'De-Mall' Owings Mills, Kamenetz Says

The Owings Mills Mall will be torn down and redeveloped in a joint venture between General Growth Properties and Kimco Realty, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said Thursday.

Each company owns 50 percent of the mall property after paperwork was signed today in Towson, a General Growth vice president said.

"It’s the right time for this project," Richard Pesin said. "This project will create new jobs in both the retail and construction.

"We’re going to create a catalyst for growth in the community."

Kimco and General Growth Properties will work together to design a $65 to $75 million redevelopment of the mall. The only thing that is for certain, however, is that the indoor mall concept will be abandoned.

The companies are going to "de-mall" Owings Mills, Kamenetz said.

"The demographics with the mall are not consistent with the mall today," Kamenetz said. "We’re talking about two of the largest shopping center owners in the country. They, in their expertise, agree with us that this can be a better project to serve the surrounding area."

Demolition of the mall -- not including Macy's and JCPenney, which are owners of their buildings -- is expected to begin in early 2013, said Tom Simmons, Kimco's regional president. Macy's and JCPenney are expected to stick around through the redevelopment, Pesin said.

The redevelopment should be completed by late 2014.

The new town center will become a mixed "junior box" (Petsmart, for example) and "large box" (think Wal Mart and Target) shopping area, with other small shops sprinkled into an open, pedestrian-friendly outdoor mall.

Simmons said Kimco has had its eye on Owings Mills Mall for potential redevelopment for years. The company approached General Growth Properties six months ago, as the company emerged from bankruptcy. Patch had .

Specific plans for what the shopping center would look like were not revealed Thursday, but Simmons said there would be a public unveiling of plans in early 2012.

"We will take the next six months to work on planning the project," Simmons said. "We’ll go out and market our plans to retailers with whom we do business."

Simmons declined to name any retailers who might sign on to the project.

The long-rumored mall revamp is just one of three large development projects slated for Owings Mills. The in early summer, and Kamenetz said have been conversations about how each development can work in concert with one another.

, which must undergo rezoning, is also on the table. Developer Greenberg Gibbons has told community leaders that the property should turn into a "small scale Hunt Valley."

"The conversations I’ve had with everyone are that we all want to work together," Kamenetz said. "We’re not looking at this in isolation. Everyone understands the need to work together."

Baltimore County councilwoman Vicki Almond echoed that sentiment. She was joined by county councilman Ken Oliver and Del. Jon Cardin, among other local officials, in making the announcement.

"I do believe there's going to be some connectivity between the three sites," Almond said. "I really think is the first of a very exciting [group] of projects."

The mall has long been an afterthought in Owings Mills as and a woman was murdered on a secluded path between the mall and metro station in 1992.

Police statistics, however, showed the mall to be no more dangerous than the area's other shopping centers.

Opened in the 1980s , the Owings Mills Mall in July.