Selling Prince George’s

Johnson says county’s economic health makes it attractive to investors

Prince George’s County has Maryland’s second-largest workforce, a steady job growth rate and a track record for commercial development that makes it a leader in the Washington region.

They’re elated that Prince George’s has secured a higher Wall Street bond rating after a round of calls Johnson and other leaders made in New York recently.

Johnson says Prince George’s is faring better than other jurisdictions in the region, even as the housing market slows down and the state begins to grapple with a looming budget deficit of $1.5 billion.

That helps in the quest for the elusive, high-end retailer. Attracting a Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus has become a symbol of success for local leaders, representing affirmation that the county can compete with its neighbors in opportunity and affluence.

Johnson said he and Gov. Martin O’Malley planned to meet with one high-end retailer in Las Vegas, but he would not disclose its identity.

‘‘It’s a matter of process and time. You don’t recruit stores by going to Nordstrom and saying ‘Look. Come to Prince George’s County.’ It doesn’t work that way,” Johnson said. ‘‘We are far closer. I’m hoping ... we will absolutely announce something before I leave office (in 2010), long before I leave office.”

For Prince George’s the steps to attaining high-end offerings have been incremental.

Last May, upscale grocery chain Wegmans announced it would build an anchor store in Glenarden in 2008.

Last month, developers of the 300-acre National Harbor project in Oxon Hill announced the April 25, 2008, opening date for the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, billed as the largest non-gaming hotel and convention center on the East Coast. They also unveiled a roster of planned white tablecloth restaurants, now scarce in the county.

And today, that momentum began to pay off, as the PGA’s Nationwide Tour prepared to kick off a four-day tournament at Mitchellville’s Country Club at Woodmore - a county first. Officials hope the event will cast the community in a whole new light.

‘‘The ... tournament says Prince George’s County is on the rise,” said James Dula, CEO of the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce. ‘‘It says Prince George’s County has ascended to the next level.”

The county got another splash in the headlines two weeks ago when Queen Elizabeth II toured the NASA Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt.

All these developments mean the county is ready to step up its game.

‘‘We have great economic development taking place in Prince George’s County,” Dula said.

Officials went to New York to request a bond rating increase from the three major rating agencies on Wall Street. Bond ratings are based on the issuer's ability to pay back debt, and are seen as an indication of fiscal health. Johnson wrote the Council that the rating agency Moody's increased the county's rating from Aa2 to Aa1. Standard & Poor's and Fitch are the other two rating agencies.

Johnson presented pages of data there on the county’s financial standing.

For instance, the county’s property values are expected to grow faster than the rest of the state’s largest jurisdictions for at least the next two years, according to state taxation projections.

At $731 million, the value of Prince George’s County’s 2005 commercial construction projects approaches Washington’s $862 million in construction, and is well above that of the surrounding suburbs - and a precursor to job growth.

More recently, Prince George’s recorded the second highest employment growth among the state’s largest jurisdictions in the first two months of 2007, adding 14,150 jobs over the same time last year. Montgomery County had the highest growth, adding 15,387 jobs.

And employment in the county is projected to grow 52 percent by 2030, according to a report by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments — even though the population is only expected to climb 16 percent. Those projections suggest Prince George’s has much greater opportunities for job growth than Montgomery County or the District.

‘‘The people here not only deserve [the upscale market], but they have the disposable cash,” said M.H. ‘Jim’ Estepp, CEO of the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable. ‘‘These companies would have to be absolutely blind to not see the potential.”

Estepp and the Roundtable recently announced a $9 billion, long-term plan to redevelop the corridor surrounding Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, in part to coincide with the influx of jobs and residents coming as a result of the military’s Base Realignment and Closure plan. The plan is expected to relocate thousands of military employees to the region.

Estepp said he’s talked to at least 50 companies interested in locating in the redeveloped area, since the Roundtable announced the plan in March.

Nevertheless, the county has a long way to go to achieve the status it wants. Recent data has shown that 60 percent of the county’s workers commute to jobs outside Prince George’s County.

Despite downturns in crime last year, homicides spiked 56 percent in the first quarter of 2007, over this time last year.

The public schools are struggling to ramp up student achievement.

The political discord over the county’s financially strapped hospital system this year also shook the public’s faith in the government’s ability to sustain reliable healthcare.

And a series of scandals involving public officials continues to attract negative attention to the county. Former county Homeland Security Deputy Director Keith Washington is under investigation for shooting two furniture deliverymen in his home in January and for allegedly pulling a gun on an appraiser. School board member Nathaniel B. Thomas is under investigation for a series of allegedly inappropriate relationships he carried on with Prince George’s students.

Estepp admitted the county needs to improve its governance image.

Fort Washington resident Alonzo Grigsby said the county will have to work on issues like public safety and basic appearance before it is able to enter the big leagues with the big retailers and restaurants.

‘‘Sooner or later, the retailers are going to take another look at all of Prince George’s County, and decide that it has a rich potential and that they should invest in the community with whatever they have to offer,” said Grigsby, a member of the Greater South County Coalition for Absolute Progress.

Dula said the abundance of housing, the vast workforce and the incoming high-quality development all should be harbingers of an upscale commercial presence.

‘‘We need to build on the great qualities we have in Prince George’s, because they far outweigh the negatives,” Dula said.

E-mail Judson Berger at jberger@gazette.net.