Transformation of Gateway from Sleepy Office Park to Mixed-use Innovation District
The big story in Howard County development is Howard County's plans to redevelop the sleepy Gateway office park. The County is in process of refining a Gateway Master Plan that will guide redevelopment of the existing business park into an innovation district, envisioned by the Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ) as “a regional destination for new research and ideas within an area that is dynamic, mixed-use, connected, and creative.” After a half year of advisory committee meetings, the County has revealed initial plans and is now seeking public input on several design options.
Gateway is the approximately 1,100 acre site bounded by Snowden River Parkway, MD-175, I-95, and the CSX railroad right of way. One thing that makes the redevelopment of Gateway unique is that this is not a blank canvas. The site is now a suburban office park comprising low-story buildings (13.2% of land coverage); surface parking (26.9% of land coverage), and public roads (5.4% of land coverage) across 140 separately-owned individual properties.
Redevelopment of Gateway will require coordination of existing property owners, government, developers, the lending community, and be paced by market demand. The master plan will outline environmental and sustainable practices, urban design and architecture criteria, and guide how public facilities (schools, public safety, public works, etc.) will be included to support the development. It should be emphasized that Gateway will certainly not happen all at once. Rather, once the Master Plan is finalized, Gateway will develop slowly, across many phases, over the coming decades, so please be skeptical of fear-mongering sky-is-falling claims that the County is suddenly dropping thousands of new housing units all at once without any consideration of public facilities.
Ultimately, at full buildout, DPZ envisions that a reimaged gateway will include 4,500 - 6,600 multi-family units; 1,200 to 1,800 missing middle homes/stacked townhomes; 1 to 1.8 million SF of office and commercial space, and create 4,711 to 8,126 new jobs. Compared to the approved plan for Downtown Columbia, Gateway will be significantly less dense. Gateway is three times larger than Downtown Columbia in land area, but the Gateway plan envisions a similar number of residential units and only 20% of office/commercial/retail space compared to what is planned for Downtown Columbia.
On September 18, DPZ held a pair of public meetings that described and sought input on 3 different design and land use possibilities to guide the Gateway’s development over the coming decades:
These are:
Option 1 - The Woonerf: A pedestrian-oriented spine and development with high visibility along I-95
Option 2 - The Town Square: A mixed-Use Core in the heart of Gateway
Option 3 - Nodes: Multiple activity nodes across Gateway, and Robert Fulton Drive as a mixed use, walkable corridor.
For the latest information and more detail on the Gateway Plan, visit DPZ’s Gateway website. From there, you view the September 18 meeting presentation, watch the recording and/or check out the site option concept boards, then share your thoughts in the Gateway comment form. The comment form will be available through Sunday, September 22nd at 11:59 pm.
My Three Cents on Gateway
Cent 1: I like the Woonerf.
Cent 2: DPZ’s vision is that Gateway will be anchored by technology/innovation/academia employment centers along with housing and supporting retail (think grocery stores, services, etc.), but would not itself be a regional retail and entertainment center like Downtown Columbia. My instinct is that the County does not want Gateway to compete with Downtown Columbia in this manner. While the Gateway vision is a great step in combating our housing crisis, growing our local economy and increasing the tax base, I would also love for Gateway to include some type of unique entertainment anchor (e.g. minor-league sports stadium, casino, amusement park) that does not otherwise exist in our County and that does in fact draw in people who wouldn’t otherwise have reason to visit the area. After all, we have plenty of acreage to work with here that we could also include an entertainment element that compliments the innovation district and new housing at the core of the Gateway vision.
Cent 3: I also fantasize about a far-off distant future in which Columbia/Howard County was large enough to support light-rail. A logical light-rail spur would connect Downtown Columbia to the Camden MARC line (and thus onwards to Baltimore or DC) via a rail-line along Broken Land Parkway and the existing CSW rail right-of-way at the southern part of Gateway. Certainly, the added density of a redeveloped Gateway would help support this pie-in-the-sky vision, but I hope that whatever design options are chosen for Gateway does not slam the door on this admittedly half-baked idea by permanently repurposing or eliminating the existing (unused) railroad tracks in Gateway.
Enterprise Community Partners Posed to begin Construction of two new Mixed-Income Communities
Enterprise Community Partners is a leading National nonprofit affordable housing provider that was founded by James and Patty Rouse right here in Columbia in 1982. Since it’s inception, it has created 1 million homes across the country. Locally in Columbia, it is focusing on redeveloping 5 aging, dated, inaccessible 100% affordable townhome communities (totaling 300 units) into modern, green, amenity-rich, mixed-income multi-story rental apartment buildings (totaling 600 units). A 2020 Decision and Order by the Howard County Council amended New Town Zoning permitting Enterprise to add 300 additional units to its 5 properties, with no more than 100 new units on each site. Existing residents of these buildings will have a right-to-return once redevelopment is finished.
