As I have mentioned in my previous post, Long Reach
Village Center is in a crisis state. I threw most of the blame to the
Center's current owners America's Realty LLC. Although they deserve a
good portion of the blame the state of the lies within the deteriorating
housing stock surrounding the Center. There are numerous distressed
Rental Communities as well as Town Home and Condo Communities that have
given way to Rentals rather than ownership. This lack of sustainable
housing surrounding the Village Center has attracted a perceived
criminal element that has kept Shoppers, Quality Merchants, and
Residential investment at bay.
My question to the County is this; Why aren't you
actively pursuing redevelopment options with Columbia Landing in the
same manor you are with the Verona? Although I don't work for the County
I think I can attempt to answer it at the same time. In 2008, the year
the County purchased Columbia Landing, the economy had tanked, and it
was a good two to three years before the Plan Howard 2030 Plan bad been
drafted. The Plan Howard 2030, emphasizes redeveloping aging Rental
Properties not unlike Columbia Landing. Between 2008 and today, the
County has successfully redeveloped Guilford Gardens into Monarch Mills (pictured above)
and is currently redeveloping Hilltop and Ellicott Terrace into Burgess
Mill Station. My guess is that Columbia Landing got lost in the
shuffle.
If you remember my post on the Verona, you will see
that I championed a full redevelopment of all the Rental Properties in
Oakland Mills and even a few poorly aging Condo and Town Home
Developments. I feel the same redevelopment is needed in Long Reach and
Columbia Landing should be used to get the ball rolling. When the scent
of redevelopment is in the air, my hope is that other aging Rental
Property Owners will be shamed into redeveloping their properties too.
Eventually, Lazy Hollow, Sierra Woods (pictured above), Longwood House, and Shalom Square
should redevelop in conjunction with Columbia Landing.
Like Oakland
Mills, Long Reach has some non Rental Properties that have a high amount
of Renters and Foreclosures according to Public Records. In order to
give Long Reach a full face lift, Long Reach Knolls, Heatherstone, Long Reach House Condos (pictured above), Jeffers Glen Town Homes, and Treover
Condominiums should look into partial if not full redevelopment. That
may be a hard pill to swallow and a lot to take in but sometimes in
order to keep a Village viable, some part of it have to be rebuilt. The
synergy created with this new development will no doubt lure an exciting
new mix of shops to the ailing Village Center.
With all the talk of redevelopment of the Verona in
Oakland Mills, one must remember that the County owns Columbia Landing
as well and that the County can and should redevelop Columbia Landing
first. The future of Long Reach is hanging on the line.
2 comments:
Living rather close to Columbia Landing - I much prefer it after the County purchased it. It is much, much better managed and is a much better neighbor now than previously. I have a friend from law school who lived there before and after the change - much preferred dealing with the latter as a landlord, and she also said that the mix of people stayed about the same.
I think there are specific issues with the purchase and available monies that set the dates on when Columbia Landing can be redeveloped. It's a long road, but I would love to see it happen. Sierra Woods I believe is owned by Enterprise, and I'd like to see some money put in there as well, though that's a harder sell.
I think the most difficult communities, however, are not professionally managed rental communities (I lived in Lazy Hollow many years ago - loved it, but the Village Center was more vibrant then - and professional managers get rid of problematic tenants). Instead the areas with big problems appear to me to be Long Reach Knolls, Treeover, and Heatherstone. Single unit landlords who aren't professional landlords seem to have worse tenants.
Nice post,, i'm very enjoyed to visit this site :D
Post a Comment