The Greenbelt City Council listened to a panel of experts discuss the development opportunities possible for Greenbelt in coming years and how they might be achieved at its October 18 worksession. Participating in the session were David Iannucci, assistant deputy chief administrative officer for Economic Development and Public Infrastructure for Prince George’s County; Jim Coleman, president and CEO of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation (EDC); David K. Lewis, director of Business Development for EDC; Garth Beall, manager of Renard Development Corporation, potential developer for the Greenbelt Metro Station site; Ken McCreedy, senior director of the State of Maryland Office of Cybersecurity and Aerospace; and Alfred Mecum, senior technology manager for the Strategic Partnership Office at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Much of the discussion concerned the idea that the FBI headquarters facility is still greatly needed and the proposed location at the Greenbelt Metro Station is still the best location for it. As an alternative possibility, Prince George’s County has proposed the station site together with portions of Capital Office Park as one of three county sites suitable for the location of Amazon.com, Inc.’s second headquarters, a facility some five times the size of the proposed FBI headquarters. Less discussed, but possibly more realistic, is the potential for new businesses in technology and cyber-security, with some implementing new patents resulting from Goddard’s space exploration. Greenbelt already has three Goddard related start-up firms located in city office parks.
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