$220M Town Center Moves Forward

OWINGS MILLS, MD-The future of the proposed $220-million Owings Mills Town Center, a massive mixed-use public-private development endeavor, has started to look up with the Maryland Board of Public Works’ recent lease arrangement with new project developers Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. and David S. Brown Enterprises. The commercial and residential project had been in limbo for some time due to former developer Berwyn, PA-based LCOR Inc.’s failure to meet a series of deadlines.

The 99-year lease calls for the developers to pay the state $500,000 a year for the 46-acre property, which sits at the intersection of Interstate 795 and Painters Mill Road near the Metro’s Owings Mills station in Baltimore County. Payments are to commence in five years and will increase by 2% annually. Construction on the town center could begin as early as next year. Upon completion the project will include office space, about 450 units of residential dwellings for rent and for sale, a 150-room hotel, restaurants and ample retail space. Local officials tout the civic elements of the plan, which centers on an open-air “town square” design that will also encompass an educational building, a technology center and a public library.