Developer Bob Hockaday Jr. had already secured financing and ordered construction supplies. So when neighbors approached him concerned about the renovation of two historic homes in Baltimore County?s Glyndon, he feared an untimely impasse.
Instead, their two demands were a relief. Don?t paint it pink. Don?t rent rooms by the hour.
“We wanted their support, but were afraid of what the bank would say,” Hockaday joked.
The developer was joined Tuesday by county officials and other supporters at a groundbreaking of the $1.1 million private redevelopment of the historic Townsend-Reter House and the Wheeler-Reter General Store off Butler Road. The project, known as The Villages of Glyndon Square, will feature two new buildings designed to incorporate the Victorian architecture of Glyndon and offer a mix of office space and shops.
The three-story clapboard Victorian was built in 1877 as a boarding house. The store, built sometime before 1910, served as a grocery and post office.
For preservationists, the project is a compromise from plans to demolish both buildings and a third, also built at the turn of the century. Margaret Wells, president of Historic Glyndon Inc., said the third building was sacrificed to save the other two.
“We fought the wrecking ball for two decades,” Wells said. “The other building was in very, very bad disrepair, and it hadno historical features other than its age.”
County Executive Jim Smith, who said he used to walk to the Reter General Store to buy candy as a young boy, commended project officials for using a new “pervious concrete” that curbs run-off to a nearby trout stream.
The concrete, demonstrated at Tuesday?s ceremony, absorbs and filters rain.
“It?s cleaner,” said Ernest Sheppe, project manager with Morris & Ritchie Associates. “It filters through the pavement and a lot of it ultimately ends up in the soil beneath.”
Hockaday declined to identify potential tenants, but said five attended Tuesday?s ceremony. He characterized interest as “tremendous.”
Pervious Concrete
The cement mixture has a “void content” between 15 and 25 percent that allows water and air to pass through, allowing it to seep into the ground.
