Developers Target 2010 to Begin Konterra's First Phase

By George Berkheimer, STAFF WRITER

Konterra Realty LLC and Forest City Enterprises, the joint venture team involved in the 1,300-acre mixed-use Konterra project, are moving closer to the first phase of construction for the proposed community, which is to be located southwest of Laurel.
A conceptual site plan has already been filed with Prince George's County for Konterra Town Center East, the project's 488-acre core component. A county planning board hearing on the plan is expected by late summer.
Officials from the two companies began presenting their vision for the initial phase to Laurel's elected officials and citizens in January.
According to Andre Gingles, an attorney who represents the developers, the first phase will focus on the approximately 135-acre downtown grid that will include 1.2 million square feet of retail space, 110,000 square feet of office space and up to 600 dwelling units.
"The plans that we have proposed ... will approach 12 million square feet of development," Gingles announced at a meeting of the West Laurel Civic Association (WLCA) in late February.
Anchor stores and structured parking will be phased in over time, said Tom Archer, vice president of development for Forest City's Washington, D.C., office. Cost for the initial project is estimated at nearly $1.5 billion.

Final Countdown?
Konterra Town Center East will be located east of Interstate 95, bounded by Virginia Manor Road to the east and Contee Road to the north. The proposed Inter-County Connector (ICC) would skirt the property to the south.
At a Laurel City Council work session in February, Konterra Development Vice President Caleb Gould laid out a rough timetable for the first phase. The next level of approval for the preliminary plan of subdivision is expected by early winter of 2009, he said, to be followed by the approval process for the detailed site plan.
"That is a really difficult process for a retail project like this," Gould said, citing ongoing changes in architecture, tenant spacing and accommodations that routinely arise in projects of this size.
Built-in controls should allow the developers some flexibility in seeking building permits, he said, "so long as we're meeting the guidelines that will be established within the [detailed site plan] process. That helps us speed up the process and hopefully get to construction in early 2010 ... and opening in the late 2011, early 2012 timeframe."

Questions and Concerns
Laurel residents have voiced a number of concerns relating to Konterra, however. In particular, several WLCA members questioned whether developers have adequately considered the development's impact on downstream water quality, and whether water and sewer capacity planning will be sufficient.
Ken Dunn, one of the civil engineers involved in planning for Konterra, acknowledged that about 60% of Konterra Town Center East's surface area would be impervious, but argued that storm water management facilities integrated throughout the site would be able to handle runoff.
"We're committed to using sustainable design approaches to sustain water quality," Gould added.
The developers noted that the size of the project is sufficient to allow for at least one school, a police and fire substation and a floating designation oriented toward mass transit that would allow for a potential extension of the DC Metro system's green line.
But with the construction of Konterra Town Center East expected to line up with the construction schedule of the ICC, vehicle traffic impact is undoubtedly the most pressing question for outlying communities.
"We anticipate that our opening will be concurrent with or follow the opening of the [ICC]," Gould said. "Our main access, however, won't require the Inter-County Connector to open, but that's the kind of schedule we're trying to keep."

Traffic Factor
While Konterra developers will have to accommodate State Highway Administration contractors who need access to the property to construct the ICC, the city of Laurel will likely have to accommodate rerouted traffic trying to avoid both projects, which is of primary concern to Laurel Mayor Craig Moe.
When construction on each of these projects starts, "everything cuts through the city of Laurel," Moe said. "The issue I have is we're not going to see a dime of [impact fees collected by the county], but there are [city] intersections that need to be squared away or improved."
According to Gould, Konterra's developers will be making improvements to several intersections within Laurel's city limits, "which includes Van Dusen Road and [Route] 198," an area with chronic congestion problems.
Public transportation considerations such as bus routing, stops and capacity are included in the planning process, he continued, but developers have yet to meet with the Corridor Transportation Corp. and other county and state authorities for more in-depth discussions.

The Long Haul
Plans for full build-out, which could take up to 20 years, include a total of about 1.5 million square feet of retail space, 3.8 million square feet of office space, 600 hotel rooms and roughly 4 million square feet of open space.
Additionally, developers have programmed in about 4,500 residential units, including multi-family units for sale or rental, townhouses and single family houses. That number represents a 50% increase over the developers' original plans for only 3,000 units.
Addressing one final concern raised by Mary Lehman, president of the WLCA, Gingles said he foresaw "no scenario in which Konterra's developers would seek to be annexed to the city of Laurel." The normal incentives for annexation - zoning considerations and various benefits related to public financing - could be ruled out in the case of Konterra, he said.
Moreover, Archer said, Konterra is being designed to sustain itself and provide the services its residents will need through covenants, charges from the tenanting of buildings and the generation of revenue from sales and other taxes.
Gould added that his family, which owns the land on which Konterra will be built, selected Forest City as a partner because of its long track record of commitment to the communities it has helped build. "They are not merchant builders," he said. "They stay in for the long haul ... and we expect to stay here for some time."