s Greater Washington continues to navigate change, economic development officials say there are opportunities for the region’s business leaders to collaborate with the community at large.
High-profile projects, such as the five-year Downtown Action Plan to revitalize the city’s core district and the planned new FBI headquarters campus in Greenbelt, have the potential to create an influx of jobs.
This type of economic development efforts that blend public and private investment are part of the solution to address the wide range of pressures facing the D.C. area, including growth, housing affordability and the post-pandemic transformation of office culture.
Prince George’s County, Maryland, for example, has placed much of its economic development focus on the Blue Line Corridor, a series of transit-oriented development projects along the D.C. Metro system’s Blue Line. The strategy is to focus public funding in a way that will be a catalyst for private sector investment, said Angie Rodgers, deputy chief administrative officer for economic development in the office of County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
Rodgers pointed out that so far, the effort has attracted more than $500 million in public funding and approximately $2 billion in private investment.
