Owings Mills Town Centre Part II: The Resurection

With the fate of the Mall all but sealed, it's time to explore redevelopment of the entire Owings Mills Town Center Site which includes the Mall and the Metro Station. The Metro Station, does have a massive development pan for its sprawling parking lots. Metro Centre at Owings Mills is set to include 495 Apartments, Office Space, Community College Campus, Library, Hotel, Retail Space, and Parking Garages.

As of right now, all that consists of Metro Centre is the new Parking Garages. Economic restraints have thwarted additional development. Metro Centre, as good as it will be when completed will have no connection to the Mall thus cutting Owings Mills Town Center in half.

General Growth Properties (GGP) have said off the record that they would like to redevelop the Mall. There are no specifics as to what GGP has in mind for redevelopment. Hunt Valley Mall, at the end of the Light Rail, was faced with a similar dilemma in the late 1990s and was redeveloped with a Wegman's Grocery Store and Upscale Retailers in an Open Arie atmosphere. Hunt Valley Town Centre is a huge success, bringing life to a once dead property. Could this be the future for Owings Mills Mall? I think that's the best route to go.

Owings Mills can be redeveloped similarly maintaing existing anchors (J.C. Penney and Macy's), adding new anchors and demolishing the existing Mall. This redevelopment effort will once and for all connect Metro Centre and the new Mall to make way for the long awaited Owings Mills Town Center.
The Parking Lots around the Movie Theater will be redesigned as access roads between the two properties. In addition there will be lighted pedestrian promenades for walk ability between the Mall and the Metro Centre Properties. Red Run Boulevard will receive much needed sidewalks as well as more adequate lighting.

Despite still having a future at the Mall J.C. Penney will be demolished and will be relocated at the back of Mill Run Circle where the current Food Court is. The massive three story Boscov's which is vacant can host an "R US" on each floor Toys R US, Kids R US, and Baby's R US. Each will have a floor.

The Macys will remain the same as will the vacant Lord & Taylor. The vacant Lord & Taylor Space will have a Whole Foods Market occupying it. The elevation of the Lord & Taylor building has would be customers entering on the second floor. Since a two floor Grocery Store is not practical the underground first floor will remain unused.

The Mall space in between Macy's and the old Lord & Taylor will be converted into a Barnes & Noble. The rest of the old Mall will be demolished as an Open Aire Outdoor Multi Story Retail Center with mid market to upscale Retailers.
Although GGP doesn't seem to be renewing leases,I think it would be beneficial to keep all existing Mall Tenants in order for them to be a part of the New Center. Additional Tenants GGP should try to woo include The Apple Store, Hollister, Fashion Bug, Buckle, Vans Store, Ann Taylor Loft, Rainbow, Old Navy, Zumiez, Champs Sports, Best Buy Mobile, Fossil, Sephora, The Sports Page, Wilsons Leather, dElias, Merle Norman, White Barn Candle Company, Zips Dry cleaners, Ross Dress for Less, Sleepys, Lucaya, and Cartoon Cuts.

In addition to luring new stores and retaining existing ones (and renovating them) and would be good for GGP to lure back some stores that have left recently including Spencer's, Hot Topic, Demo Sunglasses Hut, PacSun, Lids, Radioshack, Justice, and Mens Wearhouse Tux.

Also integrated into the new Mall should be the Sit Down Restaurants that are locaated on Red Run Boulevard before entering the Mall Parking Lot.
The Movie Theater, despite being the major blocking point between the Mall and Metro Centre will stay put as it is relatively successful as well as the Greenwich Village Apartments and Townhomes built on the demolition of the Old Sears Building.

Well after 25 long years long years and a life time's worth of failures and pitfalls, Owings Mills Town Center may finally be complete.