Roslyn Rise, now known as Legacy at Twin Rivers, was the first property to be redeveloped and it opened its door this past Spring. Now, Enterprise is turning it’s attention to redeveloping it's next two Columbia properties. Ranleagh Court is posed to be next (Site design approved by the Planning Board in January 2023), followed by Waverly Winds (site design approved by the Planning Board in April 2024). Both properties appear to have recently been vacated in anticipation of demolition and reconstruction. Unlike Roslyn Rise, which required County Council approval of a special APFO waiver, these two developments are located in school areas that are not "constrained" for new development so they don't require such an waiver, and are accordingly moving forward with considerably less fanfare. The following table summarizes, to the best of my research, the plans for each of the five Columbia Enterprise properties.
Property | Location | Prior Units | (Planned) New Units | Elementary School Assignment | Status |
Roslyn Rise (now Legacy at Twin Rivers) | Twin Rivers Road next to WMHS | 58 | 153 | Bryant Woods ES | Completed and Open |
Turnabout Lane. Near intersection of Little Patuxent and Harpers Farm Road across from HCC | 41 | 82 | Longfellow ES | Vacant and fenced off | |
Cedar Lane (across from Swansfield Elementary next to pool) | 62 | 123 | Swansfield ES | Property appears to have been vacated. No cars in parking lot | |
Fall River Terrace | Harper's Farm Road (at intersection with Eliots Oak Rd) close to Harper Choice Village Center | ~60 | ~120 | Longfellow ES | Still being rented in existing condition. No Planning Board submissions yet |
Rideout Heath | Harper's Farm Road (at intersection with Little Patuxent) next to Wilde Lake Middle School | ~60 | ~120 | Bryant Woods ES | Still being rented in existing condition. No planning board submissions yet. |
*Note that the numbers with ~ are estimates.
Long Reach Village Center to be Redeveloped by Columbia Concepts
It’s official! The County has selected Columbia Concepts to redevelop the Long Reach Village Center. Columbia Concepts was the lone respondent to the County’s RFP, and the County announced their selection at the September 17, 2024 Long Reach Village Board meeting. Columbia Concept website boosts of an experienced leadership team with deep ties to Howard County, though the organization itself appears to be new with no known track record of prior projects. The organization has also been selected by the County to redevelop the former Columbia Flyer building on Little Patuxent Parkway into commercial building with community-centric services, dubbed The Source.
Columbia Concept’s mixed-use concept for Long Reach would include indoor sports space, retail, residential (rental units and townhouses) and community green space. Renderings, timeline and phases, and economic benefits are all described in more detail in a powerpoint presentation available to view on the Long Reach Community Association's website. One thing that caught my eye was that a future phase is earmarked for a simulation station that includes “2 immersive rooms for large-scale spectacles and an after-dark bar experience”, which sounds to me an awful lot like the new immersive-entertainment sports/music virtual reality venue Cosm that has Dallas and Los Angeles abuzz! But before you get too excited, the proposal first needs to go through the village center redevelopment process, so it's not anticipated that a shovel hits the ground for at least 3 years. And that will be followed by 5 phases of development with full site completion penciled in for 2034. Despite this long development timeline, the renderings are jaw-dropping. Super exciting news for the Long Reach community!
The Merriweather District Retail Update
The most eagerly anticipated opening in Downtown Columbia for dog owners is (nearly) here. The Patch reports that Bark Social will open this month. Yes, this month. September 2024. Like somepoint in the next 10 days. Bark Social. Beer, Dogs, Coffee. Here in Columbia! Woof! Can you tell I’m excited? Look out for my pooch and I to be there typing furiously away on my laptop. Well, my dog won’t be typing. I will. The dog will be doing dog things like sniffing dog-butt and demanding attention from all of the peoples. But, we will be there! You can count on it. This month, or maybe next.
In much sadder news for the Merriweather District, it appears that Jrip Coffee and Croissanterie will not be coming to the Merriweather District after all. Originally announced 2 years ago, recent court documents (case ID# D101CV24009971) reveal a legal dispute between Howard Hughes and Jrip Coffee LLC regarding a breach of lease. I suspect this means that Jrip is a no-go. So, all my coffee-snob readers out there (you know who you are!) will just have to keep dreaming of high-quality coffee options in Columbia. To the businesswomen behind Jrip, I cannot express how sorry and bummed I am that we in Columbia will not benefit from your visionary concept. I had no doubt that it would have been a smash hit.
In other Merriweather news, the Angry Jerk, Mighty Quinn’s BBQ, and Gyusan all seem to be getting closer and closer to opening based on my own direct evidence of peering through the gaps in the banners covering the facade to spy on their interior buildout. Over in the Tenable building, I haven’t noticed any signs of construction on the buildout of Eggspectation nor find any building permit filings so that still appears a ways off. Waxing City is coming to Marlow next to Salon Loft, and only a handful of large retail spaces remain unleased, most notably the large corner spot in Marlow.
