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Politics & Government

Preservationist Calls for Rehab of Glenn Dale Hospital

Vacant for decades, the hospital outside Bowie continues to crumble.

The time to reuse the crumbling, 200-plus-acre Glenn Dale Hospital complex outside Bowie is now, while there is still something left to work with, says a local historical scholar and preservationist.

Built in the 1930s, the closed tuberculosis sanatorium near Route 450 and Glenn Dale Road, with its colonial style buildings on lush, rolling green hills, has been vacant since 1982. The hospital was deemed outdated and no longer of modern medical use.

With local legend that Glenn Dale Hospital is haunted, it has tempted thrill-seeking trespassers and vandals for decades, despite police efforts to deter them. The worst enemy though is nature, which is causing the 23 hospital buildings to decay at an alarming rate, said Caitlin Chamberlain of Bowie.

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“It’s facing demolition by neglect,” said Chamberlain. “The main buildings are structurally sound and stable for now, but how much longer they are going to be that way is a huge question. By doing nothing, the buildings are going to be torn down. It will be forced to happen.” 

Chamberlain, 30, recently received a master's degree of fine arts in historic preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She wrote a 94-page master's thesis, “From Vacant to Vibrant: Adaptive Reuse of Abandoned Asylums and Sanatoriums Through the Study of Glenn Dale Hospital.” Chamberlain has also started a Facebook page that has 390 members, Glenn Dale Hospital: This Place Matters.

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Chamberlain said that even in childhood, as her parents drove with her past the hospital, she was fascinated that it was vacant and not being put to good use.

“It has always seemed to me that those classic buildings deserve better,” she said.

In her thesis, Chamberlain discusses tax credits and other economic incentives that could be offered so an “adaptive rehabilitation” of the property can occur.

She also wrote that the hospital was “created with the purpose of healing through the harmony of beauty created in architecture and landscape.”

It’s still not too late to reclaim the hospital from nature and put it toward that type of use again, she said.

But so far, attempts to remold Glenn Dale Hospital have failed.

The hospital was owned and operated by the District of Columbia government, which sold it to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. To preserve the buildings, in 1993 a Maryland law was passed requiring that if the complex were to be sold, the main buildings would have to be restored and the grounds become open space parkland.

Under that law, the only allowed usage would be that of a continuing care retirement facility, which would include assisted living and a nursing home. A buyer is required to have expert certification in that field.

In 2010, the park and planning commission requested bids on the hospital. Two bids were received but were rejected because the bidders were not qualified under the law, said Chuck Montre, park planning supervisor for the commission.

Chamberlain said that in light of the difficult economy and the conditions placed on potential buyers, it may be time to change the law.

“To have that just one specific use is so limiting” in attracting buyers. “Nobody benefits from a law that is too restrictive,” she said.

Henry N. Wixon, president of the Glenn Dale Citizens Association, said the law requiring a retirement facility and open space buffer for the complex is a good one. The problem, he said, is that Prince George’s County has not been adaptable enough in its attempts to sell the property.

Instead, the county, said Wixon, needs to rethink how the Glenn Dale property is being marketed. He said the citizens association is requesting to meet with Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III, about Glenn Dale Hospital.

“We’d like the county to do something creative, such as a 99-year lease for a dollar, rather than trying to make a killing off the property,” he said.

Del. James W. Hubbard (D-23A), the author of the Glenn Dale Hospital legislation, is also opposed to changing the law. He said potential tax incentives, assistance with removing asbestos and amenities that could be offered to potential developers have not been brought to the table and emphasized as they should be.

He believes a continuing care facility operator can be found if the property is assertively marketed. Hubbard said the county and the community need to come together and brainstorm. Last year’s attempt to find a buyer “was just thrown out on the table,” he said.

Chamberlain said a retirement facility with large areas of open space would make an excellent use of the property, if it were to occur. Her concern is that some type of forward movement takes place.

“Glenn Dale Hospital can’t wait much longer," she said. "It would be terrible to lose it.”

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