Owings Mills Town Centre Part I:The Death of a Mall

Owings Mills was always meant to be something more than a cookie cutter suburb. Over the years it has taken a lot of cues from Columbia, a Master Planned Community in Howard County. The piece de resistance of Owings Mills was and is to be its Town Center. Owings Mills Town Center would include an upscale Mall and the western end of Baltimore's Metro Subway. Over the years many big companies have located their large Offices to Owings Mills and new residential growth has been the fastest and of the highest density in all of Baltimore County. Owings Mills New Town was built just like a Columbia Village and further down Owings Mills Boulevard new development continues. Sadly this growth hasn't made for muh of a Town Center. Lets take a look at Owings Mills today yesterday and see what needs to be done tomorrow to make Owings Mills more than just a cookie cutter suburb. The year was 1986 and Baltimore County's dream of the new Owings Mills Town Center was coming true. Three big projects were completed; I-795, the Northwest Expressway which would reduce traffic congestion on Liberty Road and Reisterstown Road in both the City and the County. The Metro Subway was completed from Owings Mills to Charles Center (eventually it would be expanded to Johns Hopkins Hospital) and Owings Mills Mall, Baltimore County's one and only upscale Mall. Looking back one can already see that doom was not far behind. I-795 was supposed to go inside the Beltway ending at Northern Parkway and continuing through Wabash Avenue. Opposition from Sudbrook Park residents cancelled the City connection but the Metro Subway still runs through that area without the parallel freeway.
Another disappointing setback was the Rouse Company's refusal to have the Subway Stop given direct access to the Mall. The result was the Mall and the Subway stop being near each other as the crow flys but actually getting there is a five minute drive. Walking there would become dangerous due to lack of sidewalks in fact accessing the two properties became so difficult that one has take a bus in between the two.

Be that as it may Owings Mills Mall opened with upscale tenants that were then unknown to the Baltimore Area such as Saks 5th Avenue, Banana Republic, Laura Ashley, Williams Sonoma, Britches, Beneton, and several other upscale Shops, Boutiques, and Eateries. Other anchors were Hechts and Macys. It seems that Owings Mills Mall was a big hit. As new housing and commercial space in the Owings Mills area was built at lightning fast speeds, the Mall's customer base didn't grow with the population. As Towson Town Center lured a Nordstrom and being that Towson is both the County seat and has higher income per capita than Owings Mills, the upscale crown was passed from Owings Mills to Towson.

The biggest sign of trouble came when an employee of Saks Fifth Avenue was murdered while walking on a path way between the Mall and the Subway Station. This created a panic about Mall and that the Subway ran through bad parts of the City which allowed "that element" easy access to the Mall. The path was closed, thus making connections to the Mall and Subway all the more difficult. It also appeared that traffic at the Mall was dropping off and that more and more Shoppers became "window Shoppers" giving the illusion that the Mall was busy when in fact sales said otherwise.

Baltimore's only Saks Fifth Avenue pulled out of the Mall in 1996 and JcPenney, a store with several locations in the Baltimore Area replaced it. The departure of Saks allowed for a re branding of the Mall as more mid market. The Rouse Company made a fatal mistake during this re branding process; the expanded the Mall.
Two new anchors were added behind the Main Entrance as was a new wing. Lord & Taylor opened in 1998 and almost as soon as the ribbon was cut, low sales made it into a bargain hunter's dream. Sears opened with a new wing that never really filled up with stores. At around the turn of the century, both Lord & Taylor and Sears decided that to stay profitable, they'd have to close underperforming stores. Both Owings Mills locations were on the list of closures despite only being open for a couple of years. I do think that if given a chance those stores could have succeeded.
By 2002 both new stores were empty as was the new wing. Efforts to fill these vacant Department Stores proved unsucessful and more and more storefronts became vacant. In the Department Store world, Macy's bought Hechts which meant that another Department store was to become vacant in 2006.
Boscov's, looking to make its way into the Baltimore Market took over the vactated spaces in Owings Mills, White Marsh, and Marleys Station. In 2008, Boscov's filed for Chapter 11 and you guessed it, Owings Mills was one of the stores slated for closure. By now the Sears Building had been demolished to make way for Apartments and Rental Town Homes. I forgot to mention that as part of this expansion a Movie Theater was added, the Movie Theater further blocked access from the Mall to the Subway Station.

