The Mall in Columbia Turns the Big 4-0 Tuesday
How will the mall fit into Columbia’s downtown redevelopment plans?
Forty years ago today, Aug. 2, 1971, the Mall in Columbia opened its doors.
The 640,000-square-foot structure was developed by the same entity, The Rouse Company, which conceptualized Columbia, the planned community that came to be in 1967 and was the vision of developer James Rouse.
Today, the mall occupies 1.4 million square feet and has more than 200 stores, kiosks and restaurants.
General Growth Properties, which began managing the mall in 2004, estimates the mall sees 18 million shoppers each year.
By all definitions, the mall has thrived, when other Rouse Co. mall concepts, such as the Owings Mills Mall, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month, have lost stores and prestige as shoppers and tenants have fled to other destinations.
The Columbia Mall was designed to be a “beautiful” environment particularly for female shoppers, and at its outset, was enclosed by glass skylights, decorated with tropical plants, birds, fountains, benches and giant steel circular staircases and escalators, according to materials from the Columbia Archives.
Rouse wrote in a 1966 letter housed at the archives, that for malls, “the better the environment … [the] more profitable.”
The mall has continued to put that philosophy in practice today, and recently undertook a “major update,” taking out palm trees, adding benches, new tile flooring, planters and other interior improvements, according to General Manager Katie Essing.
“This mall is very unique,” Essing recently told Patch. “It was built as the center of Columbia. It’s also the downtown for this area. … If you look at the success of this property, it has no potential of going away. I think it’s going to keep getting stronger.”
The debate continues as to how the mall will thrive amid potential changes in Columbia.
The town is in the midst of redeveloping its downtown, and questions are swirling around how the mall will fit into the new vision for Columbia’s core, which will include more residential units, office and retail space.
Columbia Association President Phil Nelson is among those who predict changes to the Mall in Columbia as Columbia redevelops.
“I think the sea of asphalt parking lots will gave way to mixed-use facilities,” he said in a recent interview. “The millennial generation wants high density—look at live-to-work areas. You live on the 20th floor, you eat dinner on the first floor. People are finally realizing it’s not a lot of fun to sit for an hour-and-a-half in traffic.”
John DeWolfe, senior vice president of development for the Howard Hughes Corp., recently told the Howard County Times that the mall is “really well run” and would stay "sort of the retail headquarters."
The Howard Hughes Corp. is among the entities that owns land downtown and will be making redevelopment proposals to Howard County officials, who must approve final plans.
There will also be various promotions throughout the mall Tuesday: a fashion show, a family-friendly birthday party, as well as a display highlighting key milestones in the mall’s 40 years.
For a schedule of mall events and promotions today, click here.
JH
8:56 am on Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The Mall will be fine as long as the area does not see a flood of new apartments. There are far too many apartments now. We need more high end townhouses. Thanks
Commander
1:59 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2011
I agree with “JH” there does not need to be any additional high density low end housing in Columbia. Phil Nelson’s comment “….it’s not a lot of fun to sit in traffic for an hour and a half” is right on about folks not wanting to commute long distances but has it wrong with his notion that folks that live or work in Columbia would have it better off if we built residental space so they could live and work “downtown”. I think Symphony Woods and the Merriweather complex should be viewed as our “Central Park” and preserved. There is plenty of housing outside that area that doesn’t involve an hour and a half commute to offices that suround the Mall. Once that area is developed it will never again be converted back to open wooded space (much less 300 year old trees). We have 40 years with the space as it is – why the need to develop it now? You can be sure as that open space is developed – for offices/housing, the commutes we now enjoy - moving freely around Columbia, will change. I think he has it backwards – the more we develop the open space the more traffic we will have in the “central core” of Columbia. Commutes will be longer for folks in Columbia, not shorter. It isn’t necessary to spend an hour and a half commuting to office/commercial space in the mall area with the existing Columbia/Howard County housing. Please don’t change our town – we have enough “big city” environments in the US, I want Columbia to stay as it is…….
PastorLorenzo Epps
7:28 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2011
I was only four years old when I went here....memories. (:-)
BTO
7:30 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2011
If the "millennial generation wants high density living", where they can walk or take an elevator 20 levels down to their office or grab a bite to eat, then they need to move to the cities. Creating high density or high rise residential units will only result in more commuter traffic backups for the vast majority that will still have to leave Columbia to get to their jobs, and a real possibility of high crime rate. I keep flashing back to the high rise complexes that downtown Baltimore City finally demolished only a few years back. Structures like these can become a nest for the criminal element to wreck havoc. With high rise development on either Columbia Mall parking lots, or at Symphony Woods, you will forever change the landscape and feel of the original design and concept of "Columbia" which makes the area unique and pleasant to live in. A place with trees and open areas (where you can actually see the horizon, even if you're in a "sea of parking lots"), allows a person to relax and still take walks around his neighborhood or downtown Columbia, and call it home... a place to escape from the work environment. If these high density structures go up, you might as well drive the final nail and start erecting tall flashing neon signs on every store front that can be spotted miles outside of Columbia. We'd finally be on our way to becoming another "Pottersville" from "Its a wonderful life." (No disrespect intended to any towns that are actually named Pottersville. : )
MAH 1464
11:35 am on Wednesday, August 3, 2011
If you build the apartments and small townhouses, "They will come" and they never leave, you might as well get the Metro too. Low and behold you too can become a crack head infeasted county like PG or Baltimore. I say go for it the rest of the country is falling apart already, Columbia might as well jion in the fun.