Construction Updates:

We finally have internet (and mail and trash service) here so the blog is finally back.

Since it's been a while here are some construction updates:

Building #3 is finished from the outside and it looks like they are still working on the interior of this building.  Still looks possible that most will close in August.

Building 4 went vertical in early July (I believe it was July 5th) and they already have the frame up...  But what's really strange here is they only are building 5 of the 9 units.   Four of the units are still just sitting at the foundation.

Here is another shot of the 4 units in building 4 that have not been started for some reason:

Next time I talk to someone from Stanley Martin I will ask about that.  This is the first building they have done this with so there must be some reason.

They are also already getting the front row of the next cluster of buildings foundations started.  (units 40-46)

This is right below building #4... for reference check this:

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

Aside from the townhouses the thing they have made the most progress in the 50 days we have been here is the bridge to M square.   This seems to have the most folks working on it and it is coming along fast.

Here are some shots of that:

I am hoping when this bridge is done it cuts down my walk to College Park Tennis Club. 

The retail construction seems to be moving on the slow side.   This is what the Gold's Gym looks like as of today and that appears to be the only building they are working on the exterior of right now.

Now that I finally have internet expect more updates soon!

Lack of updates:

Still no internet or mail at Riverdale Park Station.

There are signs that both will be here soon so hopefully more updates coming this month.

Retail Opening Dates for Riverdale Park Station:

Here are the retailers opening dates I have been able to gather.

These are the estimates that the companies provided to me in their words. 

1. Burtons  -  “Early November of 2017”
2. Jersey Mikes – “4^th quarter of 2017”*** (see comment below)
3. District Taco – “Before the end of 2017”
4. Habit Burger – “Mid-2018”
5. Hyatt House Hotel – Early 2020   (listed on website) 

I asked the other retailers that are coming as well but did not get answers from Gold’s or MOD.

If I had to guess on those two based on the other information I have received I would say that MOD would be 4^th quarter of 2017  (in the same building as District Taco) and mid-2018 for Gold’s Gym.

Observations 20 days in:

Found somewhere with internet outside Riverdale for this post.  :)  

Obviously it is a bit disappointing that some of the basic stuff you would expect like mail, internet and trash still are not there but these are some other things I have noticed.

First, although the hiker/biker trail is officially closed it seems everyone is using it.   There is a barrier there but directly to the side of it there is a PVC pipe a few inches off the ground which is the “barrier”… So many folks have went that way that there is a trail worn through the grass.  I think they are not officially opening the trail since the construction is going on in the area but maybe they don’t care if folks use it.

The walk to the metro is about 0.7 miles and since I walk fast I usually am making it to the metro in around 15 minutes.  It’s a great walk through a great neighborhood and there is tree cover/shade most of the way.

The metro ride to Capitol Hill does take a bit longer than I expected as the ride from College Park to L'enfant Plaza is around 30 minutes.  The train is usually a quarter full at the College Park stop though so I get a seat and even when it reaches L'enfant it is still not packed.   I was taking the Red Line in the past few years at the same time of day and a lot of days a train would show up so full that no one could even get on.  College Park IS losing the Yellow line next week due to metro cuts… so we will have to see what impact only having Green Line at College Park will have.

I’m very happy with the townhouse overall.  There are a few selections I wish I would have done differently but overall it’s great.  I will detail some things I think I did right and some things I missed with my selections in a later post so hopefully I can help folks down the road.  We are still working very hard to get settled in and get the right furniture in the right places.  Getting even furniture delivered when your address does not exist has been a challenge.

I will post more construction pictures later but most of the building three exterior is finished now.  It is looking like that one is on track for August closings.  Finally I am seeing they are putting in the foundations down at building four, if we follow the same timeline that would be late October/November for building four closings…  Late last week I saw they started prepping some of the land down for some of the later buildings, seems they may start getting ready for foundations down there at some point soon.  I did hear that they just stared selling past building four...

Speaking of selling, Unit 3 in building one (a Parker) is still for sale and one Dawson down in building three is also still for sale.

More updates to come....

Mail for Riverdale Park Station

If you are currently living at Riverdale Park Station all of the mail is going to and staying at the sorting station that is right behind the Whole Foods.   I created a ticket with the post office about this back when I moved in but there still has not been any resolution.   Although that building is not open to the public if you go in there and ask real nice they will give you your mail.

