Bowie Sells Land to Harmony Place Developers
The additional acre of land sold by the city is necessary for the developers to meet tree conservation requirements.
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The Bowie City Council voted Monday night to sell one acre of land to the developers of Harmony Place for $25,000, reported the Gazette.
Harmony Place is a planned, 286-unit high-end apartment complex that will be located near the Bowie Town Center. The acre of land was required so the site can meet tree conservation requirements. The plans include one 247-unit building with an enclosed five-story interior garage; a smaller 39-unit building with a garage; a swimming pool; a clubhouse; a tot lot; and trails.
Eight Bowie residents have raised concerns about traffic, school enrollment numbers, and landscaping buffers, according to the Gazette, but Harmony Place owners have agreed to help address these concerns.
Questar, Harmony Place’s parent company, has agreed to pay $5,000 to Northview Elementary for educational purposes; $3,000 for improvements to the intersection at Northview Drive and New Haven Drive; and $17,000 to install a landscaped buffer between the project and current residential locations.
For more on the Harmony Place development and the settlement reached with the city, read the full story on the Gazette.
Sharp Shooter
2:47 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Thanks for the heads-up... sell any Questar stock that might be in the portfolio. With the Town Center on a slow descent by systematically losing it's tenants and replacing them with the lowest of low-end bargain shops I don't see the appeal. Five years from now that place will be just like the Shops at Capital Centre (or whatever the name is) - ready for the wrecking ball.
Anybody with a brain AND the money for a 'high-end' apartment certainly won't be moving there.... then the place will be rebranded and standards lowered.
In the end this will end up costing Bowie more than the $250,000 it got for 'letting the project' continue without further appeal - aka "selling the soul"
Special Ed Haraway
10:55 am on Thursday, May 24, 2012
Why did the City sell a one acre lot for only $25,000, that is below market, unless the lot was totally useless or unusable. It seems we could have gotten a premium so they could go forward with the project.
J-WeezY
6:39 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
what is $5k gonna do for the school, and $3k for the intersection??? yet they plan to spend $17k on landscaping!! where can you get an acre in bowie for $25k whole thing sounds a little strange, like somebody definitely knows somebody....
Cathy Goff Downey
8:32 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
It sounds to me like the apartments will end up being nothing more than a hot spot for theft. "High end" means money and money is very appealing to the theifs that already stalk the area. After working at a retailer in Bowie Towne Center for five years I have personally seen and felt the HIGH theft within our store. They steal and hop right on Rte 50 for a quick get-away. I also feel that the apartments are intrusive to the senior living at the end of the road and the senior center across the street. Once again Bowie has failed its occupants! Now you know why we are leaving and going to other areas .... and the USE TO BE high end occupants don't exsit anymore.
LARANCE WOODARD
6:00 pm on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Sounds like someone got a big kick back from this deal.
Lene Alexander
12:03 pm on Saturday, February 16, 2013
No good can come from this. I live in Northview and for years have been a proud resident. I only see traffic, and congestion, and problems that our senior residents do not need. What was the city thinking? I would really like to know who is benefitting from this because its certainly not the current residents.
Jason
9:24 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
I am extremely concerned about the direction this city is headed. It seems Bowie Towne Center is losing all reputable retail and installing trash bin shops to cater to the low-end residents now littering the area. I sincerely hope these apartments price riff-raff out, but I see the writing on the wall. I will have to sell my house 5 years before I planned because of the poor planning and ill-advised management of a once beautiful city.
First, you knock down the trees for the mall. Then, you're forced to create a police station. Next you have businesses fleeing for greener pastures. And finally you create a cesspool housing unit to force good residents out. I've been here since the beginning and can't believe the transformation.
All for a quick buck. Trash.