Well in 2011, the mall only has a handful of stores left with a capacity of nearly 150. The Mall's current owners General Growth Properties (GGP) are emerging from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy which would have hindered any redevelopment for the Mall. It doesn't appear that GGP is renewing leases or updating its tenant roster on the internet.Anyway, I think redevelopment is the only savior for this Mall. Back at the Metro Station the vast parking lots will soon make way for long awaited TOD known as Metro Centre at Owings Mills. Maybe the redveloped Mall and the new Metro Centre will become one big super development known as Owings Mills Town Center. Stay tuned for my redevelopment plans.

The Yellow Line & Charles Street: Same Area Different Purposes

I have argued to keep the Yellow Line a valid and current piece of Baltimore's Regional Rail Plan for what seems like an eternity. I have also to a lesser extent been on board for the creation of the Charles St. Trolley. So which do I want? There are those who think it's either one or the other and because of cost, the Charles St. Trolley would always win. Why should it? I mean why should the two compete? Can't the two exist together? I think so.

With the existing Central Light Rail Line, Downtown, with both new lines built will have three north-south lines serving it. Now I consider the Downtown boundaries to MLK Boulevard to the west and President St. to the east, pretty much every north south thoroughfare is congested. Now each of the three lines will ultimately end in different places and will vary in length.

The Charles St. Trolley and the Yellow Line, at least for a short period of time will be side by side. The Yellow Line will go underneath both Charles St. and Light St. at the Charles Center Green Line Station where space was made available for a transfer line when it was built. I consider the smartest pre-planning in modern Baltimore Transit History.

Now does the current Light Rail go, and where will the Charles St Trolley and Yellow Line go? Well, the Light Rail goes from Cromwell Station in Glen Burnie to Hunt Valley. Past Downtown, it travels I-83 through the JFX Valley, Hampden/Woodberry, Mt. Washington, Timonium ending in Hunt Valley.
It has two branches one for BWI Marshall Airport, and another for Penn Station. The creation of the Yellow Line will make these a part of that line making the Central Light Rail Line a straight shot from Cromwell Station to Hunt Valley. Short term southern expansions would include the redeveloping "Glen Burnie Town Centre" on Crain Highway. Long Term would include traveling down I-97/Ritchie Highway with stops at Marley Station (Pasadena), Greater Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Servena Park, and finally ending in Annapolis.

The Yellow Line will expand southbound from the Light Rail Line's BWI Marshall Airport Branch for stops at the BWI MARC Station, Baltimore Commons, Arundel Mills, Dorsey MARC, Snowden River Parkway and Route 108, East Columbia, and finally ending at Columbia Town Center (West Columbia pictured abobe) where it will eventually meet the DC Metro's Green Line.
On the other end from Camden Yards, it will go northeast along Conway St. for an Inner Harbor Stop, then to the Charles Center Green Line Station for two, a stop for Mercy Hospital, City Hall, and the Court House. It will continue along Calvert St. for a Mount Vernon Stop traveling north to be replace the Light Rail's Penn Station Stop that will also serve the up & coming Station North Community.

I should also point out that the Yellow Line will be needed if the JFX were torn down to relieve the additional traffic congestion. The two projects should be funded as one.

Back to the Yellow Line, since splitting from the Light Rail Line at Camden Yards, it has mirrored the proposed Charles St. Trolley Route, well that ends now. The Trolley, as its name suggests, will continue along the Charles St. Corridor. The Yellow Line, past North Avenue will serve the ailing Greenmount Avenue/York Road Neighborhoods. First stop 25th St. at the redevelopment hungry Neighborhoods of Barclay and East Baltimore Midway (pictured above).
Then, it's off to the old Memorial Stadium grounds where redevelopment has uplifted the area after the demolition of the Os former home. Waverly is perhaps the best area east of Greenmount Avenue.
Continuing up York Road we come to the Pen Lucy/Govans area. This area is improving one house rehab at a time. Hopefully the Yellow Line will inspire the redevelopment of the blighted Old York Road which is holding the area back (pictured above).Next we come to Belvedere Square, perhaps the best North Baltimore has to offer. Now we cross the County Line into Rodgers Forge. This well perserved Row House Suburb is bursting at the seams as long time Home Owners sell to young families. This has spawned the construction of West Towson Elementary School to relieve over crowding at Rodgers Forge. Next we come to College drive which will erve GBMC, Mount St. Joseph Medical Center, Shepard Pratt, and Towson University. Yep, this stop's a big one.
Finally the Yellow Line will end at Towson Town Centre where in its vicinity redevelopment has taken the area by storm.

