Max Smith, wtop.com
WASHINGTON — The promise was Mickey Mouse just off the Beltway, but now the project has been scrapped.
Disney had plans for a huge resort hotel at National Harbor, and even bought the land for the project back in 2009. It’s a prime spot up on a hill that overlooks the rest of the development. It also has a view of the Potomac and even the Washington Monument.
But now, Disney says the timing “isn’t right to proceed with another new project of this scale.”
“We remain focused on new Disney experiences currently in the pipeline, which include a new cruise ship, a massive expansion of Fantasyland at Walt Disney World … our expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland and our new Shanghai Disney Resort,” Disney spokeswoman Kristin Nolt Wingard said in a statement.
National Harbor developer Jon Peterson says the decision is disappointing, and he will look to buy the land back so it can be used for something else.
Despite the disappointment, he says there are still plans to break ground over the next year on a big Tanger Outlet center and a new mixed use apartment complex.
Prince George’s County officials are also dismayed by the news.
“The Baker administration is disappointed, but it wont stop us from continuing to aggressively pursue other development opportunities,” says Scott Peterson, spokesperson for County Executive Rushern Baker.
The county will use the new development fund introduced this year to help bring other projects to the county, Peterson says.
Disney has backed out of plans to build in our area before. The company deciding to give up the idea of a history themed park in Prince William County in the 1990s after many in the community objected.
