County Encouraged Solo Cup Realtor to Find New Manufacturer

The old factory is , but that doesn't mean Baltimore County did not encourage realtors to find another manufacturing tenant to take Solo Cup's place.

Baltimore County councilwoman Vicki Almond (District 2) said she asked realtors to find another company to take up shop at the factory on Reisterstown Road, which had been a manufacturing site since it .

But the realtor found no takers, Almond said, ultimately opening the door for Vanguard Equities and Owings Mills-based Greenberg Gibbons Commercial . The developer plans to complete Foundry Row, an upscale shopping center , by 2014.

The area must still go through the county's comprehensive rezoning process, Almond said. That process must be completed before September. More than 30 other sites are up for rezoning, she said, a relatively low number compared to past years.

The concern is that by rezoning the property for commercial development, Owings Mills will be losing potential manufacturing jobs that had been a mainstay for decades.

But a Wegmans spokeswoman said the grocery store alone would employ some 600 people, though the breakdown of full-time and part-time employees was not made clear.

George Harman, president of the Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council, said he thought it was a good thing that retail might take over the space instead of a new manufacturer.

Depending on what kind of manufacturer moved to the spot, the site may have been active 24-hours-a-day, he said, creating constant noise and traffic.

At least with retail, property should close up and go quiet by 9 or 10 p.m., Harman said.

Greenberg Gibbons is the developer of shopping centers including Hunt Valley Towne Centre and Annapolis Towne Centre at Parole.

Harman said he was planning to tour the developer's existing shopping malls, including the one in Parole, in mid-December.

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