City View at University Town Center

College Park, MD

City View, a condominium and retail project, is located on the northeast corner of the intersection of East West highway and America Boulevard in Hyattsville, Maryland. The building’s curving façade and stepped massing mark the entrance to University Town Center, a mixed-use development that has been over 40 years in the making. The building fronts on both streets and serves as a backdrop to the ceremonial corner entry plaza that is urban in character and secondary to Independence Plaza, the central plaza for University Town Center, just two blocks to the north.

Building materials of brick, pre-cast, stone, metal and glass relate to the neighboring buildings. Stepped massing of three to seven to eleven stories transition from East West Highway into University Town Center. At street level, a grocery store fronts onto East West Highway responding to its arterial nature and the customers that will use it to get to the grocery. Shops and the condominium lobby front onto American Boulevard responding to the urban experience inside University Town Center.

The grocery store façade, complete with glazed storefronts, metal canopies, and canvas awnings, stretches three stories tall along East West Highway. The seven-story portion of the building, housing the remainder of the grocery and condominiums above, is a curving mass, featuring highly articulate brick piers and spandrels, which lead the eye into University Town Center. A formal, eleven story façade fronts onto the Boulevard helping to define the axis that runs through and organizes the project. The tallest portion of the building, the signature tower, is at the junction of the three and seven story parts of the building, The tower is nearly nine stories tall topped with a frosted glass lantern and a dramatic project sign. The tower and sign are a marker not only for the building but also University Town Center making a clear urban statement for the Prince George’s Plaza Transit District along East West highway.