Last we come to the Charles St. Trolley, unlike the two lines discussed earlier in the post, the Trolley will be very local and focused. I look at it as a means for College Students in the area (of which there are many) to get from School/Class to the clubs down by the Harbor without taking their cars. I know that's a narrow minded view of the Trolley but that's what comes to mind when I think of it. Although I find its purpose to be limiting, I do believe it will play a huge part in relieving traffic congestion.

The Trolley will start at Charles and Conway and make its northbound through, Charles Center, Mt. Vernon, the Midtown Donut, Station North, and Charles Village. In the process it will run by the following Colleges, UMB, MICA Art Institute, UMB Mount Royal, and Johns Hopkins Homewood. Also major users of the Trolley could perhaps be workers at Univeristy of Maryland Medical Center and Union Memorial Hospital. The Trolley will have transfer points where there are stops for other rail lines. Its southbound track will be St. Paul St.

Like I said, I have argued for keeping the Yellow Line in the general discussion as the Charles St. Trolley has been all but replacing it. For people who think I'm crazy for saying both when asked the question; "one or the other" I invite them to read this post and they will see the nececity of them both and the differing functions they will serve.

A Pimlico that Works For Everyone All the Time

Pimlico has been the subject of intense debate over the past several years and nothing has been resolved. The long time Baltimore Landmark that hosts the Preakness is as always in financial trouble and constantly changing Owners won't turn Pimlico into a money maker. The Park Heights Master Plan has offered a few options regarding Pimlico's future. There's one that leaves the Race Course as is and another that involves redevelopment of the Parking Lots and the Race Course as Mixed Use Office Retail and Residential. Neither plan satisfies 100% yet at the same time, Neither plan 100% dissatisfies me. It's time to get ultra creative and turn Pimlico into a year round Money Maker for all ages.

The woes of Pimlico are no surprise, not only is it grossly under utilized but Horse Racing has been dying a slow death for decades now. A good way that's helped the owners supplement income and generate revenue for the City has been using the Race Course as a venue for all day concert events such as Virgin Fest. Although they have breathed new into Pimlico for duration of the event it has failed to restore Pimlico as a busy year round attraction. This begs the question of slots operating in Pimlico, I will discuss that later in this post.

Allow me to side track you for a quick second. This will tie into Pimlico I promise. The Gym in Beverly Hills High School has a floor that splits in two to make way for a swimming pool underneath. The "Swim Gym" located here is perhaps the only one of its kind. This allows the Gym to serve multi purposes without wasted space. What does this have this have to do with Pimlico? Upon learning of this technology used in Beverly Hills High I had an epiphany. Why can't the Race Track in Pimlico part using this same technology? After all the Beverly Hills Swim Gym albeit much smaller than the Pimlico Race Track was built in the 1930s as a New Deal Project so I'm sure that technology can be used for a peice of land as large as Pimlico. If the Beverly Hills Swim Gym was a New Deal project maybe the Pimlico Project can get funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; the 21st Century New Deal. Of course this would be very expensive but you have to spend money to make money right? So, in short my plan is turn Pimlico into a Swimming Pool. Only it will be more than just a pool. It would be by far the largest in the City complete with water slides, a wave pool, hot tubs, a volley ball court, and lots of water park "mushrooms."

The Pool will be open from dawn to dusk seven days a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day which is the normal annual time span in this region for an Outdoor Pool. If an outdoor concert wishes to use Pimlico the Pool would be closed. Now I want to see Pimlico as a year round venue and an Outdoor Swimming Pool can only fit the bill for summer months. Now riddle me this; What happens to water when it freezes? Ice! So, from November to mid March Pimlico will serve as an Ice Rink for recreational Ice Skating and perhaps an Ice Hockey League.

