Editing College Park, Maryland (section)

===21st century===

By the turn of the 21st century, College Park began experiencing significant development pressure. Both students and city residents acknowledged the city's lack of amenities and poor sense of place. In 2002, the city and county passed the Route 1 Sector Plan, which allowed and encouraged mixed use development along College Park's main roadway.<ref>{{Cite web |last=The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Prince George's County Planning Department |date=June 2010 |title=Approved Central US 1 Corridor Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment |url=https://www.mncppcapps.org/planning/publications/BookDetail.cfm?item_id=249&Category_id=2}}</ref> In July 2006, a group of students created ''Rethink College Park''—a community group providing a website to share information about development and to encourage public dialogue. Early mixed-used projects along Baltimore Avenue included the View I (2006) and II (2010), Mazza Grandmarc (2010), and the Varsity (2011). In 2013 the College Park City-University Partnership—a nonprofit funded by the University of Maryland and the city of College Park—launched the College Park Academy aiming to improve the perception of local public schools.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Reed |first=Dan |date=April 14, 2017 |title=How Three Washington Colleges Are Shaping Their Neighborhoods |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/04/14/three-washington-colleges-catholic-gallaudet-umd-shaping-neighborhoods/ |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=Washingtonian |language=en-US}}</ref>{{multiple image
| perrow = 2
| total_width = 360
| align = left
| image1 = Hotel UMD College Park MD.jpg
| image2 = Aster College Park MD.jpg
| image3 = College Ave College Park MD.jpg
| image4 = Standard apartments College Park MD.jpg
| footer = The Hotel at UMD and mixed-use projects built as part of the Greater College Park initiative
}}
Development accelerated after Wallace Loh became the president of the University of Maryland in 2010 and relations between the university and the city improved.<ref name="Loh2018">{{Cite web |first=Katishi |last=Maake | title=Wallace Loh helped change the relationship between UMd. and College Park. There's hope that work will continue after he's gone.|url=https://archive.today/20231129031230/https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/10/31/wallace-loh-helped-change-the-relationship-between.html |website=Bisnow |publisher=[[Bisnow Media]] |access-date=29 Nov 2023 |date=Oct 31, 2018}}</ref> It was recognized that the university could not compete if the students, faculty, and staff could not live in College Park<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shaver |first=Katherine |date=2018-01-01 |title=University of Maryland is bringing upscale hotels, restaurants to College Park |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/university-of-maryland-is-bringing-upscale-hotels-restaurants-to-college-park/2017/12/29/d8542b5a-e510-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref> so the Greater College Park initiative, a $2 billion public-private investment to revitalize the community around the university aiming to create one of the nation's best college towns, was launched in 2014.<ref name="GCP2015"/>  Some of the developments that occurred as a result of this initiative included the 4-star Hotel at UMD in 2017 and the Cambria in 2018, the first hotels built in the city in over half a century,<ref name="Loh2018" /> and the construction of the [[College Park City Hall]] in 2021, a joint venture between the city and the university that provides offices for both as well as retail space and a public plaza.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ritchie |first=James |date=Nov 3, 2022 |title=Project leaders weigh in on innovative College Park development — and why trust and collaboration among partners were key |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2022/11/03/innovative-college-park-development.html |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=The Business Journals}}</ref> This plaza holds music performances, markets, and city events throughout the year<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-05 |title=College Park City Council discusses options for Knox Road pedestrian plaza |url=https://dbknews.com/2023/08/05/college-park-city-council-knox-road-pedestrian-plaza/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=The Diamondback |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Barnes |first1=Sophia |last2=McFly |first2=Tommy |date=2023-11-30 |title=Holiday Boat Parade, markets and more things to do around DC the first weekend of December |url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/entertainment/the-scene/the-weekend-scene-holiday-boat-parade-markets-and-more-things-to-do-around-dc/3481866/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=NBC4 Washington |language=en-US}}</ref> that contributed towards the revitalization of College Park's downtown.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=2022-10-17 |title=Award of Merit Government/Public Building: College Park City Hall |url=https://www.enr.com/articles/55046-award-of-merit-government-public-building-college-park-city-hall |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=Engineering News-Record |language=en}}</ref> The university also launched the Discovery District, its business and research park,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-02-02 |title=University of Maryland's Discovery District is latest effort to revitalize College Park |url=https://dbknews.com/0999/12/31/arc-h6le2axx45c2phi4qywpiy63fm/ |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=The Diamondback |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Discovery District |url=https://greatercollegepark.umd.edu/about/discovery-district |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=Greater College Park |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Discovery_Point" /> and promoted several mixed-used apartment high-rises such as the Aster (2022) or the Union (2024) that brought along new restaurants, shops, and grocery stores.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-14 |title=Getting 'Greater' in Fall 2021 |url=https://today.umd.edu/getting-greater-in-fall-2021 |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=Maryland Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-03 |title=The Latest on Greater College Park |url=https://today.umd.edu/the-latest-on-greater-college-park |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=Maryland Today |language=en}}</ref><ref name="TJ2023" />

