Planet Fitness Coming to Reisterstown Shopping Center

As the Big Lots takes shape at the Reisterstown Shopping Center, another new face is appearing in the space next door.

A Planet Fitness health club will open this winter in the space that remains of what used to house Ames, according to Bob Pollokoff, president of shopping center operator Fedder Management Corp. Big Lots is taking up approximately two-thirds of the 50,000-sqaure foot space, he said.

Parts of the north end of the shopping center that runs from what used to be the Bagel Bin to where Planet Fitness will stand will be demolished this month, Pollokoff said.

“Hopefully, that will be able to help us market that north end,” he said. “We’re excited about the traffic that Big Lots and Planet Fitness will bring.”

While Pollokoff is excited, some about the Big Lots, which previously operated a location at the Cherry Valley Shopping Center.

“As it was explained to me, the reason that they closed over there is they were actually subletting from Giant,” Pollokoff said. “When that lease expired, the landlord had made other plans for that space.”

The of the shopping center began this past winter in 2010 with the old bowling alley. had to move out of their stores to other spaces in the shopping center so that the north end demolition could continue.

A new site plan for that side of the shopping center has a combination of pad sites and a shopping strip, Pollokoff said. Fedder is still seeking developers for the land, he said.

When Pollokoff visited the , he cautioned that retailers are hesitant to open new stores, and many are waiting to see what happens at the Owings Mills Solo Cup plant, which will close by mid-2012, reports say.