(Updated) Mall in Columbia Redevelopment? Find Out More Tuesday

This article has been updated with the correct time for tonight's meeting, which is 6:30 p.m.

is about to undergo a major redevelopment project—a project that will be explained in more detail at a community meeting Tuesday at

The redevelopment would add a 75,000-square-feet “lifestyle center,” according to Explore Howard, which also reported that the redevelopment would get rid of 30,000 square feet of existing retail space.

Lifestyle centers are the new trend in malls: They feature open-air plazas, tend to be smaller than the average suburban mall, and are not giant enclosed structures, which have struggled in many places, like Owings Mills.

is abandoning completely the indoor mall concept, and what stands there now will be torn down. In its place will be an open, pedestrian-friendly outdoor mall, expected to be done by late 2014.

is going through a similar rebirth.

The mall would also as it is today. The new plan would mean the demolition of the mall and its restructuring as the Laurel Town Centre, similar to Bowie Town Center, with a Main Street-style entrance, a movie theater and mixed-use buildings that would include residential units. 

The Mall in Columbia opened , and today, attracts 18 million shoppers per year.

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  

square feet and has more than 200 stores, kiosks and restaurants.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Howard Community College, Room 400, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway.