General Growth, Kimco JV to Redevelop Maryland Mall for $70M

Owings Mills Mall, a 25-year-old, 1 million-square-foot regional mall in northwest Baltimore County, will be undergoing redevelopment through a new joint venture of General Growth Properties and Kimco Realty.

November 14, 2011
By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Owings Mills Mall, a 25-year-old, 1 million-square-foot regional mall in northwest Baltimore County, will be undergoing redevelopment under a new joint venture through a partnership of General Growth Properties Inc. and Kimco Realty, the companies announced last week. Each firm will own a 50 percent interest in the mall; General Growth previously owned 100 percent. (It was only a year ago, of course, that General Growth emerged from bankruptcy.)

“We’re exploring a number of options to revive Owings Mills Mall and provide the shoppers of northwest Baltimore County a more viable center that meets their needs,” Shobi Khan, General Growth’s COO, said. “Kimco brings to the partnership an established reputation as an owner and developer of neighborhood and community shopping centers in the Baltimore area.”

Opened in 1986, the two-level enclosed mall is currently anchored by Macy’s and JCPenney. Preliminary plans call for a new format and tenant mix, which could include exterior-facing retail, junior boxes, big boxes and department stores.

According to an October 2010 story in the Baltimore Sun, the mall’s vacancy rate at that time was 22.6 percent.

A General Growth spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive that “plans for the redevelop will most likely be unveiled at the beginning of 2012.” No other details were forthcoming from the JV partners.

A report on Thursday by WBAL-TV, Baltimore’s NBC affiliate, however, stated that the project would cost almost $70 million and also referred to the history of problems at Owings Mills Mall, which housed such upscale retailers as Saks Fifth Avenue when it opened in 1986. A Kimco manager quoted in the WBAL report said a likely scenario would be that the two anchor stores and the AMC Theaters would remain, but that the rest of the mall would be demolished.

Third-quarter figures from the CoStar Group suggest that the mall’s submarket is a challenging one. The Reisterstown Road Corridor has about 7.9 million square feet of gross leasable area, with a vacancy rate of 10.4 percent (versus 6.1 percent for the overall Baltimore metro retail market) and average quoted rents of $16.42 (versus $18.03 for the overall market). Year-to-date absorption is a negative 35,000 square feet.

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