Landover is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, within the census-designated place of Greater Landover. Landover is home to the corporate headquarters of the Giant supermarket chain. The community is also known for its heavy use of Go-Go music. The Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex is in Landover. Though small, Landover houses many neighborhoods which include: Glenarden, Brightseat, Ardmore, Palmer Park, Kentland, Dodge Park, Columbia Heights, Belle Haven, Lansdowne, and Village Green. Metrorail's orange line and blue line pass through the community. Landover Hills is a separate, incorporated community a few miles away. Landover is the birthplace of the late Len Bias.

Transportation

The Landover Washington Metro station serves the area on the Orange Line.

I-495/95, the Capital Beltway, crosses U.S. Highway 50 in Landover. The Beltway also has junctions with Maryland Route 202 (Landover Road) and Brightseat Road, which leads directly to FedExField.

Education

Landover is a part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system.

Sports

FedExField is a football stadium for the Washington Redskins. See Raljon, Maryland.

The Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex is located on approximately adjacent to FedEx Field.

Shopping

Landover, MD was the home of Landover Mall, a premier mall owned by Lerner Enterprises. Built in 1972, it was the first enclosed mall in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to house 4 high-end retail anchor stores that included Garfinkel’s[48966], Hecht’s [48967](owned by the May company), Woodward and Lothrop (popularly known as Woodie’s), and Sears[48968]. The mall also housed a multiplex movie theatre located in the basement of the north east corridor of the building. Located on the Capital Beltway and Annapolis Road, the mall neighbored the townships of Palmer Park, Ardmore[48969], Brightseat, and[48970] Largo.



Palmer Park, MD was the hometown of legendary Olympic boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard.



Landover Mall was dubbed “Black Flint Mall” [48971]a colloquialism used to describe the mall’s clientele who were the moderate to middle-income African American families that lived in the surrounding neighborhoods. Additionally, the mall was a parody of the more affluent, upper–middle class Anglo influenced White Flint Mall[48972]located in Bethesda, MD.



In the late 1980’s, crime[48973] began to rise in the surrounding areas and frightened shoppers and eventually helped fuel the mall’s rapid decline. The movie theatre was the first to close, followed by three of the mall’s anchor stores in the 1990’s. Garfinkles closed in 1990, Woodies closed in 1995 and was replaced with a short lived J.C. Penneys[48974] store that lasted from 1998 to 2001, and Hecht's closed in 2002 with the opening of the Bowie Town Center located in Bowie, MD. The entire mall officially closed in 2003 and was subsequently demolished in 2006. Sears remains as the only free standing store.



With arrival of FedFex Field [48975] in 1997, the home stadium for the Washington Redskins the mall’s parking lot is currently used for overflowing parking. In 2007, according to the Washington Post[48976], Prince George's County officials were in the throes of developing plans to transform the area where Landover Mall once stood. County officials propose to build luxury townhouses, trendy stores, and office buildings. The goal of the project is to transform the area into a residential and cultural hub that replicates the Bowie Town Center located in Bowie, MD and the Boulevard at the Capital Centre located in Largo, MD.



Woodmore Towne Centre, featuring Costco and Wegmans will open in 2010 in nearby Glenarden.

See also

• List of people from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area

References