County Exec: Fed Decision Not to Tap Prince George's County 'Extremely Disappointing'

The federal government’s decision to turn down three Prince George’s County property sites as locations for the Department of Health and Human Services is “extremely disappointing,” according to a statement by County Executive Rushern Baker’s office.

The federal General Services Administration announced that Rockville will continue to be the location for major offices of HHS.

Baker based a large part of his campaign for county executive on expanding the tax base in the county by attracting more federal agencies and corporations into office space.  Attracting more high-end employers to the county would help spur economic development and increase commercial tax revenues, Baker has said in the past.

“Prince George’s County has consistently been overlooked when it comes to placing federal office tenants,” Baker spokesperson Scott Peterson said in a statement released Wednesday. “To date, Prince George’s County is home to over one-fourth of the region’s federal workforce but only 3 percent of federal office space leased in the region.”

Prince George’s County had offered three potential locations at Metro stations in Largo, New Carrollton and Hyattsville.

“Despite this disappointing news, Prince George’s County is now more determined than ever to attract federal tenants to our county,” the statement said. “While we congratulate (Executive) Ike Leggett and Montgomery County, we will aggressively pursue any and all opportunities to gain federal tenants that match our goals for development.”

According to the Gazette, the GSA announced HHS would elect to remain in the Parklawn Building, which will undergo $100 million in renovations.