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Md.'s DHCD Move Angers Anne Arundel

By: Elliott Francis // September 20, 2011
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The new 700,000 square foot development that will house Maryland's Department of Housing and Community Development, shown here in an artist's rendering, will be located near the Metro and MARC stations in New Carrollton.
Maryland DCHD
The new 700,000 square foot development that will house Maryland's Department of Housing and Community Development, shown here in an artist's rendering, will be located near the Metro and MARC stations in New Carrollton.

Two Maryland county executives are at odds over the relocation by the state's Department of Housing and Community Development from Anne Arundel County to Prince George’s County.

When Governor Martin O’Malley announced DHCD would move from its current location in Crownsville, Md. to a new 700,000-square-foot complex in New Carrolton, Anne Arundel County executive John Leopold objected. 

"Moving around state employees during a time of economic stress is not the right approach," Leopold wrote in a letter to the state comptroller.

Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker says the mixed-use complex that will house DHCD, which is designed for easy mass transit access, will revitalize this area of his county. 

“This will create jobs, it will create retail, it will create affordable housing, so this is all tremendous for us," Baker says. "It's one of the visions I have for us as county executive coming into Prince George's County."             

The relocation of DHCD makes good on a campaign promise made by Governor O’Malley five years ago to locate a state agency's headquarters in the county.

Pending final approval by the state board of public works, the complex is slated to open in the fall of 2013.

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