County pitches for high-end retail

Officials say it’s coming

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Bryan Haynes⁄The Gazette Patricia Thornton, a business development specialist with Prince George’s County government, talks with J. Aaron Warren (left) and his brother Shane, owners of Warren Homes and founders of the Minority Building Industry Association, at Friday’s forum on retail in the county.

‘‘When are you coming toour county?”

Sincerely,The residents and officialsof Prince George’s County, Md.

Last week, representatives of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp., county government and the International Council of Shopping Centers, a national trade group, held a forum at the University of Maryland, College Park, to again ask that seemingly perennial question.

Alphonso Cornish, the county’s chief administrative officer, said new projects are on the horizon, projects that will satisfy residents’ craving for high-end retailers.

‘‘This county has experienced a tremendous renaissance,” Cornish told the crowd that numbered 177, according to county officials. ‘‘And those of you that are not doing business in Prince George’s, you’re missing out.”

Kerry G. ‘‘Kwasi” Holman, president and CEO of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp. in Largo, said he hopes the forum will become an annual event.

In a statement, County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) called Prince George’s ‘‘the best-kept secret in the entire nation.”

Arthur Turner, chairman of the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce’s economic development committee, said residents have spent years patiently waiting for upscale merchants to set up shop in Prince George’s, the wealthiest majority black county in the nation.

And for years, residents and officials have speculated on the reasons behind the retailers’ reluctance, with some pointing to race and others blaming the county’s high rate of violent crime and lagging school system.

The county has the economy to support a Nordstrom or Saks, but race plays a factor, Turner said.

‘‘People here have money,” he said. ‘‘It’s just a matter of them shedding any preconceived notions that they may have, and coming into Prince George’s to make money.”

Turner, a longtime advocate for high-end retail in the county, said the Feb. 2 forum was a good initiative to tell developers that ‘‘the county is open for business.”

There are Nordstrom stores in Anne Arundel, Montgomery and Howard counties, whose demographics may appeal more than those of Prince George’s to upscale retailers, according to Census data.

In a published report, Johnson said that Nordstrom had almost committed to building at National Harbor, the $2 billion mixed-use project being constructed on the banks of the Potomac in Fort Washington. But Deniz Anders, a Nordstrom spokeswoman, said otherwise.

‘‘We have no current plans to build in Prince George’s County,” Anders said.

On its Web site, the Nordstrom chain, headquartered in Seattle, lists 13 future store openings through 2008 — with none in Maryland. Nordstrom has 155 stores in 27 states.

The 300-acre National Harbor promises to serve 33 million visitors per year, according to its developer, The Peterson Cos. of Fairfax, Va. The highlight of the project is the $565 million Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. The 42-acre project, with 1,500 hotel rooms and 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space, is scheduled for a 2008 completion.

Since the announcement of the National Harbor project, developers ‘‘have flocked to the county with additional investments,” Cornish said in a statement.

Elsewhere in the county, other big projects, including the mixed-use Karington in Bowie, Konterra in Laurel and Greenbelt Station, plus the 13-acre M Square research park at the University of Maryland, College Park, are under construction.

Newer shopping malls — including the Boulevard at the Capital Centre in Largo, Bowie Town Center and The Mall at Prince George’s — have largely been successful, according to mall owners and county officials.

But areas inside the Capital Beltway, including the abandoned Landover Mall site and Beltway Plaza in Greenbelt, have frustrated residents who say the area is littered with discount stores.

Last summer, three residents formed Upscale Prince George’s, a nonprofit group with the mission of bringing upscale retail inside the Beltway.

Gregory Holmes, group founder, cautioned residents not to place too much stock in high-end retail.

‘‘Upscale retail won’t cure social ills,” Holmes said, pointing to the county’s crime rate.

Holmes believes the National Harbor project will bring high-end retailers to the county, mainly because of the amount of money spent on building the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which connects southern Prince George’s and Virginia.

Holmes said race plays ‘‘some role,” but should not be blamed for the dearth of upscale stores. The county should focus on economic development to build its tax base, he said.

Holmes doubts some of the promises made about high-end retail coming to the county.

‘‘I don’t think we have what they say we have,” Holmes said.

In other developments on the county’s retail landscape, the Michael Cos. of Lanham plans to develop the Ritchie Hill Marketplace in Capitol Heights, a 130-acre development anchored by Wal-Mart, Kohl’s and Sam’s Club.

Also, as part of Federated Department Stores’ $11 billion takeover of the May Department Stores Co. of St. Louis, most Hecht’s stores will be converted to Federated’s Macy’s brand.

There are four Hecht’s stores in Prince George’s: at Bowie Town Center, Marlow Heights Shopping Center, the Mall at Prince George’s and Laurel Mall.