READ MORE ON WHY SIX FLAGS ENDED ITS AMERICA THEME PARK HERE
An investment group that includes NBA All-Star and D.C.-area native Kevin Durant will buy the Six Flags property in Prince George’s County, Maryland, WTOP has learned.
Details of the purchase price are not yet known.
“We are excited about the vision, energy, and opportunity this new ownership team brings to the former Six Flags site,” County Executive Aisha Braveboy said in a news release. “This is a major step forward for Prince George’s County and a meaningful opportunity to elevate this property into a destination development that reflects the expectations of our residents and strengthens economic development in our County.”
Braveboy announced Wednesday that Durant’s 35V company and TPA Group, a real estate investment firm based in Atlanta, will redevelop the property.
The 500-acre site will not be operating as an amusement park in the future. Instead, redevelopment plans around the future of the site will focus more on entertainment and mixed-use development.
Prince George’s County Council At-Large member Wala Blegay said it would be a “destination that will include input from the community, and could include something that will cater to all ages.”
Blegay said that should there be some sort of amusement experience, it “wouldn’t be amusement alone.”
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“There was some ideas of something that could be somewhat amusement but not your traditional Six Flags, but it could be something similar,” she told WTOP.
Things are still in the very early stages of development, and sources told WTOP that the investors buying the land said community meetings will be planned in the future.
A source said the total size of the redevelopment, including the potential number of homes, hasn’t been determined yet.
“They are committed to doing some sort of destination. What that looks like depends on the feedback that they get,” Blegay told WTOP.
‘We’re really excited’
Prince George’s County leaders have long maintained that whatever will replace Six Flags will be something that generates more tax revenue than the amusement park that used to stand there.
“You’re talking about, what was it, $3 million, compared to how much property they’re sitting on,” said Council Chair Krystal Oriadha on Tuesday, before anyone knew who the buyer was. “So what’s really important to us as a council, and I know the county executive, is doubling that. We don’t want to get an undervalued project there.”
The announcement comes just a day after the council announced a package of bills that aim to lure more and better businesses in the county. The legislation includes bills to address a long- complained about permitting process, with reduced permitting fees for sit-down restaurants.
“Our largest tax base, when it comes to commercial development, is the National Harbor,” Oriadha said on Tuesday. “It’s in hospitality, entertainment, restaurants, and so I think that we have to diversify what we focus on.”
She told WTOP that county leadership is excited about the opportunities it might bring to residents and the local economy.
“They said that they are willing to hear from the community and work hand in hand with the leadership of the county, the residents to develop a plan,” she said. “So instead of them just having their own ideas of what exactly it should be and could be, that they’re leaving space to hear directly from the residents about what’s important to them.”
Oriadha noted that there’s lots of room for economic development with the potential investments from 35V and the TPA Group.
“If we’re going to go the route of commercial and retail and restaurants, then it needs to be quality. … That was the same vision that they had; that whatever this project is, it’s a legacy project,” she said.
She said if the project has a residential aspect, it would need to be one part of the mixed-use plan and it would need to receive the support of the community: “That is not what we’re envisioning as a council or the vision of the county executive, or a vision for this project, either.”
Braveboy said she will host several “engagement events” to give residents the opportunity to provide input on the future of the Six Flags site.
“Our residents deserve to be part of what comes next,” Braveboy said. “We look forward to working with the new ownership team and with the community to help create a destination and attraction that residents can enjoy, experience, and take pride in for years to come.”
