Better late than never? DC Metrorail Blue Line Corridor Coalition advocates for TOD, 45 years after line opens

TOD = transit oriented development--office buildings, residential buildings, retail, mixed use buildings containing portions of the other three.

Image from REFin Blog.

The Blue Line is one of six DC Metrorail heavy rail lines.  The bulk of the line opened in 1977, at that time ending on the east at Stadium-Armory in DC.  Two stations in Prince George's County opened in 1980, Capitol Heights and Addison Road, along with Benning Road in DC ("Signs of Change, Missing on Metro," Washington Post).  

Largo station was renamed Downtown Largo aspirationally, as a new medical center was built there and with hope renewed for revitalization.

Later Maryland paid to extend the line two stops east, to provide service to professional football's FedEx Stadium.  Service to Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center commenced in 2004 ("Three New Metro Stations To Open Before Year's End," Washington Post).

The area served by the Blue Line in Prince George's County has languished for decades ("The Commanders may relocate. Neighbors say good riddance," Washington Post).  At one point, the area's professional basketball and hockey teams played at Cap Centre, along the corridor.  When the teams moved back to DC, a shopping center was built in its place, and didn't do well.

Once the Washington Commanders football team indicated it would abandon its stadium in Largo, the county has realized it needs to pay attention and put resources into improvement ("Maryland pitched expansive development to keep Commanders — and stave off economic devastation if they leave," Washington Post).  This year the team signed an agreement to move to DC.

Why they didn't do it before, especially because sports teams are lauded as great platforms for ancillary development ("You get what you plan for: the multi-use Miami Hard Rock Stadium versus typical football stadiums | Washington Commanders" and "Sports facilities and the reproduction of retail space often doesn't work for the locals") is beyond me.

Vision for a new Downtown Largo, with the football stadium in the upper left of the rendering.

Out of the failed effort to keep the football stadium, the Blue Line Corridor Coalition was formed.

--"Prince George's County's newly announced transit oriented development program for the Blue Line," 2022
-- "Backwardness of transportation and land use planning: National Harbor, Prince George's County, Maryland | Why isn't high capacity transit access required from the outset?," 2022
-- Branding for Downtown Largo, Maryland National Park and Planning Commission
-- "Major Blue Line projects aim to transform Prince George’s County. Residents hope it’s for the better," WAMU/NPR
-- Ten Principles for Developing Successful Town Centers, Urban Land Institute, 2007

According to the WTOP article from a few days ago, "Blue Line Corridor Coalition aims to keep revitalization alive in this part of Md.," the initiative is revving up.

The “Blue Line Corridor” is Prince George’s County’s main economic redevelopment and revitalization project, and the wheels were put into motion before the federal upheaval started impacting the region. Those involved say that upheaval has made the job harder, but it isn’t putting a stop to the project.

A group of developers, elected leaders, business owners and residents came together Wednesday to celebrate the creation of the Blue Line Corridor Coalition. It’s a group that aims to bring together all the stakeholders focused on revitalizing the area closest to the D.C. line and make sure everyone is pulling in the same direction.

“It’s to coordinate our efforts so that we’re moving more strategically, we don’t waste resources, but we also make sure that everyone’s bought in to what eventually happens,” state Del. Jazz Lewis said.

....“We have four metro stops, and 15% of the land around those metro stops is vacant lands,” he said. “Where in other parts of our region can you see vacant land, near Metro? So as the gateway to D.C., with connections to Amazon headquarters, with connections to Dulles and to DCA, not to mention the Capitol, this central part of the county, the Blue Line corridor, is primed for revitalization. We want to make sure that revitalization is community driven.”

But why should it have taken so long to leverage the development opportunity from transit?  The Blue Line stations in Prince George's fist opened in 1980.

From the Washington Informer article, "Central Prince Georgians Launch Blue Line Corridor Coalition:"

“We are here to rehearse the future,” said Bryan Franklin, the deputy director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), to the gathering of 30 people at Mini Plaza shopping center in Seat Pleasant. “At the core of the coalition is the vision to create a thriving Blue Line Corridor where history and culture fuels progress, and those who call these neighborhoods home share in its growth. We’re collectively rehearsing a future where vacant lots turn into new homes, a six-lane highway turns into a walkable boulevard and where empty storefronts transform into places where memories are made. The BLCC is built on five years of community engagement, over $6 billion of investments, and a LISC model to generate a 4:1 return on investment.” 

 (FWIW, DC LISC has never impressed me.  LISC groups in other cities are better.

Past writings:

-- "The future of mixed use development/urbanization: Part 3, Prince George's County, where's the there?," 2011
-- "A recommended new planning direction for Prince George's County," 2011
-- "Another lesson that Prince George's County has a three to five year window to reposition based on visionary transportation planning," 2011
-- "Frustration #3: the talk about transit oriented development and Prince George's County," 2013
-- "Prince George's County still doesn't get "transit oriented development" and walkable communities: Greenbelt edition," 2012

Why did it take so long for them to get purposive? | What to do?

