Wilde Lake Village Center to Begin Redevelopment

Officials gathered Wednesday to break ground at the Wilde Lake Village Center, a $17 million redevelopment project that will bring new retail space, offices and apartments to the property that was built in 1967.

"This is a marathon and we're in the final stretch," said Geoff Glazer, vice president of Kimco Realty, the development company handling the construction.

At the event on Wednesday, Kimco staff, local residents, and public officials mingled under an event tent. Glazer spoke about the delays in beginning development due to a vocal Wilde Lake community that criticized the company's plans throughout the process.

"This is not a shy village," said Glazer. "They have an opinion and they will share it with you."

Plans to develop the village center were first shown to the community five and a half years ago. The move to develop was made after a Giant supermarket left in 2006, leading to the closure of other area businesses and worries about crime, according to the Washington Post.

"We asked ourselves how do we create something that's going to be vibrant for the next 40 years," said Glazer. "We wanted to make sure this would be a gathering place for the community."

The plan that came out of community meetings and planning sessions includes apartment buildings that will contain 200 units, an expanded David's supermarket, a 20 percent larger courtyard, a new CVS at the site of the Crown Gas Station and approximately 30,000 square feet of office space.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman called it "a tremendous plan" to reinvigorate the Wilde Lake Village Center. County Council member Mary Kay Sigaty said the process allowed the community to make sure they were happy with the redevelopment.

One of the community members who held a shovel on Wednesday was former Wilde Lake village board member Bill Santos, who now serves on the county's planning board. He helped guide the redevelopment through the planning phase and saw firsthand the community backlash it originally faced.

He said the toughest part was "overcoming fear, everybody had fears—fear of change, fear of failure—it was just accepting that we needed to make this a better place."

During the planning process residents expressed concerns about the size of new apartment buildings, the lack of a new grocery store, and changes to the courtyard.

Ulman, possibly channeling the nostalgia of residents who first moved to the village in Columbia's earliest days, said he remembered playing in the village's courtyard as a child as his mother went shopping.

"Change is tough," said Ulman.

Glazer said construction is scheduled to take about 18 to 20 months with the first new retail spaces opening in 2014. During construction, businesses in the village center will remain open, said Glazer. The abandoned KFC on Lynx Lane has been purchased by Kimco as well, and Glazer said they're marketing it for a new business, which he expects will fill the space as the development comes closer to completion.

Scott Zimmerly, of Wood Partners, the firm building the apartments, said construction on them will begin at the end of the year or at the beginning of 2014.

Are you excited for the new Wilde Lake Village Center?