This week’s news that the late Owings Mills Mall property will be reborn as a shopping area known as Mill Station may be proof of life after death when it comes to real estate.
But will it also mean life after economic death?
And, if so, in what form?
The old mall, when it first opened three decades ago, was seen as an upscale gathering place. That’s where you found Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor. The mall’s floors were so shiny, you felt like taking off your shoes so you wouldn’t scuff anything. When you went to the food court, you spotted people you hadn’t seen in years.
The new place will be an outdoor shopping area of about 30 retailers and restaurants, anchored by a huge Costco store.
Some of this is symbolic of changes in the property’s surrounding neighborhoods. Owings Mills is still solidly middle-class, still family-oriented, still throbbing with life. But it’s not as likely to support upscale shopping as Baltimore County planners once imagined.
Thus: Hello, Costco; so long, Lord & Taylor.
All these developments are a reminder of the original mall’s poignant history. What started with big crowds – and big spending – evolved into a slow, painful demise over years and years. A couple of high-profile crimes unnerved everybody, and never mind that, in general, it was never a dangerous high-crime area. Perception was all.
For a lot of years, the mall had a haunted, empty feel to it. When the wrecking balls finally arrived several years ago, they carried a sense of inevitability. To drive past the empty land over the last couple of years offered a sense of relief – at last, the old lady had been put out of its misery.
The question now is whether the new place will have legs. All across the country, these are tough times for retailers. Millions of us now shop online.
But if we’re looking for comparable developments, there’s always Hunt Valley. The place never took off in its original form. But redeveloped as a collection of outdoor shops, it’s a winner.
Here’s hoping for a similar future for Mill Station – and Owings Mills.
A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books. His most recent, “Front Stoops in the Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come of Age,” has just been re-issued in paperback by the Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Top photo: The former Owings Mills Mall (Photo courtesy Flickr)
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