Jersey Mike's opening delayed 1 week to 7/18/18

I do not think Jersey Mikes and Habit Burger were aware they had chosen the exact same opening date of Wednesday, July 11th.

Even though it appears almost all construction is completed at Jersey Mike's they have delayed their opening one week until 7/18/18, which makes sense as you do not want to share your opening date with your next door neighbor.

Habit Burger is NOT moving their date and is still opening on 7/11/18 as I had announced in the middle of this month.  More sources are recently reporting that date as well.

Habit Burger is giving away free burgers before they open if you sign up on their website.   This gives you the opportunity to try it out for free before they even open.

Sign up here:
https://www.habitburger.com/riverdalepark/

I have heard Jersey Mike's will also do something similar as well in the days leading up to their open.

July 11th is another big day for Riverdale Park Station

We all are looking forward to the bridge opening on June 22nd, but we have another date to look forward to here at Riverdale Park Station.

Both Habit Burger and Jersey Mike's have gotten back to me and confirmed their planned opening date is July 11th!

So we are less than a month away for both!

I am very excited about both of these new options.

As always you can see the current Retail Opening Dates on the fourth tab of this blog.

https://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/p/ret.html

Bridge to Discovery District to open on June 22nd and other items

Mayor Alan Thompson announced just after lunch today that the bridge from Riverdale to the Discovery District would FINALLY open on June 22nd.

Considering this opening has been delayed since Fall of 2017 it's great that this is finally moving forward.

Bella Beach Spa looks like it is getting close to being ready to open.   I have not heard anything back from them it but looks to be less than a month away at this point.

Jersey Mikes just also added some temporary signage.. 

Jersey Mike's had told me they would open near the end of the second quarter of 2018 and right now it is looking like July or so.   I reached out to them again.  Habit Burger looks to be at just about the same point as Jersey Mikes and also looks to be a July opening.

After these openings all we will be waiting on will be Denizens which is not opening until the end of 2018.   Will need some more retail lease signing announcements soon.    I think they will be coming with the bridge opening and the Village square grass growing Riverdale is finally coming to life.

One last update is the first apartment building construction will not begin until the start of 2019.  This is the 230 unit apartment I have blogged about a few times over the past year...

Here is my post from October 2017:
https://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-apartments-of-riverdale-park-station.html

I know a few folks have asked me in the comments section when these would open as they were looking to live in the apartments so sorry for the bad news.

With the delays in getting this started along with the 18-24 month construction time the apartments here will probably not actually be ready for tenants until 2021.  This delay may be hindering the retail commitments and is probably the main reason all of the retail spots are not leased already with the strong lineup that is already here.

The Town Center of Riverdale Park

One area of Riverdale Park that has a lot of potential but currently has next to nothing is the Town Center of Riverdale Park. 

Currently I refer to it as the "Scooby Doo Ghost Town" as there are spaces for at least 15 businesses here and currently only a Bikram Yoga, a hair salon and Town Center Market are actually open down there.

Right now it looks like a quaint town that has been abandoned for a long time:

Bob Harper's Book's was also open when we moved in but has also recently closed.

Here is a good shot of just the newer buildings from the developers website:
http://douglasdevelopment.com/properties/riverdale-town-center/

They built these new buildings in 2007 but it does not seem like they have had much success.   But I think that is about to change...

The MARC station is here, they are building a Capital Bike Share here and the Hiker Biker trail runs right through the center of this development... And now that the Hiker Biker trail is actually open and running all the way through Hyattsville and College Park I think this is a game changer for this area...

Plus this town center is only a 0.8 mile walk from my house and will be something like a 0.3 mile walk for the folks in the last building of Riverdale Park Station.   Riverdale Park Station will have 119 townhomes finished and probably sold by the first quarter of 2019.   When you add in the three apartment buildings that will also eventually be there and the hotel and everything else I think businesses that can survive in this area until Riverdale Park Station really gets spun up will be rewarded.

In February 2018 Douglas Development announced a Vietnamese Restaurant called Banana Blossom Bistro had signed a lease for the large corner building (2600 square feet, in the picture above)

Then on May 15th 2018 the Route One Fun blog broke the news that Riviera Tapas Bar would be coming across the street...
https://www.instagram.com/p/BizaeiAgGVN/

Thanks Sarah B from http://www.routeonefun.com/ for getting that news 10 days before anyone else.

Seems this little downtown area is starting to come together.   I personally love Vietnamese food and can't wait for Banana Blossom to open.   Both restaurants are supposed to open this summer but from the looks of the Tapas bar location as of yesterday they may have longer to go before they open.