Regional transit officials want to know what you think about a potential change to the Prince George’s Plaza Metro Station name, along with another proposed name change for the Tysons Corner Metro Station.
In an Oct. 27, 2020, announcement, Metro officials unveiled a survey to gather public sentiment about the proposed name changes. Prince George’s County and Hyattsville officials have requested Prince George’s Plaza station be renamed to Hyattsville Crossing. Likewise, Fairfax County officials want Tysons Corner to be simply renamed Tysons.
Route 1 Reporter has previously written about the Prince George’s Plaza name change. In short, Hyattsville economic development officials have since 2017 tried to brand the neighborhood around the Prince George’s Plaza Metro Station as Hyattsville Crossing. But the name has yet to stick in the popular consciousness, in part because the most-recognizable landmark for the area – for many in the DMV remains the name of the Metro station itself.
The Metro station derives it name from the former Prince George’s Plaza mall, known today as the Mall at Prince George’s and branded as simply MPG by its owners REIT. The rebranding process for the Prince George’s Plaza area began in June 2016, and was led by the city of Hyattsville, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation. The name was officially adopted in 2017. Hyattsville City Council, in a 2019 vote, directed city economic development staff to use the name Hyattsville Crossing when promoting the area around the Prince George’s Plaza Metro Station.
Greater Greater Washington also has a comprehensive overview of the renaming process, reporting similar motivations behind the Tysons name change.
At an Oct. 5, 2020, Hyattsville City Council meeting, city economic development chief Jim Chandler said they expect Metro’s board of directors to approve the name change at their December meeting. It would cost about $300,000 to change the name of Prince George’s Plaza, according to Chandler, who said Prince George’s County government – not Hyattsville – would be footing the bill.