A developer wants to build 46 homes — eight single-family houses and 38 townhomes — on the 7.6-acre lot in Annapolis where radio station WNAV once broadcast, replacing the decaying studio building near the corner of Poplar Drive and West Street. The plan, which has not yet been formally submitted to the county, would clear about 0.35 acres of wooded area and four significant trees while adding a central green space of more than 27,000 square feet and stormwater management ponds throughout the community.
The proposal comes from Bill Coyne, who according to The Baltimore Banner scaled back the project's size partly to ensure ample resident parking, with every unit getting a two-car garage and driveway. Coyne said he anticipates the project would generate $400,000 to $450,000 in property taxes annually, though he told the outlet it's too early to determine home prices. The former WNAV property sold for $2.2 million in February, according to online property records cited by the Banner, and was once owned by Sajak Broadcasting Group.
Bob McCarthy, involved with the project, said the company would not develop the entire lot because of a utility easement and a forested area that needs preservation. The site plan also calls for reforestation intended to create a buffer between the new homes and nearby neighborhoods, along with a bike path feeding to nearby Parker Avenue. Zoning rules would have allowed the project to propose more than 60 houses, making the current 46-home plan notably restrained by comparison.
A Long History of Failed Redevelopment
The parcel has a tangled development history. A 2021 developer proposal called for a zoning change to build 175 houses on the site, but the Annapolis City Council declined to support it that year. Over the past 15 years, the land has been the subject of three separate redevelopment attempts, including one earlier plan that envisioned just seven large single-family homes on the property, per the Banner's reporting.
Ward 2 council member Karma O'Neill said the current proposal is the third she's seen for the site in her 15 years watching it. She said the developers have been easy to work with and receptive to feedback, and added that she supports the proposal — though she said she will not support a project that includes a cut-through road. The property itself sits in Ward 2, while the development's only entrance, on Admiral Drive, falls within Ward 3.
Radio Roots and Community Concerns
WNAV first began broadcasting on April 22, 1949, taking its call sign in honor of the nearby U.S. Naval Academy, and operated out of its Radio Park building at 236 Admiral Drive for more than seven decades. Game show host Pat Sajak acquired the station in 1998 through Sajak Broadcasting Corporation, according to the Washingtonian. In October 2021, Sajak Broadcasting sold the station's license to BMSC Media for $1,000 while contributing $100,000 toward relocation costs, allowing Sajak to retain the land itself for eventual sale to developers. WNAV now broadcasts from the Maryland Public Television tower in Crownsville. Local broadcast veterans and museum representatives gathered at the Admiral Drive site in May to rescue vintage equipment, archives and historical artifacts before the studio building's planned demolition, according to the Severna Park Voice.
About 100 people attended a community meeting at the Michael E. Busch Annapolis Library to weigh in on the plan, where attendees raised concerns about traffic. Charles Gross said Admiral Drive is already dangerous because of traffic volume and driving behavior. Resident Grace Matthews said she was concerned the project would bring too many houses to the area, while Elizabeth Janney said she was personally excited about the project. A Lenhart Traffic Consulting study, per the city, reported that the redevelopment would have minimal impact on nearby streets compared with existing traffic conditions.
Design Tweaks and Remaining Questions
In response to feedback, engineer Drum Loyka drew modified plans after a planning commission work session, and the amended plan includes a site-layout reconfiguration that removes an alley along with a widened bike path. Ward 3 council member Keanuú Smith-Brown said he has concerns about the project and plans to wait to share specifics until hearing more from residents in his ward, where the development's entrance would be located.
Under Annapolis's Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit ordinance, any residential project with 10 or more units must set aside 15% of its for-sale homes as affordable housing for moderate-income households, meaning city rules require at least seven moderately priced units in this development. Those units carry a sale price or rent below market rate. The requirement echoes Anne Arundel County's broader Housing Attainability Act, which took effect in July 2025 and requires 10% of for-sale units in new subdivisions of 10 or more homes to be moderately priced, according to Arundel Community Development Services.
The affordability requirement lands amid a tight regional housing market. The median home sale price across Anne Arundel County reached between $529,000 and $535,000 in June, a 2.4% year-over-year increase, according to Redfin. Active listings countywide hovered between 1,700 and 2,400 homes in mid-2026, with properties selling in a median of 15 to 37 days, per Realtor.com data — conditions that could shape both demand and pricing for whatever eventually rises on the former Radio Park site. According to Arundel Community Development Services' May 2019 Affordable Housing Needs Assessment, annual growth in the Annapolis submarket was projected at 0.5 percent.