Pricing Structure Change:

There was recently another $3000 price hike across the board but they FINALLY got smart about the Cassidy and made the price differential higher.  I am not sure what took them so long.

Read my post from 3/8/17 regarding this:

http://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/2017/03/dearth-of-cassidys.html

Only a $25,000 difference between the Parker and the Cassidy was the reason they had a waiting list for Cassidy’s that exceeded the number of Cassidy’s that will even be built way back in February 2017 before anything had even been built….   Now it is a $45,000 difference which makes a lot more sense.   For the 8 people who got locked in before this change this is great news.   If one of those 8 reads this blog I am very curious how early you had to get on that list to get a Cassidy since in February the waiting list was already so long.  I am thinking maybe back in Fall of 2016?  The first day they went on sale?

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

No internet service, no mail service, no trash service.

Both Verizon and Comcast are saying no internet will be available at Riverdale Park Station for quite some time.  Comcast is saying at least 90 days and Verizon will not even give a date.  Stanley Martin is saying Comcast should have already been available as of last week and should be ready any day now but that is not what I am hearing from Comcast.  I am hoping Stanley Martin has better information than I do from a higher source.

The mail apparently does not get delivered here as well.   I got the issue raised to the postmaster and I should have something back from them this week according to the source at the post office I spoke with.

There is also no trash service…. At least there are dumpsters around from construction.

I am not sure how the two folks that closed a few months ago in building one have been making do but maybe next time I see one of them outside I can ask.

I figured being in building two would mean I would not have to deal with these types of issues but it appears the building #1 folks are extremely patient.  :)

Ahhh the joys of being early....

No Internet Yet:

Quick post from my phone...  Apparently Comcast/Verizon is still not available for a few days more  at Riverdale Park Station.   Lots to post once I get internet!

Construction Update:

Building two looks completely done now with even the small details taken care of.  (which is good since we are closing next week)

Building three has now been wrapped and appears to still be almost exactly two months behind building two.

Still nothing at all down at building four.  I would think if they were going to be keeping the spacing of completion of the buildings the same that we should see building four go vertical in early June which would mean that one would be finished in October.   

There was a lot of progress on the retail buildings recently.  

This is the front of what will be the office building (on the top level) and the MOD Pizza and District Taco...   Notice the "Riverdale Park" they just added.  You can see the new clock tower on the right side of this picture as well.

This is the back of the same building, what will be the MOD pizza.  Exterior looks completed.

This is the front of the Gold's Gym building... the retailer for this one has not been announced yet.  (listed as "under negotiation")

And here is a picture of the Gold's Gym itself.   A great deal of progress on this in the past 2 weeks.

It's all coming together but I am thinking it is still going to take a while to get these things open for business.  Building out the interior of even the completed buildings is going to take a few months at least.   I will attempt to get estimated opening dates for these businesses and post it to the blog.  I would be shocked if Gold's was opened before 2018.  We may get the Burtons, District Taco and MOD Pizza in Fall 2017 though.

Lull in the blog and in Riverdale Park Station

There really has been zero news out of Riverdale Park Station recently.   Building three looks roughly the same as it did on my May 14th post except the roof is completed and building four has still not went vertical.

It appears there is still one unit left for sale in building three and it says it is for "August Delivery" which means building three is closing in August as we thought.  They removed the "for sale" sign in front of the "Move in Ready" unit in building #1 but it's still listed on the website so I am not sure it is sold yet.   Possible the website just has not been updated.

I am surprised we have not had another retail announcement since the Whole Foods is now open as I thought we would hear something in May but I guess when the buildings are not even ready for a tenant yet and there are only 2 townhouses in the community being lived in retailers are not going to be jumping to sign leases.

It appears they are putting the finishing touches on the first two retail buildings so I am thinking we will see one of them next, probably the Burton's will be the next thing to open.   They turned the tower coming out of the Burton's building into a clock tower which I like.

Although there has been a lull in this blog the last 10 days and I have seen the web traffic fall off it's about to pick back up as I have my walk through next week on May 31st with our closing on June 5th.  

The entire building two is closing in June (11 units) which should bring Riverdale Park Station to life.
I will post pictures of our selections once I have my computer hooked back up!