A few years ago, the New Carrollton Metro Station was surrounded by nothing but parking lots, adjacent to more parking lots.
But on Tuesday afternoon, politicians and Metro employees gathered next to Metro’s newly opened Maryland headquarters, as well as a massive apartment complex that’s a few months away from opening. About 1,200 workers will come to work every day at the new headquarters.
鈥淲hat is happening here is just a continuation of success,鈥� said Gov. Wes Moore, who acknowledged County Executive Angela Alsobrooks by citing a rap lyric, 鈥渋n the words of DJ Khaled, all you do is win.鈥�
But for Metro General Manager Randy Clarke, the opening of this new office building helps Metro consolidate itself into a better, more affordable building.
鈥淟ast time I was here, there was half the buildings going on,鈥� he joked, taking note of the progress that other projects have made at the site.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e only probably five years away from when you have thousands of people within a couple blocks all interacting around arguably one of the best regional transit hubs in America,鈥� Clarke said. 鈥淚 mean there鈥檚 a lot happening at New Carrollton. This has a chance to be just an incredible mobility hub for this region.鈥�
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Among the 1,200 or so employees coming here to work every day will be the management staff of Metro Transit Police, as well as Metro Access, parking and customer service call centers.
鈥淭hat is an economic anchor for this region,鈥� Clarke boasted.
Moore described the development center as being bigger than just some new offices and apartments.
鈥淭his is not just about how we are moving people to opportunity, but how we are moving opportunity to people,鈥� the governor said.
鈥淲e have the ability to bring people who can not only live here, but work here, make sure that they are able to also shop, and have all the amenities that we鈥檝e looked for, for so long,鈥� Alsobrooks said. 鈥淭his also just connects us to the region in a very powerful way and makes possible everything else we鈥檇 like to see come to Prince George鈥檚.
鈥淭his has walkability, ‘bikeability,’ so it鈥檚 a whole new home for many who will be moving into Prince George鈥檚 County and helping us to grow, not only our commercial tax base, but to grow our community,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is now the premier transit hub on the eastern seaboard.鈥�
Still to come is the more than $20 million federal grant to rebuild the train hall a few hundred feet away.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to have Amtrak coming in. You鈥檙e going to have MARC coming in. You鈥檙e of course going to have Metro coming in, and this will be the link to also the Purple Line,鈥� Sen. Chris Van Hollen noted. He said thousands of more jobs are still on track to move to this area.
鈥淲e are on the move,鈥� Van Hollen said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 another example of how Prince George鈥檚 County is on the move.”
