"Villas at Laurel" Town Homes in Rt 197 Bus Lot

According to information gathered by Rosalind Johnson, Applewalk HoA:

The land development and management company, Structures Unlimited, CEO Kareem Abdus-Salaam, "specializing in Transit Oriented Development", plans to build an "up-scale" "Villa-style" community of about 85 Town Homes, priced at $500K and up, on the current Metro Bus lot at Route 197 Laurel-Bowie Rd and Briarcroft Lane, near the Park View Senior Apartments. No newspaper items were found about this development.

Only an average of 30 of the currently 686 [A] bus lot parking spaces have been used on a daily basis. The plan leaves 86 parking spaces for bus riders. The "transit oriented development" concept is to encourage more use of the buses by Villas at Laurel residents and others nearby. Metro buses run on a regular basis from that lot to the Greenbelt and New Carrollton metro subway stations.

The Villas at Laurel town homes will average 2100-2500 square feet. Landscaping is said to comply with new standards established under Prince George's "Livable Communities" initiative.

The developers may propose that a new traffic signal be installed at Route 197 and Briarcroft to facilitate pedestrians from Villas at Laurel, Park View and the Church and Day Care facility wanting to cross Rt. 197 to get to the Giant and other stores at the north end of the shopping center, without having to walk south to the existing traffic signal at Snowhill Estates Lane.

See the Concept Plan at this link, which appears to show only 64 Town Homes, but is subject to revision in the Specific Design Plan.

The developers have been working on this project since 2003 and now hope to go to Specific Design Plan (SDP) hearings and approval by July this year. Meanwhile, they have been contacting nearby property owners and say they welcome opportunities to work on the Specific Design Plan with area residents.


Contact info:
Structures Unlimited, Ltd.
CEO Mr. Kareen Abdus-Salaam
2121 K Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20037
(202) 261-6547
http://suionline.com

[A] May 23, 2006: This is a correction. The original post incorrectly said "160+" spaces.