Metro began its search Tuesday for a developer to take on the agency’s first large-scale, transit-oriented development in Prince George’s County.
The agency is asking for a developer to transform its 39-acre site at the New Carrollton Metro Station — the end of Metro’s Orange Line and the future termination point of the Purple Line — from mostly surface parking lot and unused green space into a bustling, quasi-urban community.
According to the request for qualifications released Tuesday, Metro envisions a walkable community “that creates a vibrant sense of place.”
The project is a high-density development that would include office, retail, hotel and residential buildings with an emphasis on commercial building. The plan also calls for improved pedestrian and bicycle paths to the Metro.
Steven E. Goldin, director of real estate for Metro, said the project is the first transit development to offer the prospective developer an alternative to the traditional monthly lease for using Metro-owned land. Instead, the agency is offering a lower, undetermined lease rate for a share in the development’s profits.
Goldin said Metro stands to gain more from that scenario and the offer could invite more competition in an emerging office market.
“We think it’s as important to have as many tools as possible to incentivize the development community,” he said.
Metro also requires the proposal include a path for future extension of the Purple Line to the south and east of New Carrollton.
The site is a massive undertaking for transit-oriented developers — in addition to a rail station serving MARC and Amtrak, a Metro station and future light-rail station, New Carrollton is a major transit bus terminal hosting more than 400 bus trips and 3,700 boardings each day, according to the bid request.
The concentration of transit is challenging, but the rewards are potentially great, said William Hard, executive vice president of Bethesda developer LCOR.
“Typically land around Metro is limited and I think more and more people are looking at … transit-oriented development as the way to be,” he said.
This is the second attempt by Metro to find a developer for New Carrollton. In 2006, D.C.-based Federal Development LLC proposed building a hotel, 1,290 residential units, 432,000 square feet of office and limited retail space and more than 2,500 parking spaces on 10.3 acres near the station.
That proposal died after a lawsuit by its planner, RTKL Associates Inc., tied up progress.
Project bids for the new site are due Nov. 5; Metro is scheduled to select a developer on Dec. 16.
