BIT Celebrates Groundbreaking at Ritchie Station Marketplace

The AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corporation (ITC) recently hosted a groundbreaking event for the BIT’s Ritchie Station Marketplace retail development project located just outside Washington, D.C. in Prince George’s County, Maryland.  

The event was attended by 150 union construction workers representing various trades including ironworkers, bricklayers, and laborers.  “At a time when unemployment remains high, projects such as Ritchie Station are giving our members hope that construction is resuming and jobs are returning,” said Mark Ayers, President of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO.  Also speaking at the event was Liz Shuler, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, who noted that Ritchie Station shows the “powerful impact union pension dollars can have on communities.”  The planned $222 million joint venture between the BIT and the NAI Michael Companies is expected to generate over 1,100 union construction jobs while bringing approximately 1 million square feet of retail space to a once underserved market.  

A significant portion of the site work at Ritchie Station has already been completed and construction on the first building, which will be occupied by a BJ’s Wholesale Club, is currently underway and expected to be completed later this year.

Other national labor leaders attending the groundbreaking included Arlene Holt-Baker, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO; Frank Hurt, President of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union; James Boland, President of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Caftworkers; and Kinsey Robinson, President of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers.