The Prince George’s County Planning Department is launching a new project in 2022 to create an interactive, online toolkit to encourage and support the redevelopment and improvement of struggling suburban retail centers throughout Prince George’s County into new sustainable, thriving places that better serve the Prince George’s County community. 

Even before the detrimental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on brick-and-mortar stores, recent plans and studies identified that the County “has a surplus of retail space, primarily located in older shopping centers, whose location and characteristics are unlikely to attract the type of tenants for which there is unmet retail demand” resulting in a number of corridors and shopping centers that are “at risk of failing completely.” (Prince George’s County 2017 Competitive Retail Market Strategic Action Plan, p. 5). 

At the same time, however, new trends may create new opportunities for struggling shopping centers. For example, increased teleworking may support new in-person retail growth closer to where people live, in both urban and suburban neighborhoods. The expansion of the health industry presents an opportunity to replace vacant or struggling storefronts with medical office space, health clinics or other healthcare uses. Some retail spaces could be modified to support local entrepreneurs and small startups in shared market/food hall spaces. Other centers may be appropriate for mixed-use development. 

The Retail Revitalization Guide will explore the range of solutions available to private property owners and to County agencies, from small-scale improvements to complete redevelopment projects. A primary goal of this effort will be to inform commercial property owners about the potential financial benefits of revitalizing their properties and it will seek to motivate users to take action with an interactive toolkit that will include illustrations of potential revitalization strategies, imagery of successful projects, and step-by-step recommendations for implementation. 

The recommendations included in the Retail Revitalization Guide will be applicable to the entirety of Prince George’s County. Since the commercial corridor along Branch Avenue/MD 5 from the District of Columbia border to McKendree Road features different commercial property typologies facing a variety of challenges that have been thoroughly analyzed and studied by previous Planning Department and County efforts, pilot projects shall be drawn from this area. 

This project will launch in 2022 and this page will be updated with more information over time.

The recommendations included in the Retail Revitalization Guide will be applicable to the entirety of Prince George’s County. Since the commercial corridor along Branch Avenue/MD 5 from the District of Columbia border to McKendree Road features different commercial property typologies facing a variety of challenges that have been thoroughly analyzed and studied by previous Planning Department and County efforts, pilot projects shall be drawn from this area.

Download map of focus area (PDF, 1.2mb).