Prince George’s political leaders have so often invoked plans for a grand new FBI headquarters complex as one of the county’s economic triumphs that it almost felt like a done deal.
County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) even included the project when describing $12 billion in projected investment during his two terms in office — a fitting narrative for his nascent gubernatorial campaign.
Then the federal government pulled the plug.
The Trump administration’s decision this week to halt new headquarters contract caught Baker and other politicians by surprise, and left residents and local business owners wondering what other projects could be lured to the large parcels in Greenbelt and Landover that were finalists in the FBI’s search (the third finalist was in Springfield, Va.).
County officials had hoped a headquarters complex would trigger the kind of transformative growth that the Pentagon did when it was built in Arlington decades ago. Now they are waiting to see whether the General Services Administrative may pursue a smaller FBI relocation that would still work for one of the parcels.