Consumer demand is driving major redevelopment of Baltimore County?s older malls, shopping centers and neighborhoods.
“Consumers are spending billions in the county, and developers are responding,” said Fronda Cohen, a spokeswoman for Baltimore County Department of Economic Development.
Redevelopment fever is spilling over into older county neighborhoods such as Pikesville, Cohen added.
“Because there is not much undeveloped land in the county, developers are showing more interest in older communities,” she said.
She points to the recent successful transformation of Hunt Valley Mall into Hunt Valley Town Centre as an example of kind of makeover other county areas could soon experience.
“In order to stay competitive, [the malls] have to bring in other tenants,” Cohen said.
Landstown, which is an older neighborhood in the southwest part of the county, is a beneficiary of redevelopment, said Tom Maddux, president of NAI KLNB Inc., a commercial real estate developer in Towson.
Maddux said David S. Brown Enterprises LTD is going to build a new retail center in the area anchored with a Wal-Mart store.
“It will be a strong anchor that will draw shoppers from the county and the city,” Maddux said.
When completed in the fall of 2007, the center will have a variety of other retail tenants, he added.
Such retail redevelopment is happening around the Beltway, including neighborhoods such as Randallstown and Owings Mills.
“Randallstown is getting a new Wal-Mart and a Home Depot,” Maddux said.
Aging county shopping centers like Owings Mills Mall, White Marsh Mall and Towson Town Center are also in the midst ofrenovations, he said.
Commercial developers have been focusing their latest efforts on the northeast section of the county.
The major hot spot is the 600 acres of prime land bordering the extension of Route 43 near White Marsh. When it is completed in 2007, the road will shorten the driving time from White Marsh to Middle River from 30 minutes to about 10 minutes.
“Warehouse and flex space developers are stepping into this part of the county for the first time,” said Jim Caronna, a principal with NAI KLNB.
Again, the scarcity of undeveloped land is helping to spark interest, Caronna said.
Retail developers in Baltimore County
» General Growth Properties Inc.
» David S. Brown Enterprises LTD
» Greenberg Gibbons Commercial
Source: Listed companies
