Greg Hamm, Columbia general manager for General Growth Properties Inc., spoke with The Examiner about the redevelopment of Town Center in Columbia.
What is the time frame and cost for Phase One?
It will be broken into stages, and the piece around the mall would [begin] in late 2010.
From the mall to Little Patuxent [Parkway], the soonest [we] would break ground would be late 2010, and the pieces on Little Patuxent, the mall and hotel, would likely be 2011 at the soonest.
I can?t really say what we think the costs are going to be.
Our company never gives those estimates.
Why wasn?t housing a part of Phase One?
So we could get something going as soon as possible and get a plan that is meaningful that begins to reshape and set a new tone for the development around Columbia at the earliest possible time.
Why did you form a committee to address housing needs?
There are a lot of different ideas on how to best incorporate workable, meaningful mixed-income housing, and we thought the best way to do it was to convene some of the better people and get their thoughts.
The first phase only deals with GGP-owned land, but how do you anticipate working with other property owners, such as the Columbia Association?
I think we are presenting a very positive idea and concept, which is defining the culture of Columbia in the form of a creation of a place, and we think that idea will have a lot of community support.
So we are optimistic that to the extent we need the cooperation of other landowners, we will work [with them], and we expect they too will like the vision.
