Home 
Developing Hyattsville Director's Blog A Note on Route One's Small Business Developments
Developing Hyattsville Director's Blog A Note on Route One's Small Business Developments | A Note on Route One's Small Business Developments |
|
|
|
|
A Note on Small Business Developments in the Route One Area from the Director of the Hyattsville CDC One component of the Hyattsville CDC's 2008 / 2009 Strategic Plan, recently adopted in March by our Board of Directors, is to measurably increase business occupancies in Hyattsville. To that end we've been marshalling resources and energy. Hyattsville CDC Chairman Mike Franklin, who has been examining and assessing the downtown Route One business scene for more than a decade, observed that "the opportunities are there, but it takes more than just opportunity for a start-up business to get rolling in our market, you have to serve a true niche, and really know your customers." In late February, early March, the Hyattsville CDC performed an Occupancy Audit to establish a unit occupancy rate for commercially-zoned properties in the Route One Corridor from Crittenden St to Madison St., extending one block east and west. Our count established that at that time there was a 60 % vacancy rate in the available commercial inventory.For purposes of the Audit, we considered a commercial property vacant if it was unoccupied or housed a church in a building designed for other purposes like office or retail use. Hyattsville recently lost the florist, Karen's of Calvert, that ran the business succeeding Marche Florists at their Crittenden St landmark location, due to outside financial stresses. Other businesses we've seen disappear in the last 12 - 14 months are: Arrow Appliance (the owner retired); the Electric Eye antique & thrift shop (by rent hike eviction); and The Bakery: a small "boutique" for sneaker collectors that briefly occupied the former Nelson Gallery space in the Flat Iron Building. The Bakery seems to still maintain a web-based presence, and the proprietor, local musician and music educator Sean Thwaites, wants to develop a steel drum orchestral group. During the past year, the Hyattsville CDC has been providing advice, information, and support to some exciting new local business prospects. One of the more promising of these is Arrow Bicycles: a new start-up brought to the community by locals Chris Millitello and Chris Davidson. These pioneering gentlemen were managers of Capitol Hill Bikes in the Barracks Row section of DC, and bring many years experience working and managing bicycle retail. Located at 5108 Baltimore Ave, Arrow Bicycles is to be joined by the nearby Under the Coconut Tree, (5124 Baltimore Ave) a small Caribbean bakery/cafe brought to us by Prince George's restauranteur Charmain Lovelace. Both these businesses expect to open their doors in May. Up by the EYA live-work spaces at 4423 Longfellow St, the fresh Mediterranean / Latin influenced Cafe Azul (http://www.cafeazul.biz/) has now opened its doors for business. Down the block, at 5606 Baltimore Ave, the recently opened independent, Book Nook (http://www.booknookbookstore.com/ ) continues to build up a loyal clientele under the steady guidance of former children's librarian Angelisa Hawes. We recently introduced new Prince George's County Livable Communities Initiative Task Force Member, and Gazette Columnist Van Caldwell, to the Book Nook and Angelisa. We have great hopes that the Book Nook can step in to fill the void that Karibu Books' closure has left in the county. Other recently opened stores on our US Route One segment include Celina's International Market, and Alberta's Second Hand Treasures. As a result of our Chairman's networking, the Hyattsville CDC has also recently been active assisting the TESST property's owner in tenanting the building. We'll keep folks apprised of developments on that front, as we are able. At the very south end of Hyattsville's stretch of US Route One, another local business prospect, still a work in progress, is emerging as an alternative to the sea of dingy automobile service and repair shops. With a strategic corner location at 4700 Rhode Island Ave, Chris Brophy of Rhode Island Reds LLC and Stuart Eisenberg (me) of the Hyattsville CDC are conducting an experiment in local sustainability and community arts emergence. Brophy's plan for Rhode Island Reds is to run a Garden Produce, Bakery / Cafe. Brophy, a gifted local actor, plans to sell wholesome food and drink with an emphasis on locally produced, fair trade, gourmet, and organic products in a comfortable, artistic atmosphere. Reds is envisioned as a place for local residents to gather for entertainment, artistic, and community events; a place to enjoy in the cozy dining room/ art gallery / performance venue, both fine food and arts programming. Children and family events and specials are to be featured. The 4700 Rhode Island Ave location has a funky feel, and an incredible, characteristically Hyattsville history: the rehabilitation and repair of the building will be the subject of a separate article on sustainable remodelling (there is a very worn track between this location and Community Forklift: thank you Nancy and Jim). The creation of Rhode Island Reds is also serving the Hyattsville CDC as a pilot study for the development of one or more new economic development programs, geared towards adaptive reuse of derelict or abandoned commercial properties where little or no capital resources can be applied to rehabilitate the structure or develop a new use. We'll keep folks posted as things move along in the permitting process. Also keep a weather eye out for a new mural and other developments just north of the NW Branch trail at US Route One. And finally, as we learned at the recently held and very successful downtown Hyattsville Arts Festival, EYA will begin breaking ground on their commercial retail units along the east side of US Route One both north and south of Jefferson St in August of this year. Most exciting: Busboys & Poets and Tara Thai will be the featured restaurant anchors for the corner locations at the Jefferson St intersection. All in all, some interesting developments for Hyattsville, in a challenging economic climate. If you want to become a member or learn more about the Hyattsville CDC, just visit www.hycdc.org : our new website is still a work in progress, but we'd love to hear from you. The Hyattsville CDC encourages residents who are thinking of starting up a business to contact us so that we can help with market information, locating suitable premises, technical business assistance, zoning counseling and more. We'll be updating and expanding our Market and Restaurant Feasibility Study in the coming months, expanding its utility to capture information useful for any present or prospective business in Hyattsville. We also encourage all present business owners to contact us to learn how we can work together to improve the community, and how to access resources and network via the newly emergent Hyattsville Business and Professional Association. Stuart Eisenberg Hyattsville CDC |