Just four years ago, economic planners in Baltimore County had to entice developers to build on a piece of prime waterfront property in Essex.
But the community that once was the poster child for the county?s neglected Beltway communities ? where suffering businesses like Ames and Valu Food left storefronts to rot ? now boasts more than 5,000 new homes, some of which have doubled in sale price over the past three years.
“Now there are so many projects, we can?t keep up,” said Fronda Cohen, spokeswoman for the county?s Department of Economic Development. “It?s amazing.”
County officials point to WaterView, where tree-lined streets are named after seaplanes and waterfowl, as a model for their economic strategy. County Executive Jim Smith refers to it not as redevelopment, but “renaissance.”
The idea is to use county funding to spur investment from the private sector, he said. In 2002, the county bought and razed the dilapidated Riverdale apartment complex on Eastern Boulevard and offered the land to developers. After one hesitant company offered to test the waters, it sold its first home in WaterView for $170,000.
In December, it sold its last for $325,000.
“Investing has been a catalyst for the business community to likewise invest,” Smith said. “Between 2003 and the middle of 2005, Baltimore County enjoyed 11,000 new jobs. That?s a lot of new business investments.”
For Essex and Middle River, the $80 million county-funded renaissance continues as developers prepare to bid on property formerly occupied by the crime-ridden Section 8 Kingsley Park complex. The process starts with a team of professionals ? including architects, planners and transportation specialists ? known as an urban design assistance team. The team works with community members to create a town vision and design guidelines that future developers and projects must meet.
The county?s first team drafted a plan for Dundalk in 2001, followed by teams in Essex and Middle River as well as Randallstown.
In Randallstown, the Liberty Road corridor is preparing for the arrival of a Wal-Mart and Home Depot. In addition, the Liberty Plaza, Liberty Crossing and Brenbrooke Plaza complexes are all getting major face-lifts ? and, officials hope, new business tenants.
But the process is slow.
Cohen said she took plenty of trips to New York to woo Home Depot executives using low-cost loans, grants and tax credits as incentives, something her office has done to help more than 200 businesses move to the county. Retrofitting an existing building is often more expensive than building a new one, and companies sometimes buy out leases in large spaces to keep a competitor from moving in, Cohen said.
That keeps anchor stores vacant and national chains away.
“There are expectations, but redevelopment is complex,” Cohen said. “There was a Kmart that we announced was closing on a Friday. Monday morning, a constituent called and said, ?What?s going in the Kmart space?? It?s a marathon, not a sprint.”
The county also provides loans,streetscaping grants and even free, on-call architectural assistance to business owners who want to spruce up their facades. Planners have identified 13 “neighborhood downtowns,” including Arbutus, Loch Raven and Pikesville, to promote as homes for retail and restaurant chains.
They helped Quizno?s Subs Area Director Glenn Gustafsson find sites for more than a dozen locations in the county?s traditional commercial areas, and Gustafsson said he?s looking for more.
“We?ve worked very closely with the county, and we?re hoping to double the number of sites in Baltimore County and City within the next year,” he said.
County officials hope similar chains will look to Dundalk, where Smith recently announced the county is paying $5.5 million to buy and raze the derelict Yorkway apartment complex, which houses low-income residents. But that?s only part of a $70 million investment in capital projects in Dundalk since 2002, including updates to Dundalk Village Shopping Center, streetscape improvements and a new community center under way.
Up next is Towson, where residents have been attending seminars with national planning experts to gear up for their own urban design assistance team in June, and nominating their “favorite places” for consideration.
Officials said they will look at other towns to bring more jobs with projects like the Crossroads@95 business park in White Marsh and the Metro Towne Center in Owings Mills.
“This is the main reason I resigned from the bench and ran for county executive,” Smith said. “I think we?re going to be a strong, prosperous county in the next few years.”
