Delays Over, Metro Centre to Break Ground Today

After more than a decade of delays, ground will be broken at the site of the $30 million Owings Mills Metro Centre anchor building today, kicking off what should be the start of major development at the Owings Mills Metro Station.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz will lead a celebration at the station's west parking lot on Painters Mill Road at 11:30 a.m.

The six-story building will house the largest branch of the Baltimore County Public Library, a new center for the Community College of Baltimore County, and is designed to meet LEED Silver standards for commercial construction set by the U.S. Green Building Council.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, provides a framework for measuring how environmentally friendly a building is, according to the U.S. Green Building Council's website.

The project should be complete by the winter of 2013, the county said.

Tony Baysmore, a special assistant to the county executive,  at the Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council meeting earlier this month.

The county building is meant to be the centerpiece of what is called transit-oriented development, wherein travel hubs are used as points of development because of the large number of people that filter through the area.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 people pass through the Owings Mills Metro Station each day. The plan is for a downtown town center to pop up around the new building.

The ground breaking should be well attended. Kamenetz, Maryland Secretary of Transportation Beverly Swaim-Staley, CCBC President Sandra Kurtinitis, public library director Jim Fish and members of the Baltimore County Council and State House delegation are expected to take part in the ceremony, along with local business and community leaders.