Creating Lifestyle From A Dead Mall
Greenberg Commercial Corporation created a lifestyle center from “Death Valley Mall.”

Creating a central meeting place for a large trade area was one of the goals of Hunt Valley Towne Centre.

Owings Mills, Maryland-based Greenberg Commercial Corporation tackled this challenge when it acquired Hunt Valley Mall in suburban Baltimore County, Maryland, in 2002. Things were so bad that local residents were calling the property “Death Valley Mall,” and the project was one of the first to be included on the “dead mall” Web site, which featured obsolete centers. With dark anchors and a dying center on its hands, Greenberg Commercial went into the center knowing that something drastic would have to be done to turn the property around.

Fast forward 3 years and Hunt Valley Mall is now Hunt Valley Towne Centre, an outdoor lifestyle center that is drawing residents from three states.

“Hunt Valley Towne Centre is a classic example of how an adaptive redevelopment should be handled from start to finish,” says Mark Bomse, vice president of Greenberg Commercial. “We had the full support of the county and the local neighborhoods, and we recognized the need to create a stimulating environment that would stir the imagination of the local market. This involved attracting the right mix of retailers and creating a plan that played to the strengths of the property.”

Work-live-play is the ultimate goal for Greenberg Commercial Group'sHunt Valley Towne Centre in suburban Baltimore.

Hunt Valley Mall was seemingly built before its time; the center was expected to have a larger trade area than ever existed during its history. What was needed was mostly not regional retail, but convenience retail, restaurants and a place to go. More than 5 million square feet of office space sits across the road in the Hunt Valley Business Community, and   within 3 miles, there is another 3 million square feet of commercial space. The residential population is nearby and about 15 percent of the center's shopper base drives from Pennsylvania, many of which commute to work in Maryland everyday.

“It is a difficult market to explain; even though we are in suburban Baltimore, we are drawing from 25 to 30 miles, especially with the presence of Wegmans. With its relocation at the project and the opening of new retailers, DSW Warehouse has detected a 75 percent increase in consumer traffic during the first month,” says Bomse.

Local bookstore Greetings & Readings opened a 30,000-square-foot flagship location at Hunt Valley Towne Centre this summer.

In addition to Wegmans, anchors of the lifestyle center are DSW Shoe Warehouse, a 50,000-square-foot Dick's Sporting Goods and a 30,000-square-foot flagship location for local bookseller Greetings and Readings, which recently relocated. Tenants at the lifestyle center include White House|Black Market, EB Games, Olly Shoes, Soccer Town, Coldwater Creek, Jos. A. Bank and Chico's. Local boutiques like Box of Rain and Just Comfort are among the most popular with shoppers.

Five sit-down restaurants have opened at Hunt Valley Towne Centre recently, in addition to the pad restaurants. Because of the national users in the quick service category, Greenberg Commercial made an effort to have local restaurants at the center. Local sit-down restaurants at the center include Jesse Wong's Open Kitchen, the newest branch of a popular local favorite and Greystone Grill, an upscale restaurant. Damon's Grill, the national rib restaurant, as well as a Cheeburger Cheeburger unit, are among the national sit-down restaurants at the center. Quick service restaurants at the center include Quizno's, Chipotle, Noodles & Co., Panera Bread, Carmine's and Caribou Coffee. The center is 94 percent leased.

Wegmans has opened a flagship store at Hunt Valley Towne Centre. Described as a grocery store on steroids, the Wegmans unit at Hunt Valley has high-end finishes, stations for nearly every type of food imaginable, and would seemingly take hours to walk through. Wegmans has hired hundreds of employees to staff the store, and more than 2,000 employees will handle the opening weekend.

Greenberg Commercial isn't done when Hunt Valley Towne Centre is completed. The company has plans for a condominium building at the center to create a true mixed-use environment. All in all, it plans to build 400 units at the site.

Hunt Valley was the first of what Greenberg Commercial hopes will be many lifestyle ventures for the company. Its second lifestyle project, currently in the planning phases, is Annapolis Town Centre at Parole, a vertical mixed-use center that will be twice the size of Hunt Valley Town Centre, that is situated in Annapolis. Maryland. That center will include 1,000 residential units.

— Randall Shearin