Prince George’s Co. seeks new owner to redevelop abandoned Glenn Dale Hospital site

Sonja Ewing, division chief for park planning and environmental stewardship for the Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation, told WTOP that to redevelop the site where the former hospital is located, a new owner is needed to bring in developers to carry out the county’s vision.

Ewing first mentioned the search during a Glenn Dale Citizens Association meeting in late January.

“In order for it to move forward, we will need a stronger team and new partners to come to the table,” she told WTOP.

The 23 existing buildings that made up the former sanitarium sit on a 60-acre campus, located on about 210 acres of land owned by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

The Prince George’s County department takes care of the grounds and has been tasked with finding a future owner of the site, Ewing said.

The hospital, which sits 15 miles outside of D.C., opened as a tuberculosis hospital in the 1930s and closed in 1982. In 2011, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, meaning that whoever takes over would have to reuse all the existing buildings.

Ewing said the department is open to talking with county and state agencies, as well as private organizations to redevelop the property, and that all ideas — including a public-private partnership and using government funding — are on the table.

The Alexander Company from Wisconsin was the previous developer linked to the project. However, their contract with the planning commission ended.

“We do own some historic properties for interpretation and other educational uses, but the future use that is envisioned for Glenn Dale Hospital is kind of outside of our core,” she said.

“For this project to be successful, we have to find a future owner to lead into those next steps of redevelopment and adaptive reuse.”

A generational project

While the Parks Department is not equipped to redevelop property, it is dealing with other tasks to make the property more attractive to prospective owners, including cleaning it up.

It is currently conducting a site assessment and has received some results, but Ewing said a second assessment will be needed to apply for an Environmental Protection Agency cleanup grant in the fall.

The department will also look to team up with the Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct environmental remediation, she said.

Ewing called the redevelopment a generational project that will take multiple years to finish. Those looking to get involved must also be in it for the long-term revenue gains from housing tax credits and adjacent development, along with the property.

“While the market continues to shift in turn and then, when the residential market really has a strong bounce back, that’s probably the highest opportunity for this site to get that attention from the private sector as well as the public sector partners,” she said.

The county sees the site as a senior-focused community, where older residents can have access to a doctor’s office and an assisted living facility, while remaining close to shops and restaurants, Ewing said, comparing it to Leisure World in Montgomery County.

“The project is only going to be successful with the super strong development team that has experience with housing redevelopment, historic tax credit, low-income housing tax credit, senior housing, and just the whole experience of adaptive reuse and redevelopment and putting together complex projects to create new communities,” she said.

Since its closure in 1982, Glenn Dale Hospital has been vacant and abandoned. It has inspired ghost stories and attracted graffiti artists and trespassers despite its dilapidated state.

With everything happening at the site, Ewing said residents and people “interested in the paranormal” should stay out of the property for their safety.

“If you want to learn more about it, you can find those things on YouTube,” she said. “Do not come out in person. It is not a place to take into your own hands.”

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