Yes! Let the Owings Mills renaissance begin!

Great news

Yes! Welcome Wegmans! Vicki u've got my vote.

Shirley, if you really plan to bring this to a referendum, I hope you proceed with getting the necessary signatures with the same honesty and integrity that you would like to be treated yourself. We all know that you didn't get your 7,100 petition signatures that way, for sure.

the greatest new for the Owings Mills and surrounding areas

Vicki you rock, homegirl.

And, Shirley, who is funding your referendum effort? Are you going to be more honest about this than you were about Say No To SOLO?

I hope they can get started right away. The people of Baltimore county elected the representatives to the council and they did the people's work. There is no need for a referendum. People in Essex, Dundalk, Woodlawn, Catonsville and the Hereford zone should not be voting on this important development for Owings Mills and the surrounding area.

Shirley - you fought a dirty fight and still lost, give it up for the good of everyone.

Great news - now Foundry Row -- Metro Center and a demalled Owings Mills Mall can make people excited to visit our side of Baltimore County. Increased economy for all concerned and existing businesses can remodel to fit with the new bright look of the area.

The county ruled correctly, the opposition hardly represented the best interest of the community, or county. Just a paid business deal by another developer that lost......welcome developement that will benefit both Owings Mills and the county as a whole, and lastly welcome Wegmans!!

Now that that's been resolved, let's get 795 access equal to what was given to OM Mall ! A three(3) Lane Reisterstown Road in the area of Foundry Row 'ONLY' would be a nice addition.

Shirley, if you want to see real grassroots support, check out the response to the post last night on Support Foundry Row's Facebook page. 442 likes and 64 comments, all asking when it's going to get started, yet you claim to speak for "the people" based on 7,100 signatures on a bogus petition spread around the county.

Great news. Can't wait for the new stores - especially Wegmans. Shirley - you should spend more time on Randallstown. That area really needs an uplift.

I'm truly unsure if Ms. Supik realizes that her backers are using her to fight their battles and in process ruin any decent reputation she has in this area. There are not many people left that will believe anything you do is honest, ethical and in the best interest of our area any longer, Ms. Supik. I would encourage you, Ms. Supik to sit back and take a look at how you are portraying yourself. It truly isn't very positive.

It just amazes me that people are now elevating the only convicted criminal on the Council, Ken Oliver! Are you kidding me??? He's now the face of ethics because he voted against this? People can't be that naive to believe Mr. Oliver voted against this because he's concerned about traffic and small businesses along the Reisterstown Rd. corridor? Really, you don't believe that. It's not possible that he's in the bacl pocket of Brown and Kimco who likely funded Say No To Solo because of their interest in the area, right? Come on! Give up the fight and let Owings Mills prosper.
Brown could have bought the mall years ago. General Growth could have began redeveloping the mall years ago. They didn't! Bravo to Greenberg/Gibbons. Just check their track record. Look at Gambrills, Annapolis, and the groundbreaking of the Laurel Town Center. Kimco owns the Frank's Nursery and High's at Tollgate and Reisterstown, how's that working out?

Now maybe we'll start to catch up to Hunt Valley.

Maybe Ms. Supik was in charge of Say No to Randallstown Walmart too!

Don't start making your shopping list quite yet.

If this were a baseball game, we just finished the first inning and the opposing team made a pitching change.

The long-range reliever entered the contest and is just getting warmed up.

Get ready for lawsuits, referendums and other tactics that will set FR back many, many years. Like a long rain delay.

Good thing Wegmans only builds one store per year.

2017 will be the earliest that this thing ever gets going. You can count on that.

We don't need another stadium in this area.

Chuck:

Sir, good luck getting there. Yes, 16 traffic lights. Count on a few more to deal with the overwhelming traffic that this project will attract with, not only Wegmans, but many, many more stores. More than 200,000 square feet worth of new stores. I suggest you leave your house NOW, if you wish to shop there. As they say, be careful what you ask for because you may get it.

From the Foundry Row Facebook page: ".... make $7 million of road improvements paid for by Greenberg Gibbons and Vanguard. Foundry Row will accomplish all of this while NOT using one penny of taxpayer money. " It's going to take more than $7M to improve the roads around the project .

Did I hear correctly at the hearing last night that the state backed out of the proposal to improve traffic in the area because it was too costly?

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If you've never worked on legislation with controversial issues, you have no idea how in many, if not most cases this is our political system at its worse. Even the best meaning politicians need the big money and power that developers bring every election cycle. We've seen it with the casinos statewide and we see it locally with the retail battle. One of the developers in this story has no problems building "competing" shopping centers against his own merchants in OM. His reputation is legendary, though our county exec did stand up to him previously.

Obviously Wegman's is coveted by the community, though many fear the already poor traffic situation will get worse. Many older centers are loaded with vacancies and new stores will further that decline. Big time chains will indeed hurt many small mom and pops. Yes Wegman's will bring more shoppers to the community (as the mall once did), but in a tight economy, don't expect other centers to prosper. If that were the case, the other two developers would be not be opposing this.

OM does deserve some decent retail development, not an eyestore as one of the ugliest Walmart's in the country and its bizarre building. Fans of Wegman's will be winners, Safeway and Giant will be losers.

