Developer to 'de-mall' Hunt Valley Mall; Wegman's to anchor new

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), May 23, 2003 by Heather Coppley

One food writer went so far as to credit the store with "saving" her life when her husband's job brought her from Italy to Ithaca, N.Y. , where she feared she would have to go without the continental cuisine by which she had been spoiled.

The company also has a history of promoting from within and cultivating lifelong employees.

Wegmans has long been on Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list. This year it broke into the top 10, jumping from 68th to 10th place.

The new ranking leap-frogged Wegmans over natural foods chain Whole Foods, of Austin, Texas, which is a perennial Best Company to Work For and moved up in rank from 48th to 32nd.

Future

Food World's Metzger thinks Greenberg was wise to choose Wegmans as the main draw for the Towne Centre.

"They would be an anchor in almost any type of shopping center -- be it a big box center or a small strip mall," he said.

Tenants Sears, Dick's Sporting Goods, Hoyt's Theater, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Burlington Coat Factory and Wal-Mart will remain in the Towne Center configuration.

Greenberg's Gibbons said several other national clothing stores have expressed interest, but he declined to release any identities. At the same time, Gibbons said he would like to add a bookstore with a caf to the mix.

Greenberg, meanwhile, said he was encouraged by the interest in the project.

"We are extremely excited about the redevelopment of Hunt Valley Mall and, to date, the response has been overwhelming. It would be difficult to name tenants who would not be interested in going into Hunt Valley Towne Centre," he said.

Greenberg's design has the town center at the heart of the site, where the mall now stands. Its entry lane extends down to the light rail station, while the brick walkways take shoppers past new stores and fountains to the second-level plaza restaurants and the cinema marquee.

East of the town center will be DSW, Burlington, Dick's and Wal- Mart. To the west -- between the new shops and Sears -- will be Wegmans.

While some have voiced skepticism of a town center concept that includes a Wal-Mart, County Economic Development spokeswoman Fronda Cohen discounts the adversarial relationship drawn between the Wal- Marts of the world and the new order of town centers.

"I think that there are a lot of closet Wal-Mart shoppers out there," she said, counting herself among those who would shop at both Wal-Mart and Wegmans.

In Cohen's confession lies the cornerstone on which the Towne Centre will build.

While the Greenberg corporation's expectations for Wegmans are high -- Gibbons has repeatedly said the store will have biggest daily draw in the whole Baltimore area -- his confidence lies in having the right vision for the center to finally succeed.

Greenberg, meanwhile, is not fazed by the resentment that accompanied the planning for the mall.

"That's 20-some years ago," he said. "The population has changed, access has changed, traffic has changed ... just the general demand" is different.

Greenberg has even made a believer of the county executive who witnessed the stillbirth and slow death of the shopping center.