The Decline And Fall Of Landover Mall - Who's To Blame?

"'When I look at the news and read stories, everyone fawns over what a great man [Theodore N. Lerner, also new owner of the Washington Nationals baseball team] is,' said Arthur A. Turner Jr., an activist from the nearby Kettering neighborhood who has lobbied county leaders to seize the property through eminent domain. 'But the baggage and ghost of Landover Mall still negatively impact us today. He's a failure in Prince George's County.'"

"But...Lerner's legacy is clouded by the fate of the Landover Mall, a once-thriving retail destination whose long, slow decline was punctuated when it was shuttered in 2002. Built and owned by Lerner Enterprises, the complex -- on a 110-acre site just inside the Capital Beltway, near the Washington Redskins' FedEx Field -- has sat dark and empty for four years, with the exception of a Sears store that remains open. The marquee is covered in sheets, the grass is calf-high and the vast parking lot is used for overflow football crowds."

"Some Prince George's civic activists and the administration of former county executive Wayne K. Curry (D) have charged that the project symbolizes the broad neglect of the predominantly black county by major developers and retailers."