Cafritz Facade Improvement Program

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In order to help communities in Prince George's County improve their business districts, NDC partnered with the Hyattsville CDC, Port Towns CDC, and Town of Riverdale Park to provide façade improvements for six individual storefronts and one entire shopping center along Kenilworth and Baltimore Avenues. This work culminated in a day-long charrette on Saturday, January 30, 2010 where NDC staff and seven volunteer architects and designers developed plans and drawings for the participating businesses. Thank you to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation for their support of this program.

                                            Images from the charrette work session

Concentrating the main services in a one day charrette streamlined the design process and offered the opportunity to increase civic engagement by bringing together volunteers with the collective group of business owners and sponsoring CDCs and municipalities. During the first half of the charrette, volunteers quickly drew different facade schemes; after lunch, business owners arrived to review the schemes and provide design direction for the volunteers. Staff and volunteers are currently refining the preliminary concepts and will be providing the businesses with more detailed drawings and cost estimates in the coming months.

The participating businesses were:
Hyattsville: Under the Coconut Tree, the "Yellow Building", and 180 Club
Riverdale Park: Riggs Grocery, El Bucanas Cafe, and a multi-tenant building
Port Towns: Three Brothers Center

            Multi-tenant Building Existing                                   Multi-tenant Building Option 1

               Riggs Grocery Existing                                                 Riggs Grocery Option 1

                                                       El Bucanas Cafe Existing

                                                      El Bucanas Cafe Option 1

In particular, we would like to thank the following volunteers:
Joseph P. Brandli; Joe Architect, Inc.
ShaVon Davis; U.S. Green Building Council
Jon Eisen; StreetSense
Seth Harry; Seth Harry and Associates, Inc.
Lisa Reed; Cho Benn Holback + Associates
Megan Schwartz; Seth Harry and Associates, Inc.
Patrick Zimmerman; Seth Harry and Associates, Inc.

By mobilizing volunteers to produce plans and drawings, all grant monies will be used for the actual physical improvements of the commercial areas, which will stretch the dollars and allow for greater visual impact. This allows the local CDCs and businesses to use the pro-bono services provided by NDC as matching funds when they apply for local and state funding. All participating agencies agree that this is a win-win public/private partnership.

NDC is excited to have completed another successful series of storefront improvements. Through the generous donation of time and services by our volunteers, NDC’s façade improvement program has targeted and responded to the most urgent needs of the area’s businesses and devised a design strategy that fits within the priorities outlined in the County Consolidated Plan. NDC hopes that continued funding will allow the organization to support the many other businesses in the County that would benefit from design assistance and commercial revitalization.