1.  No vision.  Build it and they will come was the paradigm.  Trickle down development takes decades.

 Even though it has a total of 14 Metrorail stations on four different lines, Prince George's County didn't think it needed to change in the face of Metrorail.  Didn't think of Metrorail as an opportunity, a way to leverage and reposition the county's development vision towards transit and away from automobile dependence.

By contrast, Montgomery County has significantly leveraged the Red Line, which often serves what had been preexisting centers and built upon them.  Arlington County shifted to an in-county for the Orange Line from an in-freeway routing, spurring billions of dollars of revitalization ("The Effect of Transit-Oriented Development in Arlington, Virginia on Transportation Choices").

The county has had a few transit focused revitalization initiatives but they were under resourced and support was intermittent.  

2.  That's why you need a related "Transformational Projects Action Planning" ("Updating the best practice elements of revitalization to include elements 7 and 8 | Transformational Projects Action Planning at a large scale") process for transit lines and transit stations, to best leverage the return on investment from transit infrastructure.

3. Relatedly but subtly different is what I call a plan to leverage new transit infrastructure to drive complementary improvements across the transit network, to further improve ridership and the likelihood of success.  I've written a few such conceptual pieces, the most realized is for the Purple Line light rail in Montgomery and Prince George's County.

-- "Codifying the complementary transit network improvements and planning initiatives recommended in the Purple Line writings," (2022)

-- Setting the stage for the Purple Line light rail line to be an overwhelming success: Part 1 | simultaneously introduce improvements to other elements of the transit network (2017)
-- Part 2 |   the program (macro changes) (2017)
-- Part 3 |   influences (2017)
-- Part 4 |   Making over New Carrollton as a transit-centric urban center and Prince George's County's "New Downtown" (2017, originally 2014)
 -- Part 6 |  Creating a transportation development authority in Montgomery and Prince George's County to effectuate placemaking, retail development, and housing programs in association with the Purple Line (2017)
-- Part 7 | Using the Purple Line to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward (2017)
-- Revisiting the Purple Line article series after one year: Part 1 | a couple of baby steps (2018)
-- Revisiting the Purple Line (series) and a more complete program of complementary improvements to the transit network (2019)

4.  PG County was given a second chance with the Purple Line light rail line but still hasn't fully jumped on the opportunity.

One thing I'd add to their agenda is extending the Purple Line west towards Virginia to connect to the Blue and Green Lines.  

There is zero expansion planning of the Purple Line currently--the line (from Bethesda to New Carrollton on this map, with 20 stations) is now going to open in January 2028.

It would definitely add connectivity value to the Blue Line corridor.

5.  Fortunately the Blue Line Corridor Coalition appears that they are ready wants to do large scale revitalization planning for the football stadium site,  And the County is already committed to repattern the urban form of Largo ("Downtown is not a word without meaning: renaming the Largo Town Center to Downtown Largo is without meaning," 2021).  It's going to be a couple decade process, especially with the decreased demand for commercial space.

6.  For years, I've suggested PG County move its county center to a metro station catchment area.  They did move a bunch of agencies to Largo, but they are mostly disconnected.  Such a move, while expensive could be transformational.

Racism and Equity

It could be argued that as the metropolitan area's only majority black county that there has been deliberate disinvestment.  I won't argue the point.  But like most regions, the metropolitan area is not unique in shifting west over the decades.

That being said, for decades PG County has been recognized as a relatively high income majority black county.

There is probably less real estate development vis a vis the demographics and because there are better returns elsewhere.  

Some developers say that PG County Schools lag significantly compared to other jurisdictions so they are reticent to build housing for fear it won't sell (or at least not for what they can get in better locations).

There have been attempts to attract government agencies to Metrorail stations.  Some have located at New Carrollton.  Others are in the vicinity of College Park Station.  The County has been unsuccessful in landing the FBI at Greenbelt.  

Like I've argued for DC's East of the River, St. Louis, Pontiac, Michigan, and the East side of Montgomery County, this section of PG County needs a focused revitalization plan.

-- "I wonder if Mayor Fenty hadn't dissolved the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative in 2007, merging it into another city agency, if development would have happened faster?," 2024
-- "Revisiting the 11th Street Bridge Park project as an opportunity rather than a folly: a new revitalization agenda for East of the River, DC," (2024)
-- St. Louis: what would I recommend for a comprehensive revitalization program? | Part 1: Overview and Theoretical Foundations," (2021)
-- "St. Louis: what would I recommend for a comprehensive revitalization program? | Part 2: Implementation Approach and Levers," (2021)
-- "Revisiting St. Louis revitalization planning in the face of population shrinkage," (2023)
-- "Pontiac Michigan: a lagging African American city in one of the nation's wealthiest counties," (2022)
-- "East County, Montgomery County, Maryland: Council redistricting spurs ideas for revitalization | Part 1 -- Overview," (2021)