Filling the Empty Properties of College Park

Baltimore Avenue has become a story of contrast.

Brand new student high rises reach skyward just before the University of Maryland, full of brand new restaurants and retailers on the first floor.

North of the new high rises, though, every other building is vacant, including the that used to be an Arby’s Fast Food Restaurant, then a Chinese food carry-out. And now it’s empty.

This building at 8430 Baltimore Ave. is among the vacant properties to be discussed at a public , where residents will have the chance to learn their current statuses.

Five of the 17 properties on and around Baltimore Avenue to be discussed are already in some phase of redevelopment, Economic Development Coordinator said in an e-mail. The city will garner feedback from residents about what they would like to see fill the remaining properties.

The vacant properties that the city's planning department plans to discuss are plotted in the map accompanying this post. Click on each property for the address.

The planning staff will also discuss two nodes that Stiefvater describes as “short-term redevelopment opportunities.”

The workshop will take place 8:30 a.m. to noon in the council chambers of the second floor of , 4500 Knox Road.