A once-dilapidated and lifeless shopping plaza in Prince George's County is gaining new life thanks to a group developers.
The Amann family purchased Forestville Plaza on Marlboro Pike and Forestville Road while it was overgrown with vagrants living in parts of it.
More than 20 years ago, the shopping center was home to a Zayer and an Ames department store, a make-shift center of the community.
Nannie Monk has lived in the area since the early 1980s and saw the plaza decay in the 1990s.
"I'm glad they’re beginning to build it back up because you need something around there," Monk said. "It's just like a big open space and nothing was in there. It needs be utilized."
The Amann family has secured Roses department store, a southern competitor of Wal-Mart. It will be the first major retail investment in the inner Beltway in decades.
"The value is going to be here in this county and we are looking to do more things here," Michael Amann said.
David Innucci is leading County Executive Rushern Baker's push to to bring business to the county.
"The word is getting out there and people are coming to the county, and saying they want to do business," Innucci said.