Friday, February 2, 2007

the mall formerly known as laurel

Just Up The Pike speaks with Nancy Floreen: Read about it MONDAY MORNING!

BUT FIRST: Could you go Up The Pike to Pennsylvania one day? One Carroll County comomissioner wants to extend Route 29 from its current terminus in Ellicott City through Carroll County and to the Pennsylvania state line. Montgomery and Howard counties stand to benefit economically, how will thousands of commuters coming from as far out as Gettysburg affect local traffic? Let's hope this rough (very rough) proposal gets a full review. (Thanks to Columbia Compass for the tip.)

FINALLY: Rick at Laurel Connections went to the Laurel Mall presentation last week and has pictures and info about the beleaguered mall's transformation, first reported by Just Up The Pike in December. The Laurel Leader also has a lengthy feature on the project, and the Business Journal says the new mall will get a new name, but they don't say what it is.

I notice that the newly renovated mall will still be enclosed, as opposed to earlier drawings showing it as an open-air mall. Laurel Mall is small - a half-million square feet, less than half the size of the Mall in Columbia or Arundel Mills. As an enclosed mall - even with the undisclosed "high-end" stores it will have - Laurel may still struggle due to its size.

I'm very curious how Laurel Mall can find its place in a market with four regional malls within twenty miles and a fifth eventually opening in Konterra, practically next door. Can it become the centerpiece of a newly revitalized, upscale Laurel? Or will it falter again? (And, either way, what happens to Old Town Laurel, currently frozen in its turn-of-the-twentieth-century state?) We're about to find out.

8 comments:

Sligo said...

I am going to miss the "old" Laurel. That place was like a fast food chain time machine. Not that long ago they still had a Tastee Freeze, Little Tavern and Kenny Rogers Roasters. KENNY ROGERS ROASTERS, for God's sake.

Anonymous said...

BUT FIRST: Could you go Up The Pike to Pennsylvania one day? One Carroll County comomissioner wants to extend Route 29 from its current terminus in Ellicott City through Carroll County and to the Pennsylvania state line. Montgomery and Howard counties stand to benefit economically, how will thousands of commuters coming from as far out as Gettysburg affect local traffic? Let's hope this rough (very rough) proposal gets a full review. (Thanks to Columbia Compass for the tip.)

RE: Thats ood because US 29 needs to be extended further north and they need to extend I-70 and I-83 past I-95 too.

Anonymous said...

I notice that the newly renovated mall will still be enclosed, as opposed to earlier drawings showing it as an open-air mall.

RE: Thats good because we do not need EVERY Malll to be an open-air Mall especially in this part of the country where we have very cold winters and not EVERYBODY wants to be going in and out in the cold each store just to go shopping.

Anonymous said...

I'm very curious how Laurel Mall can find its place in a market with four regional malls within twenty miles and a fifth eventually opening in Konterra, practically next door. Can it become the centerpiece of a newly revitalized, upscale Laurel? Or will it falter again? (And, either way, what happens to Old Town Laurel, currently frozen in its turn-of-the-twentieth-century state?) We're about to find out.

RE: I do not believe that te new Konterra will hurt the Laurel Revitalization. Tysons Corner, Tysons Galeria are across the street from each other and they are both doing well and the same goes to the Reston Town Center, Dulles Town Center, Fair Oaks Mall, and Fairfax Town Centers which are less than 20 miles apart.

timmomd said...

If General Growth and new owner of Laurel Mall can't "fix" it, I'm convinced no one can and they should just bulldoze the whole thing and start from scratch. Interesting that the whole south end (Burlington Coat Factory and surrounding parking area, which is a lot of real estate) are owned separately. That's gotta make it hard to do anything comprehensive. But the plans are a good start; the overlay zoning the city has for the surrounding area should make complementary development easire to pursue, and the integration of some outside entrances and streetside retail should appeal to both customers and retailers. My partner can only be described as a Laurel Mall Hater, and he was amazed at the plans. Here's hoping it works...

Anonymous said...

The proposal isn't really extending 29 north. It's renaming existing portions of 70 and 32 and 140 that lead northwest to attempt to get federal funding to pay for widening those highways to speed the uber-long commutes from Carroll County to job centers.

795 started the latest congestion up there. Adding more lanes as bandaids to these other roads won't solve it.

Neon Norm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Neon Norm said...

Old Laurel is disappearing fast. The Little Tavern hamburgers closed in February. The building is currently being altered. The tastee-Freez closed a couple of weeks ago. ( I already miss the glow of its huge vintage neon sign).
I hope the Landmark Giant Food sign has a place in the new shopping center. This 1956 beauty deserves to be retained.

Normanssigngarden.mysite.com