update was that I thought they would clear the south part of the Hiker Biker trail very soon.... they have finally done this!   The path is clear to Hyattsville.

Hiker-Biker Trail, Building 6, MOD Pizza, Shuttle App

Lots of stuff going on in Riverdale Park Station.

First the Hiker-Biker Trail has already been unofficially open for the past 2 weeks or so (IE:  no barricade you had to step around) but within the next 2 weeks it should be officially open, only with an indirect path around the construction.

They are working on paving the area where the future Hyatt Hotel will be and will use that to connect the Hiker Biker trail.  This is the path the new trail will take.  (see highlighted path)

Honestly this is NOT a huge deal since so many folks have already been using the trail, but this should mean that they will open the south of the trail near Tuckerman to Hyattsville (that was impassable) and also this will mean there will not be an annoying but passable barricade at the north end of the trail.  Plus there won't be signs everywhere threatening prosecution.   :)

I have made the walk down to Hyattsville a few times and it is only a mile walk and it's a really nice wide and safe two lane bike trail.   This is great as I didn't realize Busboys and Poets and Tara Thai were in walking distance when I bought here.

In other news, townhouse Building 6 also just went vertical on Monday (9/25).  Building 4 is getting exterior finishing touches and still looks like closings in the middle of next month... Building 5 just got its first brick exterior so is still on track for December.   I will post a construction update with pictures soon.

As I posted here in July and early September MOD pizza is opening in October.   They finally confirmed an open date of October 20th.   I went by there today and it looks like District Taco is generally staying on course with MOD and may be just a little behind where MOD is as far as interior construction goes.   I still believe District Taco will make October but it may be the very end of the month.

Lastly, the Riverdale Park Station metro shuttle is in operation and even has an app which updates it's real time location.

See screenshot of the app below:  (app name = "Riverdale Shuttle")

The walk from the College Park Metro to Riverdale Park Station is really not too bad and I usually get there in 15 minutes or so but it will be nice to be able to check this app and if I time it right I can take the shuttle instead...  This will be even more useful when it is brutally cold outside in January/February and I don't feel like making the walk.  Adding this feature where you can see the real time location of the shuttle is a big plus.

Retail Update

Not much has changed since my post in July about the retail opening dates.   I reached out to all of the retailers again and they all told me the same thing.

District Taco and MOD both still saying they will open in "Fall" but it looks like both MOD and District Taco will be opening in October and Burton's opening in early November.  (as they told me and now they have a sign on their door that says the same)

They just opened the road to MOD/District Taco today for the first time and just added the MOD Pizza signage, but they still have a lot of work to do on the inside of these buildings before they will open, that is why I am thinking not till October.

Since I am seeing the progress every day I will keep the blog updated.

It is exciting that by November (less than 2 months) we will have Burton's. District Taco and MOD Pizza all open.  It will really make Riverdale Park Station come to life.

Estimated Opening Dates:

1. District Taco - October 2017
2. MOD Pizza - October 2017
3. Burtons  -  Early November 2017
4. Habit Burger – Mid-2018   
5. Jersey Mikes – Early-2018
6. Hyatt House Hotel – Early 2020  

I have worked hard to try to find something out about the Gold's Gym but have not been able to get any info.  Since that is the only one I am missing I will keep trying when I have time.  I also have not heard anything about the other new retail commitments aside from the Fed Ex Office.  Will post any new info I can gather.

Tot lot is much bigger and better than expected + Construction.

They have finished installing most of the tot lot equipment now and it is much bigger and better than I expected.   It will be really nice to have this just a few steps away from my place.

Shot from the front:




Shot from the back:


Building four and five are still coming along at the same rate and it still looks like mid-October for building four and December for building five.   Something interesting is it appears they are getting ready to start both Building 6 and Building 7 at the same time which will complete the first section before Village Green.

(See map here)
http://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/p/riverdale-park-station.html

You can see below how they are putting the foundations in for those two.





Also on my last post a reader pointed out that those updates that Cafritz was putting out in the past but were removed are still being created and posted out on:

http://www.upmd.org/?news

I have added this link to the important links page here:

http://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/p/riverdale-park-station.html

Even though those updates are out of date they do have good nuggets of info at times so I am glad the reader shared.

Sales and Price update:

Another 20k hike for the Cassidy starting price.  A $25,000 gap between the Parker and Cassidy
was way too low and now a $65,000 gap between the Parker and Cassidy may be nearing a bit too high.  I would not be surprised to see another hike for the Parker soon.

Half price on options on future units has been removed which will make a noticable difference for what these are actually selling for.  (Average options > $25,000)

There was one Parker in building #1 for sale for quite some time and 3 units (2 Dawsons and 1 Parker) for sale in building #3.

In just the past 2 weeks they sold three of those units and now only 1 Dawson remains in building #3 for sale.    (with pre-selected options for $470,515)

Good news for the community as once that one unit in building #3 sells there will be nothing for sale except for future buildings.

The pricing history on the smallest floor plan (Dawson) has been:

12/9/16:               $415,000

1/22/16:               $425,000

3/2/17:                 $430,000    

3/28/17:               $440,000

6/5/17:                 $443,000

 The pricing history on the middle floor plan (Parker) has been:

12/9/16:               $440,000

1/22/16:               $450,000

3/2/17:                 $455,000

3/28/17:               $470,000

6/5/17:                 $473,000

 The pricing history on the largest floor plan (Cassidy) has been:

12/9/16:               $465,000

1/22/16:               $475,000

3/2/17:                 $480,000

3/28/17:               $495,000

6/5/17:                 $518,000

8/25/17:               $537,490

Massive Whole Foods Price Cuts and Purple Line

Two pieces of good news for Riverdale Park Station:

1.  The Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods has led to massive price cuts there:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-28/amazon-cuts-prices-at-whole-foods-as-much-as-50-on-first-day

2.  The Purple Line was finally approved:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/chao-and-hogan-sign-purple-line-agreement/2017/08/28/117b9eae-8c06-11e7-9c53-6a169beb0953_story.html


Although if you look at the map of where the Purple Line stops are I do not see it helping Riverdale Park Station very much.

http://www.purplelinemd.com/images/about_the_project/preferred_alternative/purple_line_preferred_alternative_map.pdf


The "Riverdale Park" stop is all the way down at Kenilworth and East West Highway which would be the same walk as the College Park metro is right now if not further.

The stop they plan to put at M Square will probably be the closest to Riverdale Park Station once the bridge to M square is done.   They are saying 2022 at the earliest for the Purple Line which means it won't be done till 2024 at the earliest...    Still it's good that they have begun.