'Nice Restaurants and Shops' Here by 2014

When Brian Gibbons looks out the window of the conference room in Greenberg Gibbons Commercial’s office, he sees a dead factory and warehouse.

By 2014, Gibbons – president of the development firm headquartered on Painters Mills Road – hopes to be looking at an upscale retail center that will “put Owings Mills on the map.”

Demolition of the existing buildings on the old property is scheduled to begin by spring 2012 and will take about six months to complete.

The 400,000 square foot, $100 million redevelopment project, anchored by upscale grocer Wegmans, will turn an all-but abandoned factory that made the plastic cups favored by college partiers and backyard barbecues alike into an .

At 400,000 square feet – 125,000 of which will be occupied by Wegmans – the development will be about .

“It’s not that big, but it’s at the gateway of Owings Mills in an area that’s an eyesore right now,” Gibbons said. “ for the whole area. A rising tide raises all ships.”

His business headquartered in Owings Mills, Gibbons said he has had discussions for years with retailers about what it would take to get them to the area.

The only site they indicated was of interest, Gibbons said, was the Solo Cup property, with its easy access from I-795 and Reisterstown Road, the area’s main travel arteries.

“We have been told by retailers that they would like to locate there,” Gibbons said. “They said it was really only site in the market [they] would consider.

“We’ve been focused on that site. We had talked to them when it was Sweetheart [Cup]…We were busy with other things.”

Though hush on exactly which retailers might populate the space, Gibbons said consumers could look to Hunt Valley Towne Centre to get an idea of what to expect. Possibilities include “nice restaurants and shops” and a “nice fitness anchor,” Gibbons said.

As for what the development would do to traffic in the area, Gibbons confirmed he has a plan. A four-lane access road is planned to jut off Painters Mills Road and act as the primary entry point for shoppers coming from the direction of Owings Mills Boulevard. 

And, if St. Thomas shopping center owner David S. Brown agrees, the road will extend all the way to that property, hopefully further easing traffic on already overloaded Reisterstown Road.

“It’s almost like adding four lanes to Reisterstown Road in front of the center,” Gibbons said. Actual improvements to Reisterstown Road, meanwhile, . 

For Gibbons, the project can’t get going fast enough. Building in his own backyard for the first time brings with it a sense of pride, he said.

“It’s going to be spectacular. We’re going to be there all the time,” Gibbons said. “It’s going to be a great source of pride for us as members of the community.”