A new high-end community with a mix of residences, offices and businesses is expected to retain Howard County?s village feel.
“We are people who believe in really trying to create a community,” said John Slidell, a partner with The Bozzuto Group, which plans to break ground next month.
The 58-acre planned community, called Shipley?s Grant, is between Route 108 and Snowden River Parkway, backing up to Route 100.
The Bozzuto Group, based in Greenbelt, has acquired half the land with the remaining land being developed in phases during the next six or seven years, Slidell said.
The developers wanted to create a “traditional village feel,” Slidell said.
The development is lower density, with fewer buildings on a greater area of land, and the architecture will complement a farmhouse and barn on adjacent land.
Slidell said the original landowners, the Curtis family, could have chosen a higher-density development plan that included more residential or commercial units, but wanted to preserve the feel of the surrounding areas.
“There are covenants we had to negotiate with the land agreement that say exactly what the products will look like,” Slidell said.
The Shipley?s Grant complex will include 396 town houses and condominium residences, 62 of which will be built during this first phase. It also will have 40,000 square feet of retail space, such as a food store, coffee shop, dry cleaner and other convenience retail, said Rob Bavar, vice president of Bavar Properties Group, which is developing the retail portion.
“Not only is the retail located on a major road in Columbia, but with all the new housing, you have a built-in customer for the retail,” Bavar said. “This is going to be a high-end community.”
Bridget Mugane, president of the Howard County Citizen?s Association, said the nearby intersections with Routes 108 and 100 are poorly configured and not planned for highway traffic. However, the development?s low density should alleviate some concerns about traffic congestion, Bavar said.
