Stop. Relax. Stay awhile.This outlook for a “cohesive, walkable downtown” is one of the visions General Growth Properties Inc. has for its proposed redevelopment of the Town Center in downtown Columbia in Howard during the next 20 to 30 years.
The master plan outlines creating five easily walkable neighborhoods, in Warfield, Lakefront, Symphony Overlook, Merriweather and Crescent, all surrounding the landmarks of The Mall in Columbia and Merriweather Post Pavilion, said Gregg Hamm, GGP?s regional vice president and general manager of Columbia.
“If you?re driving around town and you want to stop, get out and walk, you?re in a good place,” said Jaquelin Robertson, an architect with Cooper, Robertson & Partners, an internationally recognized architecture and urban design firm in New York City that?s part of GGP?s design and planning team.
Fine line
Simply put, the new downtown Columbia is going to be an attractive place, filled with walkways, parks and restaurants, where people want to go, architects say.
“Certainly a downtown that?s more people-oriented should be valuable to everybody,” said Steve Lee, a Clarksville resident who works in Symphony Woods in Columbia.
“Right now we have a mall stuck in what we call downtown, and that?s not really a city center.”
Bob Russell, a 33-year Columbia resident whose three children grew up in the area, agreed.
“I?m so excited, and for what some are least excited about ? more people,” he said.
“We need people living here and maybe working here too.”
Del. Elizabeth Bobo, D-Howard, said the proposed 5,500 residential units could result in too many people downtown.
“More development, both residential and office, can make it a better place to live, work and play, but if it?s overdeveloped, it could be damaged,” she said.
“There?s a fine line there.”
Bobo criticized the plan for not having specific details relating to the start of the development and how it will be phased in.
“I wouldn?t call it a plan, but there?s some very attractive photographs and renderings,” she said.
Guiding principles
The redevelopment of the five neighborhoods will be guided by four principles: connectivity, inclusion, restoration and the addition of amenities like parks, plazas and play areas, Hamm said.
Hamm is expected to present the plans to the county in early August for consideration and approval.
Besides a walkable downtown, the project will integrate the environment into downtown by requiring trees be planted on more than 22 acres and existing forests be restored on 57 acres, Hamm said.
“Great places are as much about the open spaces as the buildings, if not more so,” said Alan Ward, a landscape architect with Boston-based Sasaki Associates Inc., another part of the planning team.
Other project goals include a new storm-water management system; a revitalized Merriweather Post Pavilion; new restaurants, retail and entertainment venues; new public gathering spaces throughout the neighborhoods; and a new system of well-designed and free-flowing streets.
NEW LOOK
Details of the Columbia master plan:
- Retail: 1,008,040 square feet
- Offices: 4.9 million square feet
- Cultural/civic spaces: 265,000 square feet
- Hotel rooms: 640
- Residential units: 5,500
Source: General Growth Properties Inc.
