Reisterstown Road Plaza is getting its first face-lift in more than two decades, part of a vision to remake the Northwest Baltimore mall into a thriving community hub near a planned transit-oriented development.
Tide Realty Capital, a Baltimore-based developer that bought the mall last year, plans to revitalize one of the largest shopping centers inside Baltimore’s beltway, starting with a $4.5 million entrance and façade renovation. The owner has begun improving security and plans additional upgrades to boost occupancy at the 750,000-square-foot center. Eventually, the developer hopes to attract new entertainment and restaurant tenants to the current mix of shops and offices.
The mall has struggled with a lack of identity, inattention from institutional owners and inadequate security, said Aaron Loeb, president and founder of Tide Realty, which purchased the center for $48.3 million in November.
Loeb, a Baltimore native, grew up shopping at the now-defunct anchor stores Caldor and Hechinger in the 1990s when he lived blocks from the mall.
“Retail is dynamic and changes, and this property has had its ups and downs, but the needs of the community haven’t changed,” Loeb said in an interview.
With investment and community support, Loeb said, the mall is poised to become a gathering spot where people can shop, work and be entertained. Developers also expect to continue offering space for community and nonprofit groups to hold events.
The timing makes sense, in part, because the state plans a mixed-use, transit-oriented development nearby on nearly 26 acres of underused, state-owned parking lots near the Reisterstown Plaza subway station. Loeb said he believes shopping center revitalization will become a catalyst for that project.
Plans for that separate project, led by the Maryland Department of Transportation, call for housing, retail and public parks. Transportation officials released a “vision plan” for the area in June, when the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the state nearly $4.7 million in grant funds for preliminary design and environmental work.
Officials hope to turn the site into a mixed-use “destination” and transit hub with improvements for pedestrians to encourage the use of mass transit.
The mall currently has office space that’s fully leased by state agencies and store anchors such as Giant, Home Depot and Planet Fitness. But when Tide Realty bought it, the center was 20% vacant on the retail side and “coming apart at the seams,” said Loeb, whose company acquires distressed and underperforming properties and owns Alameda Marketplace in the city.
“Crime and safety is the number one thing that we … have really been working very hard to turn around,” Loeb said of Reisterstown Road Plaza. “We want to make sure it’s a place where everybody feels comfortable and safe.”
The property has gone through several transformations since it was built as an outdoor mall on 50 acres in 1962. It was later enclosed. In the 1980s, the Reisterstown Plaza metro station opened, a Stewart’s department store anchor closed and state agencies began leasing space remade into offices. Previous owners last renovated the center in the early 2000s and “de-malled” part of the structure to add stores with exterior entrances.
The first phase of renovations, to start later this year, is expected to be completed in eight to 10 months. Besides a new entrance and façade, work will include improvements to a 60,000-square-foot vacancy created when Burlington left about eight years ago. Burlington later returned to a smaller space in the mall. Tide Realty has been in discussions with potential tenants, Loeb said.
He expects the mall turnaround to take about five years and to work with community groups on planning future phases.
The company has partnered with CHAI, a nonprofit housing and community development organization serving northwest Baltimore, to apply for a state neighborhood improvement grant. It also has applied to the city’s Baltimore Development Corp. for a façade improvement grant.
The state’s TOD development plan for the metro site is moving ahead as well, part of Gov. Wes Moore’s focus on transit-oriented development as a way to spur economic development and address housing shortages. The state is looking into other development sites near metro and MARC lines where it owns land zoned for development, said David Zaidain, chief of real estate and TOD for the state transportation department.
Besides the mall and its businesses, other major employers near the Reisterstown Plaza metro station include some Maryland Transit Administration facilities, a Social Security Administration office, a city district courthouse and the American Red Cross.
The state’s plans for the metro station site for more than 800 units of housing, including multi-family, market rate units, workforce and senior housing and for-sale townhouses, and neighborhood retail.
Plans are currently moving through the city’s planning approval process, while the state expects to start negotiating an agreement with Wabash Development Partners, a group led by developer Dean Harrison.
With the help of the federal grant, work on improving the site’s transit accessibility and connectivity to surrounding homes and businesses is expected to start next year, Zaidain said. The state plans to work with the city to improve pedestrian access and road safety throughout the area.
“That piece is really where there’s a connection between the mall redevelopment and our site,” Zaidain said. “We want to make sure that the accessibility between those projects works…and provides access to the transit.”
“We’re excited to see the investment in this area of the city,” he said. “We think the projects will be complementary.”
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