If Mount Rainier can successfully find new developers to fill a prominent block of commercial properties, area residents can expect to see a new set of shops and restaurants along the Route 1 Corridor in the coming years.

The City Council shared concerns at its Jan. 17 work session about commercial vacancies and city blight, particularly in the 3200 block of Rhode Island Avenue, an almost entirely city-owned strip of properties that officials want an interested developer to purchase. The area is a collection of two commercial properties totaling 33,000 square feet.

City officials plan to attend the Feb. 6 District 47 Legislative Night in Annapolis to lobby for financial support from state officials.

“We were told if we get a developer, it will be easier to get some money or support from the county,” City Manager Jeannelle Wallace said. “We’re looking for state bond bills or wherever there is some funding to support what we’re trying to do. The critical issue is we’ve got to get a developer in here.”

Council members agreed that marketing the properties to developers should be just as important as lobbying to legislators.

“I’m not sure how much we need political lobbyists as much as we need marketing, to seek out developers to come to this community,” Councilman Jimmy Tarlau (Ward 1) said.

Tarlau said there are a lot of features about the properties that should make developers interested in purchasing, noting the bus connection to the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station, the proximity to Hyattsville, which is less than two miles from Mount Rainier with new retail and residential development and the population of local artists in the area.

Councilman Brent Bolin (Ward 2) said the properties are valuable.

“This is the last big chunk of land in the Route 1 Corridor,” he said. “We think it’s a pretty attractive property. It’s just that there’s so much economic uncertainty in the development industry.”

In the last several months, two developers expressed interest in purchasing the properties, said Mount Rainier Mayor Malinda Miles, who added they failed to submit formal proposals by a Jan. 13 deadline, prompting the council to move forward with seeking new developers.

The city has owned the majority of the properties in the 3200 block for several years, after purchasing a former liquor store building and former funeral home on Rhode Island Avenue for roughly $2 million in 2009, Bolin said.

He said he would like to see an “urbanist” use development with regional shopping, which would call for major department stores that would attract visitors outside of Mount Rainier, and apartments on the upper floors of the buildings.

Councilwoman Ivy Thompson (Ward 2) said there are larger challenges with developing the property.

“The County Executive himself has said unless there is a perception that things have changed in the county, developers are not going to come,” she said.

Miles encouraged the council to stay positive about finding developers for the properties.

“Is the glass half full or half empty?” she asked. “I believe it’s half full and we need to fill it up with the right persons.”

djgross@gazette.net