Hi Jamie,
I attended this meeting and I also expressed my concerns over the project. I also spoke out against the 85 town houses that was re-zoned from commercial to PUD on the corner of Andrew and Manassas Drive in December. That project was presented and voted on at the same meeting. All the residents that spoke were against the project, it was pushed through. One of the first things that Preston Banks did when his term started in 2012 was to implement a policy that no project should be presented and voted on at the same meeting, thank you Mr. Banks. If we keep re-zoning the little commercial property we have, we'll have bigger problems coming our way. If this project goes through just imagine the impact on Manassas Drive and our precious schools. The board has recently created great incentives for businesses to come and stay in Manassas Park. They've also expedited the time frame to start a business, which is also attractive to new businesses. City Center is now under new management with Lane corporation. I feel we need these new changes a chance to see what they sow. As Bryan Polk said at the meeting, we're definetly getting the 304 apartments but there is no guarantee on the commercial side. Please if you also feel the same way about this re-zoning either attend the meeting next Tuesday or send an email, it will be read by the governing body. Once our commercial land is re-zoned it's GONE! Also Ed Rishell voted no for the project.

Developers are always in "serious negotiations" with some store or other, but somehow it always falls through, and they never want to say who they talk to. This is a big bunch of hot air and itll fall through too. I hope council doesn't fall for it

Say what!? More residential? Why isn't the vacanicies filled up in that new building on Manassas Dr
the movers and doers in Manasas Park better put their thinking caps on, this smells!

i bet for every one who shows up to talk against this residential, there is another hundred that dont want it but dont have time to talk up against it

Yikes! 304 apartments - we don't want this, do we?!

Please folks, lets worry about getting the spaces filled in the buildings across from City Hall first before "jumping" onto another project.....jeezzzzzzzzz

I do not believe this is in the long term best interests of the City. We need business and the City’s Comprehensive Plan acknowledges that this area from Digital to Railroad should be promoted for “…development of commercial and/or office uses in these areas. This type of development is important to the city as a means of generating revenues needed to off-set residential property taxes.” Action Strategy 1.4.
Additionally, even though there is some commercial projected for this development, they are NOT building those business structures right now; they are only building the residential and there are no assurances that the business development will occur. We could very well be looking at one another 10 years from now and wonder where the businesses are. Also, the amount of commercial they are proposing Is not sufficient to bring up the commercial tax base percentage to a level that would be helpful to the city.

Hey guys! Thanks for your great comments! I did want to share a little tidbit with you: the new owners of City Center a.k.a. Park Center have just recently hired a company to aggressively recruit businesses to fill its retail space. We'll see what happens. And Mr. Doll one of the owners of the proposed Park Place, said that we need more "rooftops" aka residents to draw in businesses to the the city. He said the new development would be extremely walkable and people riding the VRE would stop in and shop, too.

Thanks for posting the new information, Jamie, everyone hopes the new company will be successful recruiting businesses.
I think there is also a concern with the number of rooftops. The estimate needed is 3,000 and the number that would come from this new residential is only 304.

Glad to see everyone is starting to wisen up. Never believe a developer. If they are offering 500k, I'd counter with 2M and negotiate from there. I also wouldn't approve anything similar until the City Center is at least 85% occupied. Why won't the pharmacy locate in the City Center? Remember, Mr. Doll isn't generating any income from the land now, but he still has to pay taxes on the undeveloped land. I think he could sweeten the offer or come up with something better.

I personally wouldnt use a pharmacy located in City Center...you can never find parking! I have friends that live in the apartments and usually have to park across the street and walk through the complex to visit them. Who wants to do that in inclement weather when there are other pharmacies within close proximity with drive up windows. I have lived in MP a long time and while I agree that it would be nice to have some smaller, convenient businesses in the city proper, I also would not want to see it turn into another Liberia Ave. And on the other hand, if everyone keeps opposing the building of more residential, how are we EVER going to get the number needed to entice the businesses to come in. Its a Catch-22!! I also know that the City Center apartments are filled and they have recently converted some of the retail space below and people are living in them. I think there is a better chance of filling apartments than it is some of the foreclosed houses sitting through out the park.

Single family homes in the Park are not languishing on the market. They are getting snatched up very quickly and sellers are getting 98 to 100 percent of their asking price. Apartments do not bring the kind of tax base nor typically the solid familial living dynamics that would be preferable for our town. I think we should be considering home ownership properties only, condos and townhomes included.

Jamie, always good to hear from you. Can one ever get enough pho!?! I am at Pho 24 once a week now, sometimes twice, hee hee. I see the point on discretionary spending. I just hope we are not running into another City Center debacle.

Didn't Frank Barros say a year ago that he had been trying to get Rite Aid to come in up in Blooms and they wouldn't because of lack of traffic? Wasn't that right here on the Patch that I heard that?

How about get rid of all the illegal immigrants and drug dealers on Manassas drive before anything else . Manassas park is looking like a section 8 housing