More Support for Foundry Row as Council Hearing Approaches

As local residents, business and community groups prepare statements for the Baltimore County Council Public Hearing in Pikesville tonight, yet another group has expressed support for Foundry Row.

The Liberty Road Association joins the Combined Communities Advocacy Council of Greater Randallstown (CCACGR), Owings Mills Corporate Roundtable, Greater Greenspring Association, Pikesville Chamber of Commerce, Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Chamber of Commerce (ROMG) and Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council (ROG) in its support of the Wegmans-anchored retail project, which would be built at the Solo Cup site on Reisterstown Road.

“We believe all three proposed project will benefit the entire Northwest Baltimore County community,” said Harold Reid, executive director of the Liberty Road Business Association, in a letter to Councilwoman Vicki Almond.

Among the other two developments are the transit-oriented , which features , offices, shops and apartments. It is now under construction.

The other is Kimco’s proposed , which would abandon the indoor mall concept and feature an outdoor, pedestrian-friendly town center with approximately 1 million square feet of retail and restaurants, with a fashion district centered around the existing JCPenney and Macy’s.

But not all community groups are in favor of all development.

A group of residents calling itself the Say No to Solo Coalition recently joined officials from Kimco and David S. Brown, the developer building Metro Centre, in opposition to Foundry Row. Like the developers, Say No to Solo says Foundry Row will increase local traffic, hurt the market by creating an oversupply of retail and will prevent successful redevelopment at the Owings Mills Mall.

Neighboring businesses are also not too keen on the idea of a retail giant at Solo Cup. Bruce Levine, director of commercial real estate at M. Leo Storch Management Corp., which operates the nearby Garrison Forest Shopping Center on Reisterstown Road, said a Wegmans on Reisterstown Road would take business away from the smaller shops in the corridor, such as his tenants, and there isn’t enough residential development to justify adding so much retail at Solo Cup. He said development should be focused on fixing the Owings Mills mall.

“That [mall] was flourishing at one time,” he said. “Those dollars left the mall area and went to Towson, and went to Columbia, and went to Arundel Mills. That was sucked out of the Owings Mills mall.”