The Maryland Board of Public Works met for the first time with its new chair Gov. Wes Moore and Comptroller Brooke Lierman.
Moore was eager to get started and excited to bring up one of Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ top priorities as the very first item on his agenda.
Alsobrooks showed up in Annapolis to lobby the state for a memorandum of understanding that will begin the process of authorizing up to $400 million in bonds through the Maryland Stadium Authority to kick-start the redevelopment of the Blue Line corridor.
Her testimony before the board, which also includes State Treasurer Dereck Davis, a former state lawmaker from Prince George’s County, lasted only about three minutes; but even before that, Moore made it clear that he agreed with Alsobrooks’ vision for the future of the county.
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The bond money will help pay for “site acquisition, planning, design and construction of sports and entertainment projects along the Blue Line corridor,” Alsobrooks said.
Her vision would turn an “underutilized transit corridor” into a major destination around the region that’s both walkable and bikeable.
“We want to provide greater access to amenities Prince Georgians have waited for decades,” Alsobrooks said. “By adding an amphitheater, youth sports field house, library and cultural center and other infrastructure improvements … Prince Georgians will have a wonderful set of new amenities to enjoy in their own backyard.”
Much of that new construction will happen in the area around FedEx Field and is meant in part to help entice the Washington Commanders to build a new stadium on land the team already owns by making that area a year-round destination.
But county leaders have been adamant and vocal that this redevelopment will happen whether there’s a football team playing nearby or not.
Alsobrooks has also made clear that she expects the construction and economic revitalization to stretch all the way through Capitol Heights and to the D.C. line, taking advantage of the proximity to downtown Largo, Morgan Boulevard, Addison Road and Capitol Heights stations.
For his part, Moore admitted that he was excited about the future plans there, and no one else on the board needed to say anything since the project had already gotten previous approvals leading up to this point from both the General Assembly and the board when it was chaired by former Gov. Larry Hogan.
“This is going to be an economic game-changer for Prince George’s County and for the state, the communities surrounding the Blue Line corridor, and a great win for our state and for our region,” Moore said.
