Bolstered by a controversial $43 million public financing package, developers of Towson Row on York Road plan to gather with Baltimore County officials on Thursday to celebrate the revival of the long-delayed project.
First announced in 2013 by Towson-based Caves Valley Partners — and touted by then-County Executive Kevin Kamenetz as a “transformational” development for the county seat — Towson Row stalled after crews demolished buildings in 2015. Today, the 5-acre site is an empty lot of cracked concrete and weeds.
Plans for the $350 million project call for a hotel, shops and restaurants, offices, 250 residential units and 300 student housing units. County Executive Don Mohler, County Council Chairman Julian Jones and Towson University President Kim Schatzel are scheduled to participate in the event, billed as a construction kickoff.
Baltimore County Council approves $43M package to aid Towson Row Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce, said having an empty site in a prime area has been “very challenging, but we’ve been very optimistic.”
“We knew that it would eventually happen,” she said.
Construction at the site — bounded by York Road, Towsontown Boulevard, and Chesapeake and Washington avenues — was supposed to start in 2015, but never did. Caves Valley officials said they found solid rock under the surface that made a proposed parking garage cost-prohibitive, and they would have to reconfigure their plans.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Alison Knezevich over at the Baltimore Sun