Bel Air, Md. –Bel Air Town Center has received a facelift. The 93,000-square-foot neighborhood shopping destination, located at the intersection of Routes 1 and 24, has undergone a $1 million renovation and improvement program.
Owners, Christopher Kurzand Peter McGill of McGill Development Limited Partnership No.3, sought to provide a more colorful, Main Street village appearance and make the Center more user-friendly for customers and tenants.
Façade changes include adding decorative stonework to columns, installing fabric awnings over several spaces and widening the sidewalk to accommodate outdoor seating with umbrella tables by the Center’s restaurants and food tenants. The improvements also include new merchant signs under the roof canopy, a lighting upgrade, new flower beds along the expanded sidewalks and additional landscaping.
“This redo of Bel Air Town Center represents a strategic decision not only to improve the façade of this Center, but in the long run, to enhance the landscape of this city center tract and to attract the type of tenants and retails specialists that the Bel Air community and government want to have in their neighborhood,” said Trish Heidenreich,director of Economic Development for the Town of Bel Air.
Originally built in 1990 and expanded in 1998 and 2001, Bel Air Town Center was designed to cater to the smaller merchants. With a blend of local and national retailers and restaurants, it now comprises 20 tenants: AAA, Bel Air Hair Salon, Chili’s, C.R. Wings, FedEx Office, Golden Szechuan, Healthbridge, Lendmark Financial, Leslie’s Pool Supplies, Liberatore’s, Long and Foster Realtors, Only Nails, Open Door Café, Professional Vision, Spirit Halloween, T-Mobile, Taco Bell, Weight Watchers, Wireless Zone and Woodlea Bakery.
Starbuck’s has signed a letter of intent with Bel Air Town Center to open its first drive-through only location in Maryland with no interior seating. It will feature a walk-up window and exterior seating.
“The ‘Main & Main’ location of Route 1 and Route 24 has always provided Bel Air Town Center tenants with the ability to reach a large market share of potential customers,” said Thomas L. Fidler Jr., SVP/principal of MacKenzie Retail, LLC, which is handling the leasing of Bel Air Town Center.
“Its proximity to the core population base of Harford County has always offered the stability of continuous visibility and convenient access to Harford County residents,” he added. “Now, the added aesthetic improvements will only enhance the success of the Center and its tenants.”
For directions to Bel Air Town Center or information about its merchants, store promotions and other news, visit www.belairtowncenter.com. For leasing inquiries, contact Tom Fidleror Laura Christou at 410.821.8585.
About the Developers
BelAir Town Centeris the latest retail collaboration by Kurz and McGill. The two met in the 1970s while working for The Rouse Company: Kurz was development director and McGill, regional director-commercial leasing. Kurz left to become vice president of Maryland National Corporation and McGill became vice president-leasing at Federated Stores Realty, Inc.
The two met up again when they were both working in the World Trade Center. Kurz was vice president and regional manager of H.G. Smithy Co. and McGill had formed commercial real estate consulting and leasing firm,
The McGill Company. Recognizing that both were interested in developing small retail centers locally and that they brought complementary skills, the two teamed to form McGill Development Co. Together, they developed 8989 Hermann Drive (a 40,000-square-foot flex building in Columbia), Columbia Business Center (a 158,000- square-foot retail and office park in Columbia), Columbia Corporate Park (an 88-acre mid-rise office park in Columbia), Robert’s Field Shopping Center (a 90,000-square-foot retail center in Hampstead) and Bel Air Town Center.