Ed Hale has Target in the crosshairs for his newly expanded Canton Crossing project, the developer announced Tuesday, and intends the store to be an anchor for a major retail avenue.
Community leaders greeted Hale?s announcement with enthusiasm but remained wary of high-end stores geared toward the development?s newcomers.
“We need new stores, hopefully not out of everyone?s price range,” said Darryl Jurkiewicz, president of the Canton Community Association. “We still see this as a blue-collar neighborhood.”
Hale said he and a partner developer are in negotiations with Target and high-end grocery store Harris Teeter to anchor a Main Street-style retail center of approximately 500,000 square feet across 31 acres. Owings Mills-based Greenberg Gibbons, known for its development of Hunt Valley Towne Center, will partner with Hale for development of the retail locations.
“We are in detailed negotiations,” said Brian Gibbons, president and chief executive officer of Greenberg Gibbons. “We do not have signed agreements with these companies, but we are … confident they will join us.”
While construction and the opening of those stores are still several years away, market dynamics wouldn?t deter a project of Canton Crossing?s size, its developers said.
“The prime locations still need to be done,” Gibbons said. “The good retailers, the healthy ones, want to grow.”
Jurkiewicz said community representatives were working with the developers to ensure the new addition remains accessible for all Canton residents.
“It?s a legitimate concern,” he said. “I think they?re trying. It?s a balancing act.”
Hale, a longtime Canton resident with a penthouse in the 1st Mariner Bank Tower, said the Canton Crossing project has evolved with the changing neighborhood and would be altered “probably two or three more times.”
“Five years ago, this was just going to be an office complex,” Hale said. “But with the gentrification of Canton beginning six or seven years ago and finishing about a year ago, it?s changed.”
