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Phase Two





The kid was up, dressed, and out of the house on a Saturday morning by ten am. Destination? Clarksville Commons. A friend (from both high school and college) was in town and the gang/theatre friend group was gathering to hang out and catch up. About half of the group were from the immediate area. They convinced the others that this was the place to meet up.

The Saturday market was in full swing. They wandered about to investigate the offerings, then grabbed some food inside at the Common Kitchen. All college grads or soon to be. All employed in one way or another. Not one of them could afford to live anywhere nearby or even aspire to in the near future.

The thought of this reminded me of a photo posted by State Delegate Chao Wu in July.


Image from Del. Chao Wu, social media post
 

What you see here is Phase Two of the Clarksville Commons project. (Phase Two was always a part of the project.) It will include 72 apartment units. The building will sit behind Clarksville Commons on what is part of the parking area at present. An additional access point through the Kendall’s property will make coming and going easier than it is now. Here is some information about the project shared on the Village of River Hill website.

I don’t live in Clarksville/River Hill although I certainly have spent my share of time there. In my opinion Clarksville Commons and the Common Kitchen have provided so much value to the community as a whole. It’s far more than restaurants and retail. They organize regular Farmers Markets which include area craftspeople, hold community events, movie nights, live music - - including local school musical groups - -  and they make space for public art and a Little Free Library. 

Clarksville Commons invests in community-building like no one else in the area. And, because of this, I am inclined to believe that they know what they are doing in pursuing the final part of the Clarksville Commons plan. They have “money in the bank” with me, so to speak. Not real money, obviously. Let me clarify. I am inclined to have faith in their intentions because they have already been publicly living out their mission since Clarksville Commons opened. 

George and Holly Stone established Greenstone Ventures in 2009 to bring their dream to fruition:

Greenstone Ventures assembled a team of veteran developers, engineers, designers and builders with deep Howard County roots who shared in the vision to create a new precedent for developing a community focused, environmentally sustainable, mixed-use center. It is their talents, creativity, technical and environmental expertise that brought Clarkville Commons to life. - - Clarksville Commons website

The fact that my husband and I enjoy going there and my twenty-something kid would choose it as a friendly meet-up place means a lot to me. Honestly, Columbia/HoCo doesn’t hold that much interest for this group of kids and they are often out and about elsewhere. Add to that the complete impossibility of finding an affordable place to live independently and the likelihood that these young people will settle here and put down roots is just about nil.

All of that aside, I’m not predisposed to consider Phase Two of Clarksville Commons a good investment because I think the world owes me affordable housing for my offspring. Not at all. I do know we have a terrible shortage of rental housing in Howard County and I think that the Stones are responsible and trustworthy. So I’m interested in learning more.

These folks have given a lot to the community already. The very least we could do is to give them a fair hearing.







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