Now this begs the question of money. I will answer said question regarding money. The renovation of Pimlico will be financed by any number of grants by both public and private entities. The City will then lease Pimlico from its owners and will share the cost of maintenance. Admission will be free. The revenue generator will come in the form of concessions. Local eateries in the surrounding Neighborhood can operate kiosk stands inside Pimlico.

Now I said that I will discuss slots and I've decided to keep that promise. Slots are bascially an unavoidable force and the only way to save Pimlico would be to let slots operate there. When the swimming pool closes for the night, the Slots Parlor will open. The same M.O. will be in effect during the Ice Rink months. There's still that period of time between mid March and Memorial Day, well that's Horse Racing Season! As long as Horse Racing is up and running Pimlico will serve as its primary function; a Race Track. The Preakness will always have a home at Pimlico as well.

Earlier I talked about options in the Park Heights Master Plan and my satisfaction or lack there of regarding its options for Pimlico. Redevelopment was discussed but that involved the demolition of Pimlico, at least in the Master Plan. With Pimlico alive and better than ever in my plan its acres of surface parking remain desolate. As part of Pimlico's renovation undergound parking will be put under the track. The mixed use development discussed in the Master Plan will still come to fruition except Pimlico won't hit the wrecking ball.

Pimlico has been a Baltimore Landmark since before the land was annexed by the City. With its fate up in the air drastic steps must be taken to save it and make it a Park that everyone of all ages can enjoy.

The new MARC Transfer Station

So far all I've done in Southwestern Baltimore County is close down two MARC Stations and put in their place localized stops and stations with lots TOD and redvelopment. So far I've done nothing to address the MARC Stations that were closed in the wake of my Master Plan. Now it's high time I shared with you what it is plan to do address the Commuter Rail that will eventually share its tracks with the localized Orange and Purples Lines aka the MARC Camden and Penn Lines respectively.

Although the Relay MARC Station is one of historical signifigance, the amount of traffic that a true MARC Stop generates would severely disrupt the quiet residential Community so I decided that it should close both as a MARC Station and any possibility of it being an Orange Line Stop. Orange Line Stops in Elkridge and Lansdowne Station are in my final plan.

Unlike Relay, the Halethorpe MARC Station on the Penn Line has a large Commuter Base and the Station to support it. So I'm sure it came as a surprise to all who read the post that I want to close. I put a Purple Line Stop about quarter mile away in Arbutus that will serve UMBC Students and Arbutus Residents alike. That plan also calls for massive redevelopment between the stop on Southwestern Boulevard and the UMBC Campus.

Now let me give an overview of the MARC Rail. I think of it as an "All Roads lead to DC" Commuter Rail that serves those who work bankers hours. It has three lines all together (the third line called the Brunswick doesn't go anywhere near Baltimore) and their starting point is in DC. Now the other two lines, the Camden and the Penn both lead to Baltimore. the Camden Line, as the name suggests ends at Camden Yards. The Penn Line contrary to the name does not end at Penn Station. It does stop there but it continues on to Harford County.

In southwestern Baltimore County, there is a large missed opportunity, the two lines actually cross paths. The fact that the MTA has ignored this potential has left me baffled. The need for the two MARC Lines to cross paths and act as transfer points to one another has been the center point of my Southwestern Baltimore County Posts. I have left this pivotal part out to see how many people would pick up on that fact. The new MARC Station located at the criss cross of the tracks would also be an additional stop on both the localized Purple and Orange Lines.

As I draw my series of posts regarding Southwest Baltimore County Rail Transit to a close I'd like to bring this up, when planning transit lines it's always best to have as many transfer points throughout the system as possible. The more convenient the service, the higher the ridership, which would in turn lead to less congestion on roads all across the board. It's time the two MARC Lines met their ultimate destiny in Baltimore by taking advantage of an existing meeting point and turning it into a transfer point.

Arbutus/UMBC TOD and Redevelopment

Despite having one of America's most "Up & Coming" Universities at its door step, Arbutus may as well be worlds away from UMBC. I give Arbutus credit for maintaining its Small Town feel in the middle of suburbia and at the City's southwestern border. Although the Small Town feel is welcoming, Arbutus seems to have gone stagnant. There hasn't been much on the development front nor has there been any population influx to speak of like that of pretty much all other "inner ring suburbs." Like the City, Arbutus has lost population during the last few decades but Arbutus has an untapped Jewel hidden behind Southwestern Boulevard that needs to be unearthed and with will come new development and population gains.