Here is a link to the latest site plan for the Merriweather District.
Downtown Columbia Development is still.... Stalled
The news for Downtown Columbia development is that there is no news. The Lakefront Library and associated affordable housing on the existing library site is stalled due to County Council inaction and reconsideration of where a new central library should be cited. The New Cultural Center and Artist Flats housing project is stalled because the initial allocation of funding approved for the cultural center nearly four years ago is insufficient for today's construction costs. Lakefront North is stalled because of the Costello/Howard Hughes legal dispute. Senior Housing promised for Banneker is stalled given questions on whether and where the fire station should be (re)located. A transit center with its own affordable housing component was supposed to follow these other projects. All these projects include affordable housing and as such, very few of the 900 units of affordable housing that have been promised for Downtown Columbia under the Development Rights and Responsibility Agreement of 2016 have been delivered. The frustration with the lack of progress is evident reading through the meeting minutes of the Columbia Downtown Housing Corp (the entity created for the sole purpose of ensuring the vision for full spectrum and diverse housing mix is realized in Downtown Columbia), as is the frustration of so many residents of Downtown Columbia drawn here for the promise of what could be, best exemplified by a resident's opinion letter to the Banner pleading to end the debate and approve a library for Columbia's Lakefront. Personally, I would be shocked, unfortunately, to see progress on any of these projects until after a new Council is elected in 2026.
New Entrance into Merriweather District
One massive improvement of Downtown Columbia that is actually being built is the Maryland state highway transportation improvements to create a new access point into and out of the Merriweather District. Phase 1 (the jug-handle) appears ready to be opened to traffic soon while construction of Phase 2 is visible from Broken Land Parkway.
Phase 1 – Northbound offramp from Rt 29 to Merriweather District
Phase 2 – Extends Symphony Woods Road to Broken Land Parkway with new bridge over offramp
Phase 3 – New Intersection at Broken Land Parkway and new ramp to Southbound Rt 29
Community Ecology Institute's Annual Harvest Gala
One of my favorite local non-profits and community space is Community Ecology Institute and Freetown Farm. If you have ever visited the farm to participate in one of their many programs or just stop by on a Saturday morning to buy some fresh product from their farm stand, you certainly understand how much of a treasure this space and this organization is for our community. If you want to support them and have a good time while doing so, consider attending CEI's Annual Harvest Gala on Thursday, October 17th from 6 - 8:30 p.m. It's a fun fall evening filled with great food from Koshary Korner, live music by the Miss Moon Rising band, signature cider drinks, a robust silent auction, and inspiring stories and connections! Attendance supports their mission to cultivate communities where people and nature thrive together!
Jerk Wars
Locally owned and operated Anegada Delights has been serving jerk chicken, oxtail, patties and other Caribbean cuisine at 9861 Broken Land Parkway (entrance is at the back of the Lakeview Office Building) since 2018. It also recently introduced a juice bar. Not only is the food delicious, but the husband and wife business owners Elizabeth Ndungu and Lebert Vanterpool, have been committed to community empowerment by providing opportunities for students with disabilities through a partnership with Howard County’s Economic Development Authority.
For its first 5 years of business in its brick and mortar location, Agegada Delights has been (a) one of the few restaurants open on this stretch of Broken Land and (b) one of the few places to get Caribbean Food in the County. Suddenly, a lot has changed. First, the Lakeview retail strip (Chipotle and Jersey’s Mike now open; Mahana Fresh and Uber Bagels coming soon) has been built in a prominent location in front of the office park, creating new competition on site. Second, two new Caribbean restaurants, Maryland fast-casual chain Dat Jerk (now open at the Mall in Columbia) and The Angry Jerk (opening soon in the Merriweather District) will crowd the market with additional options for jerk. Can three Caribbean restaurants within 5 minutes of each other all be successful? I’m not so sure, but one thing I do hope is that if there is going to be a winner of the Great Jerk War of Columbia, I’m pulling for Anegada Delights. If you want to get on the jerk bandwagon, I’d start with the HoCo OG, Anegada.
Note (9/22, 8:30 am): Hat tip to Village Green/Town Square A Sunday Treat, for pointing readers to this article and reminding me of the obvious and embarrassing exclusion of Athlea's Almost Famous from this discussion.
Korean BBQ coming to Wilde Lake Village Center
Chadol Korean BBQ is coming to the Wilde Lake Village Center! A sign announcing them “coming soon” was placed on their door of the old Melting Spot space sometime in the past week or so. Chadol has an existing location in Rockville which has stellar reviews on both Yelp and Google and their website describes the restaurant as “that ‘hole in the wall’ restaurant where you can find truly authentic, yet approachable, Korean cuisine.” This is huge news for Wilde Lake, especially after this prime retail space has remained vacant for so many years. Once Grocery Outlet and this restaurant open, I may have to redo my Village Center rankings to place Wilde Lake at the top of the list.
