Challenges and Opportunities Historically, the county has not strategically prioritized its investments, diluting their overall impact on the county’s economy. This trend can be reversed by targeting emerging economic hubs that exhibit the highest potential for sustained job generation, such as our PIDs and Primary Employment Areas, and capitalizing on our existing and planned transit infrastructure, including the Purple Line (see the Transportation Element).
Economic Performance
The county’s economic performance over the past decade has made it clear that “business as usual” will not attract the investments and generate the jobs and incomes to support a high quality of life for Prince George’s County residents.
One such example is the planned $650 million state-of-the-art regional medical center adjacent to Largo Town Center Metro Station. The center will become a “hotspot” in the county for medical and biopharmaceutical research, health care services, and healthrelated education and training. It creates an enormous opportunity in one of the Plan 2035’s designated PIDs to catalyze job growth, attract investment, grow our commercial tax base, and promote transit-oriented development. The county has not effectively competed for regional investment. Administrative and other disincentives are commonly cited as discouraging potential investors. By streamlining the development approval processes in targeted areas, and ensuring consistency and transparency in decision making, the county will enhance its appeal to businesses and development. Investment is attracted to an educated and entrepreneurial workforce. Maximizing job training programs, capitalizing on higher education and research institutions, strengthening small businesses, and fostering entrepreneurship will help retain recent graduates and start-ups (in particular from the knowledge-based sectors) in the county. These efforts will also address the county’s wage gap. Low wages not only impact the quality of life of our residents, but constrain economic growth by diminishing the county’s overall purchasing power, which is essential to attracting and supporting local businesses. Tackling the digital divide presents another opportunity to reduce the county’s wage gap by enhancing access to educational and economic opportunities, as well as to public services. Investment is also drawn to areas with a high quality of life. Developing transit-oriented, vibrant places, providing the right type of housing, establishing a county brand, and responding to quality of life concerns–related to crime and the public school system– are all critical to attracting new employers and workers. To meet workers’ changing housing preferences, it will be particularly important to encourage significant multifamily development in our economic submarkets, especially those with strong office markets such as College Park/Riverdale, Greenbelt/Berwyn Heights, and Largo. Strategically deploying advanced digital infrastructure will draw high-tech and research and development businesses to targeted locations spurring innovation, spin-off development, and job creation.
100 PLAN Prince George’s 2035