Arbutus was never meant to be a rich man's suburb. As the flight to the suburbs was in full swing the suburbs built catered to the income of where they were fleeing the City from. It's not hard to trace who went where, If you lived in SoWeBo, you went to Arbutus if you lived in Park Heights you went Pikesville or Randallstown, If you lived in Edmondson Village you went to Catonsville, and if you lived in Highlandtown you went to Dundalk. In some cases, especially in Arbutus, the housing stock mirrored that of the City everyone was fleeing. In Arbutus, it wasn't a housing upgrade, just a demographically homogenized version of the City so it's no surprise that Arbutus contains lots of row homes and small single family homes.

The opening of UMBC did little to chnage the suburban landscape of Arbutus. There are several large Apartment Complexes nearby and although Students have moved into some, it's doesn't have as high of a Student population as one would think. UMBC is almost completely a Commuter School despite the housing stock available both on and off campus. Arbutus is what I like to call a "Generations Community", which is when houses are passed down to Children and Grandchildren of long time owners and/or said Children have settled elsewhere in Arbutus. What has resulted is a close knit Community that appears closed off to change.

Most of the Retail in Arbutus has been there for quite some time. This goes along with the Close Knit "Generations Community" theory I'm using to describe Arbutus. Now since I've described the quintessential Small Town America, why is Arbutus losing population? Well like I've said before it's not a Rich Man's Suburb and some of the problems that have hurt the City have crossed the County Line into Arbutus. Another reason is the aging housing stock. With Arbutus not being very well to do, Home Owners and Landlords alike haven't invested in the housing stock like they have in other wealthier Communities. The Real Estate bubble didn't inflate the Market which allowed for home equity loans either. Arbutus today is an aging suburb with a shrinking population and limited quality housing choices.

The County has answered back by introducing a Main Street themed Retail Town Centre around the intersection of East Drive and Sulphur Spring Road. This has spruced up the landscape of Arbutus with streetscape enhancements and adequate lighting. It hasn't done much to improve the appearance of the businesses themselves.

In order for Arbutus to move forward, it must take a good hard look at what it's lacking (I just did that) and then see if there's a way it can be improved upon by either using an existing resource or bringing them in from the outside. Just like the rest of Southwestern Baltimore, Arbutus has the gift of having train tracks running right through it. No this won't be the replacement MARC Station but it will be a stop on the Purple Line which will share tracks with the MARC Penn Line and Amtrak.

Locating the Arbutus Station across from the Southwestern Boulevard intersection with Linden Avenue will be the optimal location. Linden Avenue serves as an entrance point for the Arbutus Community and the enchanced "Town Centre." With a Rail Stop Arbutus can redevelop its tired old Retail Buildings into High Density TOD Buildings. This hopefully will have a domino effect with either reinveting in or redeveloping some of the old Row Homes nearby. The sprawling Westland Gardens Apartment Complext is due for redevelopment which may bring better Retail to the Wilkens Avenue/Maiden Choice Lane Area.

The old Single Family Homes can't really be changed much because they aren't part of a Complex. It would be great to eventually redevelop the Single Family Homes to expand the TOD District all the way to UMBC but Banks could make available Low Interest Loans to residents to fix up their homes in the mean time. Speaking of UMBC the MTA would have to make a "shuttle bug" route like those found in Hampden in Mondawmin for Arbutus to allow UMBC and Westland Gardens access to the new Station.

The TOD Distrcist will extend east of Southwestern Boulevard into Lansdowne where it will undergo a radical transformation for its new Station along the Orage Line. A pedestrian bridge across Southwestern Boulevard will for now connect Arbutus to its new Station. I'm looking into long range goals to make a more Pedestrian friendly Southwestern Boulevard but that will have to wait for a different post.

Arbutus has been stagnant for too long, it's time some life was pumped into it by way of Rail Transit. Just put a Rail Station somewhere and watch the Neighborhood transform! That is, if it's done correctly.