Black Oak President: No Announcement on Redevelopment Until Kmart Closes

The future of the Carrolltown Center is still unknown, and might be unknown for a little while longer.

Dixon Harvey, president of Owings Mills-based Black Oak Associates, the company that owns the shopping center, told Patch that there won't be an announcement on what's next for the Carrolltown Center until Kmart closes. 

A Kmart manger said Friday that a date for the store's closing has not yet been determined. 

"First and foremost our condolences go out to the Kmart employees and secondly, we would hope that a redeveloped Carroll County can provide employment opportunities for those folks," said Harvey.

"Beyond that we are not going to be making any statements until the store closes." 

On Feb. 23, the Eldersburg , located in the former Carrolltown Mall, was added to the list of stores to be closed by Sears Holding Corp.

The announcement of  closing in the Carrolltown Center was met with a variety of responses from local residents and organizations, some hoping that the vacancy would lead to changes in the former mall. 

"It has been a long wait, but we have I hope to look forward to a new shopping area that will reflect Eldersburg," said Ellen Dix, president of the Freedom Area Citizens Council, a local organization that works to define and resolve issues in the area. "With the price of gas maybe our trips out of South Carroll can be taken care of locally."

This is the third closing in the center this year, following department store Peebles and Blockbuster Video. 

"Now it will be up to us, the community, to hold Black Oak Associates to their promise. They said they would restructure/remodel the shopping center when Kmart closed," said Eldersburg resident Sharon Honeycutt. "Here's hoping they weren't just blowing smoke. I am sorry to see people lose their jobs, but that store hasn't been well maintained in several years."