PGC is Getting a Data Center
Landover in Limbo: The Data Center Fight That Could Reshape Prince George’s County
By Barry O’Connell, The Maryland Wire
“What we know is troubling.
What we’re hearing privately is worse.
And the gap between the two is where the real danger lies.”
Prince George’s County has spent the last two years wrestling with the most consequential land-use fight in a decade: the proposal to build a massive hyperscale data-center campus on the former Landover Mall site.
After months of public protest, formal pauses, and shifting political winds, the project is now suspended — but far from dead. Behind the scenes, anxiety inside county government is growing. Staff members who cannot speak publicly are expressing deep mistrust of their own leadership, and some believe decisions are being shaped out of view of the people most affected by them.
In this piece, I separate the confirmed facts from the confidential fears, and I lay out how this story could end — for better or for worse.
1. What’s Absolutely Confirmed — The Hard Facts
A Hyperscale Project on 87 Acres
The former Landover Mall site — 87 acres in the heart of the county — was approved in early 2024 for a 4.1-million-square-foot data-center campus proposed by Lerner Enterprises.$$1$$
The project, sometimes described in technical filings as Brightseat Tech Park, would require up to 820 megawatts of power.$$2$$ To put that into perspective: it is roughly the consumption of a small city.
Pull-quote:
“The Landover project is not dead.
It is frozen. And frozen is not the same thing as finished.”
Public Protest Reaches Critical Mass
By 2025, residents near the site raised urgent concerns about:
air quality
heat impact
water consumption
environmental justice
traffic and noise
Community opposition intensified.$$2$$
County Government Hits the Brakes
On September 16, 2025, the county executive announced a pause on all new data-center permits.$$3$$
The County Council followed with its own efforts to establish a moratorium.
This means everything at Landover is now in a bureaucratic holding pattern — what lawyers like to call “administratively inert” — but not terminated.
2. What’s Verifiable but Not Well Publicized
Six Flags America Is Quietly in Play — At Least on Paper
Meanwhile, the Six Flags America property in Bowie, a sprawling 500-acre site, is being actively marketed for redevelopment.$$4$$
The land is:
enormous,
well buffered from dense residential neighborhoods,
accessible by major highways, and
politically less volatile than Landover.
There is no official documentation connecting this site to the data-center proposal.
No applications.
No filings.
No Council resolutions.
But structurally, it is a site that would be far easier to sell to the public than Landover.
Pull-quote:
“Six Flags isn’t a plan.
It’s a possibility — and possibilities often tell us more than press releases.”
3. What County Employees Say Privately — Confidential, Unverified, But Consistently Reported
This section reflects what people inside county government are whispering.
Nothing here is confirmed.
Some of it may be wrong.
But when multiple sources describe similar patterns, it is irresponsible not to report the concerns — while clearly labeling them as such.
A. Fear #1: ‘They’ll Approve Landover When Everyone Is Distracted’
Several insiders believe the Council may:
delay the decision,
wait until late December or early January,
then quietly release the permits once the political “noise” has died down.
The theory is simple:
Approving in the dead of winter makes it harder to organize resistance.
Again:
No documents support this.
But this is a fear voiced by several employees who do not trust the process.
B. Fear #2: If Landover Becomes Too Toxic, They Will Shift the Project to Six Flags
This is the single most consistent rumor.
The belief is not that a Six Flags plan exists — it doesn’t.
The belief is that if Landover becomes politically unworkable, leaders could pivot rapidly to Six Flags, because:
It’s a bigger site
It has fewer neighbors
It’s easier to rezone
It avoids environmental-justice optics
It creates a cleaner political narrative
Insiders use phrases like “backup plan,” “contingency,” and “pressure release valve.”
This does not mean the plan is real.
It means people are worried that it could be.
Pull-quote:
“In PG County politics, nothing dies.
It just moves.”
C. Fear #3: Some Councilmembers Are Preparing Political Escape Routes
Current internal talk — again, unverified — suggests that:
Krystal Oriadha,
Edward Burroughs III, and
Wala Blegay
are the real policy shapers behind the data-center posture.
But some insiders fear these same players may attempt to shift public blame onto Council Member Jolene Ivey if residents become angry — regardless of whether she had anything to do with the decision.
This rumor cannot be confirmed.
But its existence reflects a deep breakdown of trust inside county government.
D. Fear #4: If External Investigators Look at Nonprofit Funding, Certain Leaders Want Krystal Oriadha to Take the Fall
This is the most sensitive allegation — and again, carries zero documentary evidence available to the public.
Several individuals formerly associated with Council operations claim:
concerns over nonprofit grant reallocation,
potential conflicts of interest,
and unusual shifts of county funds
could someday draw investigative attention.
One former staffer claims Burroughs has told associates, in private, that if “something blows up,” the goal is that Oriadha takes the hit, not him. My sources indicated that Krystal was chosen because she is petty, arogant and not vey smart.
This is a confidential-source claim only
.
Maryland Wire is not presenting it as fact.
We include it because the fear is widespread among nervous staff — not because it is proven.
Pull-quote:
“When staff stop trusting leadership,
that’s when the real story begins.”
4. Three Possible Outcomes — And Why All Three Matter
Scenario 1: Quiet Approval at Landover (Most Volatile)
Permits issued when public attention is low.
Construction begins quickly.
Public outrage erupts — but too late to stop the project.
Scenario 2: The Six Flags Pivot (Speculative but entirely feasible)
Council quietly signals that Landover is too dangerous politically.
Developers begin focusing on Bowie.
Council rezones Six Flags with less neighborhood resistance.
A quieter, cleaner political win.
Scenario 3: Oversight, Scrutiny, and Legal Risk Slow Everything Down
The moratorium stays.
Rules tighten.
Developers lose interest or walk.
The county avoids scandal, but forfeits significant economic opportunity.
5. Where This Leaves the County
Right now, Prince George’s County stands at a crossroads.
The public knows only the surface of the story: a large data center, a community backlash, and a government pause.
But inside county government, people are afraid — not necessarily of the data center itself, but of how decisions are being made, and who might be blamed when the dust settles.
For residents, the only responsible posture is one of cautious vigilance.
For elected officials, transparency is not optional anymore.
And for those who whispered their concerns to me, I honor their trust by stating clearly:
“If these rumors turn out to be true,
the county is in a heap of trouble —
but that must be confirmed, and we intend to do exactly that.”
This story is far from over.
Maryland Wire will continue reporting.
Footnotes
1 DatacenterDynamics report on Landover Mall data-center project size and approval.
2 Washington Informer coverage of protest movement and 820 MW power demand.
3 WTOP report on moratorium and permit pause.
4 WTOP report on Six Flags property redevelopment exploration.
Citations
Landover Mall data-center approval
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/maryland-planning-board-approves-lerners-application-for-data-centers-on-former-mall-site/?utm_source=chatgpt.comCommunity protest and environmental-impact concerns
https://www.washingtoninformer.com/landover-data-center-protest/?utm_source=chatgpt.comCounty moratorium and permit pause
https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2025/09/prince-georges-county-moves-to-put-data-center-development-on-pause/?utm_source=chatgpt.comSix Flags America redevelopment exploration
https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2025/11/exclusive-future-of-six-flags-site-could-be-gaining-clarity-soon/?utm_source=chatgpt.com