Hospitality HQ to open a food hall at Riverdale Park Station

Finally a new announcement for Riverdale Park Station:

This location across the street from Mod Pizza they plan to open a Food Hall in partnership with Hospitality HQ.

This is the location they are filling:

The plan to open the location in the Summer of this year.

The site will host a total of nine independent vendors and have indoor/outdoor seating for 175 guests.

Hospitality HQ is looking to find the 9 vendors for this site and are asking them to reach out to Akhtar Nawab at anawab@hosphq.com. 

Here are some other examples of what some of these food halls have looked like:

https://www.hosphq.com/our-projects/

Price and Sales Update

Riverdale Park Station resales have been incredibly strong over the past year.

Currently there are zero homes for sale in the entire community.

These are the sales that have closed since my last update in late 2019.

In the summer of 2018 Stanley Martin raised the base price for the last time (the eighth hike) and was asking 445k for a Dawson, 475k for a Parker and 548k for a Cassidy.

It seems now (based on a small sample size) a Dawson is going for around 488k, a Parker for 521k and a Cassidy for 600k.  

Pretty nice appreciation going on here. 

Hiker Biker trail to open through Riverdale Park Station

For the entire time I have lived here the hiker biker trail has always been cut off between Woodberry and Van Buren.  This is where the large apartment building was being constructed.

Now the the outside of this apartment (building 5) is pretty much completed they are opening the Hiker Biker trail through this stretch very soon.

Will be great for people not to have to walk and ride their bike in the traffic anymore.  Big step forward.

Halloween Celebration at Riverdale Park Station

Riverdale Park Station is putting on a Halloween event.

It's almost full so if you are interested you need to RSVP quickly if you want in.

It is today from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM starting at Bear Square.

Here is the information from their site:

Eat, drink, & be scary this Halloween at The Station!  This year, we're celebrating with free, socially-distanced activities that are perfect for the whole family. Don your costume and join us for:

- Photo scavenger hunt with instant film cameras 
- Socially-distanced treat chute 
- Nine holes of mini golf 
- Take-home Halloween crafts 
- A virtual raffle with prizes from your favorite local retailers! 
- Bites & beverages from food truck & local vendors 

RSVP link is here:

http://bit.ly/Halloween-TheStationRP

WMATA Albion Road Property Purchase Completed

Dannielle Glaros confirmed the land behind Woodberry has been sold to MNCPPC (MARYLAND-NATIONAL CAPITAL PARK AND PLANNING COMMISSION). The transaction has been completed and is closed. It's going to stay as green space.

For a full summary of this saga, read this post linked below and all the linked posts inside of this post:

http://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/2019/05/victory-for-community-on-wmata-albion.html

Over 100k pageviews

Considering how for this blog I don't have a Facebook page, no Twitter or Instagram or any online presence whatsoever except for this one lonely little Blogger page all by itself it's incredible that I noticed this earlier in the month.

Even more amazing since I only post once a month these days and the only way you can even see if there is a new post is by coming out to this blog and checking the site manually.

Looking at the traffic I am surprised how much of it is reading posts I wrote years ago.   Thanks for reading this blog, even though I neglect it terribly. 

Community updates from the developer

The developer sent an email yesterday reaffirming the existing timeline for building 5.

In an email sent to residents, retail tenants and others they said they still expect the project to be completed in the second quarter of 2021, which is the same date they have been calling for and I have been reporting here since they broke ground.

They did also say that they expect “substantial completion during the first quarter of 2021" and with "occupancy expected next spring"

So no new news here, and really no new news in all of Riverdale Park Station for the last few months.

We did recently get a new Chase ATM just past the Hair Cuttery:

Speaking of banks that no one really has bank accounts at, Old Line Bank in Riverdale Park Station changed to WesBanco early this year after getting bought out at the end of 2019.  I actually didn't even notice until March or so.  The official website for Riverdale Park Station has not been updated as of yet.

The new nature trails of Riverdale Park Station.

Riverdale Park Station has some great new nature trails!

If you have been following this blog for a long time you will remember the land directly to the North of Riverdale Park Station was put up for sale by WMATA back in 2018.  A developer had put a bid in to buy the land to build more townhomes, but the community pulled together and got M-NCPPC (Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission) to put a bid in that was accepted in 2019

The entire saga of this land is detailed here:

http://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/2019/05/victory-for-community-on-wmata-albion.html

The last I checked on the status of this land was back in March 2020 and M-NCPPC was still finalizing things but was expected to have closed on the land by Summer 2020.  (may be a little slower now due to COVID).

But the point of this post was to talk about something great that a community member did to make this land usable.

Two weeks ago, a series of paths were cleared throughout all of the land.

I spoke to the guy who was out doing it by himself and he said he was not doing it at the direction of anyone, he just wanted to be able to use the land so he was clearing paths.  He lives across the street over in University Park.

I walked some (but not all) of the paths that were cleared an here is a good overview of what's been now been cleared.



It really feels like you are somewhere out in the middle of nowhere even though you are right behind Riverdale Park Station.  He did a great job clearing these paths.

The entry way is cleared directly from the Hiker/Biker Trail in both directions:





 Here are some pictures from the rest of the walk, hope I captured how isolated it seems:






Also there is a lot of wildlife packed into this patch of woods.   During this one walk I saw 4 rabbits. Two are in this first picture.





And there is an entire family of deer that lives back here.  I have seen as many as 5 at one time with one baby.  Almost every trip you will see at least one or two of them.



This is a great addiction to our little neighborhood and really I hope when the M-NCPPC transaction is finalized that they leave things exactly as they are as, it's perfect just as it is.  Thanks to the University Park community member who took the initiative to do this.  He was also one of the people who assisted me in the battle to keep this land from being developed.

One warning about this area is there are a lot of small ticks back there so make sure you wear higher socks and check yourself for them before coming back inside.

Burton's and Denizen's reopening.

Denizens just reopened on Tuesday:

Burton's is reopening for takeout, delivery and patio dining on Monday, 6/15/2020:

It's great to have these two back even if we have to eat outside for a little while.  Since most of the country is already opened back up I expect you will be able to eat inside with a reduced restaurant capacity very soon.

Construction Update - Apartment in Building 5

Posting another update on the construction for the apartment in building 5 a little earlier than planned since so much progress on the exterior is being made in such a short period of time.

The planned opening date that I have been reporting here for over a year now of the second quarter of 2021 still is definitely on track.

The eastern most part of the building is already all the way up to the roof and the windows are already in.  The developer had said they would complete the eastern most part of the building first so the hiker/biker trail could be reopened before construction finished.

Amazing progress here:

Eastern section of building 5

The part of the building on both the North and South side that wraps around the parking garage is in the much earlier stages:

North section of building 5

South Eastern section of building 5

Personally I am really looking forward the exterior being finished so I don't have to hear hammering all day long anymore.

The views from the top are not nearly as impressive as the last update now that the apartment building is a bit higher than the parking garage which obstructs the amazing shots I was able to get before from up on top of the eastern part of the parking garage.