Except for traffic near the center, you won't notice anything more. Stores will be close in a marketplace that can't absorb more while new ones will open.

In the end, this was big money vs. big money and that's the real bottomline.

What a relief. I'm glad we have made it past this milestone. I am getting more and more suspicious of Ms Supik's group based on their actions. Bring th issue to a referendum? Didn't we-the-people just have a very active debate in the council? Didn't our council-persons just vote, hopefully based on our stated desires? You guys seem to want to drag it out because you didn't get the answer you wanted! Most of the folks in Owings Mills WANT this development to go forward.

The mall and Metro Center have lain dormant for years. Only when the threat of a new development surfaces does action begin...as for the deserted Franks building, how can we make the developers move on that? I live in Tollgate and it makes the entrance to our community look pitiful. Volunteers keep our entrance islands mowed and landscaped but that eyesore detracts from it. Letters have not made a bit of difference.

I don't feel that Foundry Row will be operational in a reasonable period of time.
1. Project delay. The Randallstown Wal-Mart project was held up for more than 6 years due in part to contaminated soil left by a small retail. Will Gibbons publish soil samples of the Solo acreage? Will Maryland insure that the acreage is retail safe?
With approval, if a problem occurs, will 6 years be the base? What happens in the meantime? Will Gibbons look to the Owings Mills Mall redevelopment? Remember Wegman's is a Food Store; will they jeopardize their reputation by placing a market on tainted soil?
2. Traffic alternatives. A Gibbons recommendation for traffic control shows two existing entrances to Foundry Row and an inland access through St. Thomas Shopping Center and Home Depot. The additional lanes on Painters Mill & Reisterstown Roads wouldn't, in my opinion, help the congestion brought about by Foundry Row and those two entrances. Why not extend Painters Mill Road to a service road behind the businesses across Reisterstown Road.
3. NIMBY. If the developers of St Thomas Shopping Center and Home Depot don't allow access to Foundry Row, then it will remain restricted to the two entrances. With all the monies going into the Owings Mills Centre, I don't understand why Foundry Row is the priority. This approach seems like something that Baltimore City would do. You know, like financing the Baltimore Convention Hilton Hotel or building an obsolete Convention TWICE

If you look at the map which Gibbons published, you'll see four entrances/exits, plus the ones into St Thomas Center.plus three from the new sevice road next to the railroad. One existing exit/entrance on Reisterstown Rd is controlled by traffic lights, as will be the road next to the RR at Painters Mill Rd. The other two - one at Painters Mill, and the service road next to St Thomas Center - have no lights, but access is only to and from the adjoining lane, with no left turns allowed across traffic. I have a bone or two to pick with how traffic within the Row is forced into using parking lanes, but the main entrances/exits seem pretty straightforward.
And remember, this is not a public project, it is being financed with private money.

We just recently moved to the area so my understanding of this entire situation is limited. After reading several articles and the comments here, I figured I could at least comment on the Owings Mills shopping situation from an essential outside party. It is easy to do so because it is relatively nonexistent. When we made our decision to move to this area, we thought it was a good choice. The area appeared to have more shopping then we had back home while still sitting comfortably outside of the city setting. It only took me 1 week to realize our assumption was incorrect. I know drive 30 minutes away for a decent grocery store. I have walked out of local businesses on 4 occasions because of the service. It seems that I am spending most of my money in other cities or counties. I may not be totally knowlegable on this subject but I do know enough to know there is a problem. We really like this area and the people and would like to stay so I hope this is a move in the right direction for Owings Mills.

The two negatives I keep hearing regarding Foundry Row are (1) traffic and (2) it will hurt existing businesses. Personally, I think that what Wegmans will bring to this community is worth some extra traffic. That said, I believe that the developers will mitigate any potential traffic negatives, so traffic/getting to the store doesn't impact Wegmans' customer service-oriented image.

But, I don't completely understand the business closure argument. I can understand that Wegmans will affect Safeway and Giant, but what small mom-and-pops will be affected by Foundry Row? Much of the retail space will be taken up by the sports retailer (something like Dicks, I assume), the gym, and the national shoe retailer (DSW?). We can use all of those, IMO. I don't think any of them should significantly impact other area businesses. So, is it just the anticipation of the other stores that has people worried? Looking at Hunt Valley, I can think of many stores that could do well at Foundry Row, and not significantly affect other area businesses.

Ownings Mills Mall
The mall is in a great location and is very accessible by the Metro and bus lines, why it doesn't use this to it's advantage is beyond me. I do agree with the older posting of not having the movie theatre attached to the mall.
In recent months the Solo plant (just around the corner) has closed and is now going to be torn down and will boast new stores with a vintage look; Wegman's will be one of the major anchors.
The Owings Mills Mall more than likely made no effort to try to entice a company like Wegman's or Whole Foods or Cost Plus World Market into the mall as well as other stores of diversity into it's location.
Even if they were to try to support an "Outdoor Market" feeling before the new shopping center is to open they might have a chance. "The Ownings Mills Mall; A trip around the World" (copy-write) in one location.

Cheri Vail
Pikesville, Maryland