New medical hub in New Carrollton expected to bring thousands of jobs to Prince George's County

Governor Larry Hogan met with local leaders Wednesday and got a tour of the new Kaiser Permanente in New Carrollton, where big plans are in the works to transform the area into a medical hub that would include shops and residences and bring thousands of jobs to the area.

It might not look like much now, but the area is what the governor and others are calling an "opportunity zone" or "o-zone" for short -- a place that will soon be transformed into a bustling area with access to all types of transportation.

Hogan, along with Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford, and several other leaders from the county looked out from the new building onto the land below that will soon be home to around 3,500 new residents.

Condos are going in, as well as dozens of new shops, retail, a hotel and about 5,000 new jobs on top of the 1,000 that have already come to the area with the Kaiser Children's Medical Center -- Construction alone will provide the county with 8,000 jobs after the final build out.

This huge investment should help transform local communities that need it most.

The area, which is right off Route 50 and Interstate 495 is next to the New Carrollton Metro Station and the new Purple Line Station, so the idea is it could even help attract the Amazon crowd.

"We are providing state tax incentives for job creation. We are trying to work with local governments to make these opportunity zones supercharged and to try to attract the investment here," said Hogan. "This obviously is one of the most exciting ones we have here in the state, in Prince George's County -- and it is happening with a $20 million dollar investment already."

"If you look at Amazon coming, we are expecting about 25,000 employees. We know they can not all live in Arlington, so we look to spaces like this one and we completely expect many of those employees will choose to live in Prince George's County where we have not only a beautiful residential area but transportation, so it's a perfect opportunity for us to benefit," said Alsobrooks.

The plan is to develop more opportunity zones like this throughout the state.

Earlier this year, Hogan announced a series of legislation that would further expand the program with more than $55 million dedicated to attracting new businesses and development.