GREENBELT, Md. (Map, News) - The nation’s largest owner and operator of apartment communities wants Prince George’s County to shut down Springhill Lake Elementary School in Greenbelt as part of a redevelopment plan for the nearby apartment community.

Denver-based Apartment Investment and Management Co. owns the 2,889-unit Springhill Lake, home to many University of Maryland students from the College Park campus.

AIMCO wants to demolish the existing apartments and elementary school then build 5,800 dwelling units and a minimum of 15,000 square feet of mixed-use retail, according to a Planning Board staff report. Under the proposal, the elementary school and its 610 students would then be combined with Greenbelt Middle.

Additional facilities would be built, and AIMCO is offering $20 million for that cause, according to schools spokesman John White.

But, White told The Examiner Tuesday, “$20 million is not necessarily our cost estimate.”

“[The board is] just now having an opportunity to ask questions, which leads them to believe the public may have questions as well,” White said.

The Board of Education’s Capital Improvement Program committee is holding the hearing at 6 p.m. tonight at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, 7601 Hanover Parkway in Greenbelt.

“We want to ensure that as development continues in Prince George’s county, the schools are able to keep pace,” Board of Education member Ron Watson said.

At AIMCO’s request, Planning Board spokeswoman Andrea Davey said the board last week continued the case indefinitely because the firm did not have the go-ahead from the Board of Education.

“The Board of Education would have to approve any construction that involves our schools, or they would have to build around our property,” White said.

“We have a capital improvement program. This project is not on it. It’s something the developer is proposing.”

dfowler@dcexaminer.com