[[File:IDEA Factory UMD College Park MD.jpg|thumb|The IDEA (Innovate, Design and Engineer for America) factory at the University of Maryland College Park]]
This development has been complemented by two major infrastructure projects: the [[Purple Line (Maryland)|Purple Line]], which will provide direct light-rail connections form College Park to [[Bethesda, Maryland|Bethesda]], [[Silver Spring, Maryland|Silver Spring]], and [[New Carrolton]], and the reconstruction of a portion of Baltimore Avenue into a boulevard with a planted median, new bicycle lanes, and continuous sidewalks.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lazo |first=Luz |date=2020-05-20 |title=3 years of roadwork to begin on stretch of Route 1 in College Park |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2020/05/20/three-years-major-roadwork-begin-14-mile-stretch-route-1-college-park/ |access-date=2024-01-05 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Additionally, the University of Maryland has added several state-of-the-art facilities on their campus, including the [[Iribe Center]] for computer science and engineering,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Umaña |first=José |date=2019-05-02 |title=New Computer Science building unveiled on Maryland Day |url=https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/prince_george/news/local/new-computer-science-building-unveiled-on-maryland-day/article_04f81e75-10bd-59b2-974a-64780d47a409.html |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=thesentinel.com |language=en}}</ref> the Thurgood Marshall Hall for the public policy school,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Umaña |first=José |date=2019-11-06 |title=University of Maryland breaks ground on new Public Policy school building |url=https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/prince_george/news/education/university-of-maryland-breaks-ground-on-new-public-policy-school-building/article_c8d1af30-86e8-5823-855d-7cb9cb4fa8d3.html |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=thesentinel.com |language=en}}</ref> and the IDEA factory for engineering and entrepreneurship.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Althouse |first=Michaela |date=2022-05-10 |title=UMD is officially opening its IDEA Factory building for entrepreneurship |url=https://technical.ly/startups/umd-idea-factory-entrepreneurship/ |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=Technical.ly |language=en}}</ref>

On June 9, 2020, the city government passed a "Resolution of the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park Renouncing Systemic Racism and Declaring Support of Black Lives" which recognized harm done to the historic African American community of Lakeland. In it, "the Mayor and Council acknowledge and apologize for our city's past history of oppression, particularly with regards to the Lakeland community, and actively seek opportunities for accountability and truth-telling about past injustice, and aggressively seek opportunities for restorative justice".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://collegeparkmd.gov/blacklivesmatter |title=Black Lives Matter |publisher=City of College Park, Maryland |access-date=August 5, 2020 }}</ref>

On March 2, 2023, Patrick Wojahn, who had served as College Park's mayor since 2015, resigned after being arrested on child pornography charges.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/maryland-mayor-arrested-56-counts-child-pornography-officials-say-rcna73092|title=Maryland mayor arrested on 56 counts of child pornography and resigns from post, officials say|first=Antonio|last=Planas|publisher=NBC News|date=March 2, 2023|accessdate=March 2, 2023}}</ref> Wojahn pleaded guilty to over 100 counts and was sentenced to 150 years with 120 years suspended.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.fox5dc.com/news/former-college-park-mayor-receives-30-year-sentence-in-child-porn-case.amp |title=Former College Park mayor receives 30-year sentence in child porn case |date=November 21, 2023 |work=[[WTTG|Fox 5 DC]] |access-date=November 22, 2023 }}</ref>

On November 8, 2023, the parking lot on the Greenbelt Metro station, adjacent to North College Park, was selected to host the future FBI headquarters.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Stein |first1=Perry |last2=Barrett |first2=Devlin |last3=O'Connell |first3=Jonathan |last4=Beachum |first4=Lateshia |date=2023-11-09 |title=U.S. officials pick Greenbelt, Md., for new FBI national headquarters |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/08/fbi-headquarters-chosen-greenbelt/ |access-date=2024-02-01 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The construction of this facility is expected to further accelerate and consolidate the development of College Park.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-08 |title=Greenbelt, Maryland chosen as location for new FBI Headquarters |url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/fbi-headquarters-fbi-building-new-headquarters-greenbelt-maryland/65-91a43bcc-b6a8-4e99-8636-60ce54ae58c0 |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=wusa9.com |language=en-US}}</ref>