Developer Scraps Plans for a Hotel

About five years ago, a developer got approval to build new condominiums in Odenton, and promised to partner on building a 106-room hotel to satisfy requirements for commercial space. 

The developer has now scrapped the hotel plan, citing lack of demand. On Tuesday, Odenton Investments presented plans for a series of live-work units—three-story townhouses with offices on the street level—to fill the commercial space instead.

“The commercial part of this project has not been successful,” said Odenton Investments' representative, Kevin Lusby. “Right now, there are just not any takers. No one has expressed any interest in that part of the project.”

The hotel was proposed as part of the Town Center Commons development, located on the north side of Annapolis Road near the MARC Station. By most accounts, the condominium portion of the project has been a success, with about two-thirds of the 120 units built having residents. The remainder of the units are either under construction or will be soon. Ryan Homes is the builder of the condominiums, but was not involved in the hotel portion of the plan. 

When Town Center Commons was approved in 2009, the Odenton Town Center Master Plan required the project to consist of 20 percent retail; the hotel would have satisfied the requirement. The most recent master plan, passed in 2010, is more flexible. 

The developer's newest plan calls for 14 live-work units to be built on the site. Such units have been used to satisfy retail requirements in the town center in other projects. 

However, the units at Town Center Commons would comprise slightly more than 10 percent of the entire project, well short of the 20 percent required under the old plan. It’s also unclear whether the plans would comply with the updated 2010 plan, which calls for 100 percent retail at the street level. 

The inability to get the hotel built has now left Odenton’s local development board baffled as to what to do next. Members of the Odenton Town Center Plan Oversight Committee acknowledged that holding the developers to the 20 percent requirement would be difficult, given market conditions. 

But, they also expressed concern about the live-work units being used to satisfy retail requirements, especially since they would not be deed-restricted.

“We were expecting to get this phase as a non-residential project,” said committee member Parag Agrawal. “The developer has to find amenities that people are looking for.”

The developer said it looked at other options for the site, including an assisted living center and pharmacy, but was unable to complete a deal. 

The developer noted that live-work units had been approved for other projects in the town center, including the recent Novus apartments complex on Annapolis Road. 

“A government can’t pick and choose,” Lusby said. 

Ultimately, the town center committee did not issue a recommendation on the plan. But it has asked the developer to re-submit plans that comply with the 2010 master plan, and to review the plan’s bonus program, which allows for some modifications.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the role that Ryan Homes had in the Town Center Commons project. While it is the builder of the condominiums, it was not involved in decisions regarding the hotel. Patch regrets the error.

See also: 

• ANALYSIS: Live-Work Units in Odenton
• Definition of 'Retail' Tested in Odenton Town Center