It used to be that the New Carrollton Metro Station was where you’d go to go somewhere else. But that’s changing.
Standing in a spot that used to be overflowing with the cars of commuters taking Metro, Amtrak, or the MARC train, a team of elected leaders from Prince George’s County, standing with developers and reps from Amazon, broke ground on what will soon become The Margaux.
When it’s finished, the development will feature 300 new apartments at below-market rates who can then walk to any of those aforementioned rail lines, and eventually the Purple Line, too.
“New Carrollton is primed to further our transit-oriented development goals,” said County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. “Soon it will be walkable, bikeable, park-filled, and it will be our downtown. A place with shops and open spaces, places to gather and enjoy the company of friends and family.”
The project is one of the first to be funded by Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund. For nearly a century after it’s built, it’s contractually obligated to stay at affordable rates.
“These are our teachers, these are our frontline workers, these are our neighbors who we want to make sure have a home in the capital region,” said Catherine Buell, the director of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund.
“These individuals who need nice, affordable places to live will be able to call The Margaux their home as well,” said Alsobrooks.
“This housing will be protected,” noted Prince George’s County Council member Danielle Glaros. “We’re living up to the promise that many of us associated with the Purple Line Corridor Coalition have committed to, which is to ensure that as the Purple Line investment comes in across Prince George’s County and Montgomery County, that those who live here today can find a home here tomorrow, and their kids can find a home here tomorrow.”
Alsobrooks said the development will open up the rest of the county to the Northeast region, too.
“We are 10 minutes from downtown D.C., 25 minutes from BWI, and 30 minutes from Baltimore,” said Alsobrooks, noting all the various transportation options in what she calls the “regional gateway to the Northeast Corridor. ”
She added, “And from here, people can travel into Washington, D.C., or Baltimore, to New York, across the country and around the world, all without getting into a car.”