Harford Mall will celebrate its 35th anniversary next October, about the same time a new renovation project currently under way will be completed.
Called a “lifestyle center,” the multimillion dollar renovation will bring Harford Mall in step with shopping districts such as The Avenue in White Marsh and Hunt Valley Mall.
“It is in response to a new trend [in mall design] across the country,” said Bernie Spicer, the director of marketing for Harford Mall.
On the ground where Harford Mall?s eatery once stood, the lifestyle center will have an area of about 490,500 square feet and jut out toward Business Route 1.
Eight businesses ? five restaurants and three retail stores ? will present Bel Air with Harford Mall?s new face.
Spicer said the project is the second part of a two-phase project designed to renovate the mall.
The first phase, which involved improving the interior of the mall, is about 90 percent complete, Spicer said, while the lifestyle center ?phase two ? will be ready for businesses to move into in spring 2007.
The old eatery has already been torn down, and earthmovers are busy making way for the new project.
Neither Spicer, nor Tennessee-based CBL, Harford Mall?s parent company, would disclose the cost of the project.
“I went into the mall knowing the renovation was coming,” said Shamrock Coffee owner Ian Mitchell, who opened one of two Bel Air stores in the mall two years ago.
Mitchell said he felt the timing of the renovation ? during the height of the holiday season, was “odd,” but the need is evident.
“I think the Harford Mall has lost some of its luster over the years,” he said.
Mitchell said CBL is working to help keep Harford County shoppers who migrate to White Marsh and Towson in Bel Air.
Bel Air Mayor Terence Hanley said he agreed the project is necessary
“Let?s face it; the mall wasn?t known for its style. Now it?s a lot more attractive to the eye,” Hanley said.
And with five new restaurants opening in the new addition, Hanley joked that Bel Air will soon be the “eatery capital of Harford County.”
