So what are these up and coming changes? There's the Owings Mills Metro Station which has been in various stages of planning and construction for the past 10 years. Baltimore County used the mantra of "leave some construction equipment in the parking lot and make it look like something's going to happen soon". Anyone who has used the subway knows that it has been a vacant lot of economic stagnation for a long time.
The owners of Owings Mills Mall recently announced they were going to tear down the failed and nearly vacant mall and going to try to imitate Hunt Valley. Often imitated. Never duplicated. Isn't the empty parking lot of the Owings Mills Mall the largest asphalt heat absorber in Baltimore County?
Finally, there is the Solo Cup factory, formerly the Sweetheart Cup factory. Solo came in and bought the company, then abandoned the Owings Mills facility, moving a few jobs to Chicago. Anyone surprised? Shouldn't be. This is what happens when companies in Maryland get taken over. Just watch and see how this Constellation merger goes.
Wegman's recently announced that they want to occupy the former plastic cup factory and build one of their high-end stores. It sounds kind of silly because Owings Mills is not a high-end kind of neighborhood. Just ask the Pikesville barracks of the Baltimore County Police Department.
What do you think of Wegman's possibly coming to Owings Mills? I say possibly because it's not a done deal. It still has to be rezoned. That could take years. As fast as things move through the system in Baltimore County, I expect the Wegman's to be built in 2019. I seriously doubt it will happen on Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz' watch. Am I being cynical? Does a cynic point out that the factory lost almost 600 jobs, but Kamenetz is excited that the new Wegman's will employee 600 minimum-waged cashiers? Perhaps. Others may just call me a realist.
Changes coming to Owings Mills? I'll believe it when I see it.
This is the southern building of the Solo Cup Factory as viewed from the upper deck of the Owings Mills Metro parking garage.
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Notice the empty parking lot. Not many tax dollars being generated here.
This is the northern building of the Solo Cup factory on Reisterstown Road, again as seen from the upper deck of parking garage.
1 comment:
I think building a Wegman's on the Solo Cup property is a fantastic idea. Have you ever been to a Wegman's before? We live in OM and visit the one in Hunt Valley regularly. It's absolutely mobbed. So Wegman's builds one not far away from there in Bel Air. Guess what? It's still mobbed. Building one in Owings Mills will be good for the company and good for Owings Mills.
If nothing else, I'd rather travel 5 minutes to the Solo Cup property than 30 minutes to Hunt Valley... and I'd probably visit the store more often than I currently do.
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