Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker on Wednesday offered up a proposed $50 million investment in a long-planned Suitland development, while reiterating his commitment to move key government offices — including his own — from Upper Marlboro to Largo.
“We will move more government operations there, including the Office of the County Executive, making it more convenient for residents to come,” Baker said in a speech to the Prince George’s business community. “Over the past four years, we have invested $40 million in the Largo area by purchasing three buildings, which includes the new County Government Center, and I hope that one day this building will carry the name of [former county executive] Wayne Curry.”
In his State of the Economy address, hosted by the Prince George’s Business Roundtable and the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp., Baker reflected on five years of “bold and innovative steps” to move Prince George’s from a jurisdiction that the business community avoids to one it seeks out.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Prince George’s County is in demand, because we laid a foundation that we can now build upon,” Baker said. “I’m not saying we have arrived. Oh no, we still have a lot of work to do. We can’t slow down or let up, because there are so many opportunities ahead of us that we must prepare for so that we don’t miss out or get overlooked. But in order for us to remain competitive, we have to step up our game and focus on making ourselves attractive to potential investors whether they be businesses or families.”
And that means invigorating parts of the county the private sector has largely avoided, whether New Carrollton or Suitland or Largo or Greenbelt (perhaps, the future home of the FBI). The land around most of the county’s Metro stations is underdeveloped.
Suitland has “incredible assets,” Baker said, including the 8,000-employee U.S. Census Bureau, a great housing stock and a Metro station. This summer, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis will relocate to the Suitland Federal Center, while the Redevelopment Authority of Prince George’s County — the owner of 17 acres generally bounded by Suitland Road, Silver Hill Road and Homer Avenue — should be at work soon on engineering and design of the town center.