Riverdale Park Station scores a bakery!

First Eater announced back on June 7th that Le Fantome at Riverdale Park Station was getting three top restaurants. 

I profiled that Eater story HERE 

Now on Instagram Le Fantome just announced that Mr. Bake Sweets is coming to Riverdale Park Station!

Finally a bakery in this area!

Information about the company is here:

https://www.mrbakesweets.com/

And here is the Instagram post:

I know they have also been working on crowdfunding a bakery down in Riverdale Park Town Center and they just hit their funding goal HERE, but this seems like this bakery at Riverdale Park Station is going to be a reality a lot sooner and may also be a bit fancier and more focused on sweets/cakes.

Le Fantome at Riverdale Park Station Scores Three Top Chefs!

There has not been much to blog about for a while until today.

Le Fantome first announced on this blog HERE back in February 2021 is getting ready to open in August of 2022 and DC Eater just broke the news of the first three restaurants that would be there.

-  Mokbar:  A Korean restaurant with three popular locations in NYC.

-  Sonny and Sons:  Top Chef Season 7 winner chicken sandwiches.

-  Horu Sushi:  A popular high end sushi restaurant. 

The full write up is featured in Eater at the link below:

https://dc.eater.com/2022/6/7/23157359/a-new-riverdale-food-hall-nets-nycs-hit-korean-eatery-mokbar

This is a huge win for Riverdale Park Station.   These are the types of restaurants people will travel to eat at.

Given that we already have the only Whole Foods in the area, Burtons, Denizens, District Taco and now places like Cafe Azul have packed up shop and moved from Hyattsville to here Riverdale Park Station it really is becoming quite the destination.

Cafe Azul has been making progress on their location but at an extremely slow pace.  Would venture to guess Le Fantome actually opens first given that they are actually working every day on Le Fantome but Cafe Azul the work is more sporadic.

I believe the success of Riverdale Park Station is due to a lot of factors I laid out early in this blog.   It's next to the MARC train and easily walkable to the College Park Metro (and eventually Purple Line) and even though it's an extremely walkable area they still built a 6 story parking garage anyway to make it so people can drive here.

A European Wax Center opened next to the Hair Cuttery and I suspect the last few open retail spots here will probably fill in after the food hall gets up and running, the Pilot House apartment building is almost completed rented out as well.  Currently only 7 units for rent out of 227 units which with a building of that size will probably be as "Fully Occupied" as you can expect. 

Cafe Azul opening date and RPS retail update

First the news folks have been waiting for.... 

Cafe Azul has confirmed they are opening in early December 2021.

Very excited to have a new option in only a month from now!  One month from arepas.

Also an update on the Food Hall I announced here back in February 2021:

http://riverdaleparkstation.blogspot.com/2021/02/hospitality-hq-to-open-food-hall-at.html

Obviously this did not open in the Summer of this year as they originally had planned.

It has taken longer than expected to get the 9 vendors signed up for this space.

Apparently they have recently made great progress getting chefs and now expect a second quarter 2022 opening.

PG County Redistricting Update - November Meetings

 Next round of public meetings are in November:

Community Conversation Schedule

• Tuesday, November 2 at 6:30pm - 8:00pm (English)
• Tuesday, November 9 at 6:30pm - 8:00pm (English)
• Saturday, November 13 at 10:30am - Noon (English with Spanish Interpretation available)

You can sign up for one of the virtual meetings here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pgcps-comprehensive-school-boundary-initiative-fall-community-conversations-tickets-190530841877

PG County has proposed redistricting schools

PG county has proposed redistricting schools.

There are three options that are being proposed. 

One of the three options (Option 1) moves all of Riverdale Park Station from University Park Elementary School to Riverdale Elementary School.  

Option 1 also moves Calvert Hills out of University Park Elementary over to Paint Branch Elementary.

You can see the impact of these three options by entering your address here:

https://www.wxyplanning.com/pgcps-boundary-tool/

Boundary changes will be implemented beginning School Year 2022-23. 

You can provide feedback via this online form:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Boundary2

A second series of virtual meetings will be held in Fall 2021 to refine the draft boundary scenarios.

Follow what is going on here, where they should announce when and where those meetings will be:

https://www.pgcps.org/about-pgcps/boundary#getinvolved

Cafe Azul coming to Riverdale Park Station

RouteOneFun shared last week that Cafe Azul was coming to Riverdale Park Station and then back on Thursday, 4/29 Cafe Azul posted this:

Today (5/3) Hyattsville Wire has posted the same thing.

I would still like to get confirmation from the developer or from the leasing agent and not just directly from Cafe Azul but it seems very likely that they are coming to Riverdale Park Station.

I had never been there because parking was so difficult/impossible at their Hyattsville location directly on Route 1 but multiple people have raved about their food to me.  

It is another food option in a development that already has a great deal of them and another large one with 8 vendors on the way in Hospitality HQ across the street.   But at least it is something different and very popular.

I do think Riverdale Park Station really needs a few non restaurant options to draw people here and hopefully the opening of the apartment can draw that in.

Apartment at Riverdale Park Station to open in Mid-May

It's been a long time since my 10/8/2017 post about this apartment building HERE

According to the developer, all that is left to actually open this apartment building is the Use and Occupancy permit which should happen by the middle of May.

Information is here:

https://www.bozzuto.com/apartments/riverdale-park/md/pilot-house-at-riverdale-park/

More important to me personally is Van Buren St. through the center of Riverdale Park Station is FINALLY open after 2+ years of Woodberry being an absolute zoo.   

Pediatric Dentistry now open in Riverdale Park Station.

A Pediatric Dentistry practice called "Riverdale Park Pediatric Dentistry" has recently opened it's doors to patients.   

The entrance is located directly behind the Bella Lifestyle Nail Salon and Spa and it's on the second level above the Comcast building.

Personally I am really excited about this as we have been driving to one in DC.   This location still has openings for appointments in April so seems it's not too slammed as of yet like some of the others in the area.

Very useful addition to Riverdale Park Station!

Check them out and make appointments here:

https://www.rppediatricdentistry.com/

Trolley Trail/Hiker Biker Trail Open through Riverdale Park Station!

 I had reported in late December HERE we were told the trail would open very soon.

As of Saturday, February 6th the Trolley Trail is finally open through Riverdale Park Station!

This is a big win as this trail is used by so many and everyone was needing to ride into traffic for this small stretch.

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/