SoHy Design District initiative looks to transform Rt. 1 Corridor

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Angela Justice and Erica Riggio, co-founders and co-owners of Green Owl Design and Nest Proper boutique, wear many hats — interior designers, small business owners and, most recently, the minds behind the SoHy Design District initiative.

Launched officially at the Hyattsville Arts Festival in September, SoHy Design District is an amalgamation of more than 50 small businesses that populate Hyattsville’s downtown area along the Route 1 Corridor, from the 4700 block of Rhode Island Avenue to the 6000 block of Baltimore Avenue. The initiative aims “to protect and grow a corridor where small business, art and design, and community thrive in a visual, design-driven way,” according to the group’s flyers.

Riggio said that she and Justice created the project because of frustration with the city’s apparent lack of action on developing the area’s urban decay. 

SoHy Design District’s motto, “a little gritty, a lot creative,” speaks to the stark difference between many of the buildings in the area. Slate-gray, empty buildings stand next to eclectic small businesses; the old house of a previous business, now vacant, stands next to a row of bustling stores, directly in front of a mural painted by the group. 

“You know what? You work with what’s here,” Riggio said. “What’s most key and most important is that small businesses do not have the luxury to wait it out.”

Riggio and Justice say some of the biggest issues with the design district are a lack of accessible parking, traffic lights and safe walkways for customers. They noted, for example, that one of their customers complained about twisting their ankle in a pothole directly outside the Green Owl and Nest Proper storefronts along Route 1. 

And many of the rentable spaces, Riggio and Justice say, are too far in disrepair for small businesses to afford renovations. 

“Angela and I get inquiries all the time, or people that want to look at space here and want to move their business here,” Riggio said, “but by the time you look at the renovation costs, because it’s been so neglected, it’s impossible for a small business to be able to tackle that.”

SoHy Design District also faces rejection from many Route 1 property owners who are wary about allowing large renovations to their property. Justice and Riggio say that many property owners in the area aren’t motivated to fill vacancies or stop high renter turnover. The duo hopes local legislators can work to penalize or otherwise dissuade these owners from continuing to leave their properties empty. 

“For renters that are long-term renters, it’s hard for us to do any kind of visual improvements to the building … because we are not the owners,” Justice said. “We do get a lot of pushback and a lot of hesitation from landlords and building owners to do any kind of significant improvement.”

Hyattsville has a unique advantage, Riggio and Justice said, because of its location between a large student population in College Park and a bustling hub for arts and design in D.C. Much of SoHy Design District’s marketing rests in emphasizing its convenience for DMV locals.

“We have a billion dollar market two miles south of here. There’s no reason more money should not be flowing into this city in terms of retail and services,” Riggio said. 

Tiffany Parker, owner of SoHy interior design business Maison Wynn, said that the initiative’s vision is for the city to authorize the organizers to help with improvements, whether in an adversarial or practical role. 

“We’ve identified aesthetics as a major impediment to our business and growth, and so we can fix that,” Parker said. “It’s quite easy for all of us here to work together, and we’ll take the responsibility ourselves to fix it, but we just have to get permission. … Let us come up with the ideas. Let us implement it. [City staff] say they don’t have the staff, right? Let us do it.” 

As of press time, the city had not responded to a request for comment on plans for the area. 

Parker said Hyattsville’s strength lies in its unique charm and strong diversity of small businesses, artists and creators. “I just don’t think there’s anything comparable to it,” Parker said. “For a small city to have this much creative activity, actually, there isn’t anything else in the area.”

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Stella Garner is an undergraduate journalism major at the University of Maryland.

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