News Article

Train station plan gets nudge


(5/10/2009) After several years of delay, Maryland's latest attempt to foster urban-style, mixed-use development at state mass transit rail stations is moving forward in Savage, where a $175 million combination of apartments, offices, shops and restaurants is envisioned for what is now a 13-acre parking lot.

"Our market are folks connected to NSA [National Security Agency] and BRAC, the federal Base Realignment and Closing process," said Terry Richardson, a founding partner and executive vice president of Petrie Ross Joint Ventures, the developer that built the Parole Town Center in Anne Arundel County.

The Savage MARC train station, just off Route 32 near U.S. 1, is two miles from Fort Meade, and Richardson said the more than 400 apartments and 78,000 square feet of offices planned should attract federal workers and others who work near other rail stations or in Washington or Baltimore.

"People want to live in this county," Richardson said. "The schools are great. and the business climate and orientation is second to none."

But before the project could make progress, the county government had to approve an innovative Tax Increment Financing or TIF financing scheme for the first and most important phase; a 704-space, five-story garage, as well as infrastructure and the first four-story apartment building.

That's the key approval granted Monday night by unanimous votes from the Howard County Council on three bills creating the financial framework for the deal to progress.

Byron Stancil and Phyllis Albright, two train riders at the Savage station Thursday, said they knew nothing about the development plans, but generally approved.

Stancil, 32, rode his bicycle five miles from his Columbia home to the station to catch a train to Beltsville, where he would get on Metro to College Park, where he's working on a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, he said.

"I think it's definitely an attractive feature to live next to public transit," he said.

Albright, 55, of Baltimore, commutes by train to her job within walking distance of the Savage Station, but then gets a ride home at night, when the trains aren't running. She lamented the increased congestion the project would bring, but said it has advantages too.

"It's better for security at night" not to have just an empty lot, she said. "It's just the time we live in. Every space is being used to the fullest," she said.

Now, Richardson said, he can use Monday's approval to sign partners to build pieces of the project. Those partners' contracts, together with financing, will allow the garage to go under construction, perhaps in another year.

"This is hurdle No. 1," he said after the three 5-0 votes. "Hurdle No. 2 is the thawing of the credit markets." Richardson said his firm is negotiating with partners, but it wanted to see the tax district financing in place before signing anything.

Officials are hoping that by the time the work is ready to begin, the worst of the recession will be over.

Only one of the 11 transit sites identified by state officials as potential mixed-use projects has begun, at the Owings Mills Metro station. Savage is second in line, said Jack Cahalan, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

County Executive Ken Ulman hopes the project will also help put Howard County, which has few connections to regional transportation systems, more into people's minds.

"I think it's important to get that first project done," Ulman said, noting that other, similar developments could be built in North Laurel or Jessup.

Eventually, the county hopes to see 416 apartments in four buildings, 21,000 square feet of retail, offices where residents could also work, 9,200 square feet for restaurants, and a 150-room hotel, along with the garage. All that would replace a state-owned lot that produces no revenue. Howard law requires that 15 percent of the apartments have rents affordable for moderate-income families.

The garage would take just under 3 acres and remain state-owned, and bonds would be sold to finance it. Later, revenues produced by the commercial and residential buildings on land the developer would buy would be used to pay off those bonds. Howard County rezoned the Savage and Dorsey MARC stations in 2004 to encourage "transit-oriented development."

County officials said that although the financing will delay some of the revenue return for the county, there are other benefits.

"We get payback right away," via income taxes from residents and people doing business, said Dick Story, chief executive of the county's Economic Development Authority. "The increment pays off the bond, but with new jobs and money in motion, the multiplier impact begins right away. This is the closest new development to Fort Meade anywhere in Howard County," he said.

Construction is under way at the fort for the first large federal agency slated to move there from Northern Virginia.

The project was first announced by then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in August 2006, when the plan was for the state to finance the garage construction, but that proved too expensive given the state's budget woes. Howard County had to enact the TIF legislation to create the new financing vehicle.


By: Larry Carson

© 2009 Baltimore Sun Inc.

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Source: Baltimore Sun