MD Mall Revamp May Include Housing Where Residents Can 'Live, Work, Play'

Editor's Note: This is the final story in a three-part series on the future of the Annapolis Mall. Part one focused on business goals for the new mall owners. Section two covered shifting plans for JCPenney and the New Village Academy.

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The new owners of the Annapolis Mall may eventually build housing on site, creating a live-work-play neighborhood to diversify its economic portfolio.

When Centennial bought the mall last summer, the Texas real estate firm called for "a residential community at the center of Annapolis."

"It is early in the game. Anything in the rumor mill is probably partially true and partially false, but it's a serious consideration for part of the property," Annapolis Mall General Manager Mariah Michaud said.

Centennial wants to modernize the Annapolis Mall. It's already recruiting luxury retailers and businesses that offer activities or experiences. Housing is the final pillar of the overhaul.

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Housing Could Fill Parking Lot

Mall leaders admitted they are exploring the possibility of housing, but they quickly dismissed rumors that the mall would be bulldozed to build homes.

"We're looking at 60 acres here," Michaud said. "We're not tearing the building down."

The mall is encircled by a sprawling parking lot that only fills around the holidays. Single-family homes would occupy swaths of valuable real estate, so townhomes or apartments are the most likely possibility.

Anne Arundel County Realtor Greg Fisk hopes the residences are reasonably priced. He doesn't see a need for more luxury homes, and not everybody is looking for affordable housing. That leaves what Fisk calls a "missing middle" for moderately priced dwellings.

Annapolis only has two months of housing supply on hand, and builders usually favor upscale developments. Those factors inflate prices, hurting buyers and renters.

"We've priced out in Anne Arundel County where a potential firefighter and a teacher can afford a home. It's mind-boggling," said Fisk, the owner and broker of JPAR Maryland Living in Arnold. "We don't need these larger McMansions to be built, per se. We need that missing middle demographic of starter homes, senior housing."

If apartments are the game plan, Fisk hopes the increased supply and competition would drive down rents in an already-pricey neighborhood. But, he would prefer to see condominiums built rather than apartments.

"It gives the buyer an opportunity to tap into the features and the benefits that come along with home ownership, as opposed to just renting," said Fisk, a political activist for the National Association of Realtors and last year's president of the Anne Arundel County Association of Realtors.

Any potential residential development is in its infancy. Michaud hesitated to offer specifics, saying she's still figuring out the mall's tenant mix and addressing deferred maintenance and security enhancements.

"It is a potential plan that almost every shopping center developer in the country is looking at, coast to coast. It is on trend," Michaud said. "It makes financial sense because you're diversifying."

'Live, Work, Play'

Leadership, however, was clear on the principles housing should meet if it were eventually built.

"Live, work and play. … You can go and basically do everything you need in a day," Michaud said. "You can get most, if not all, of your needs met within walking distance."

Centennial founder and CEO Steven Levin wants an "integrated environment" with professional, residential and experiential offerings for those living on site.

"If you're not at work, you're not at home sleeping, where do you go? Well, it's this third space," Levin said, hoping the mall can fill the missing social gap between work and home life.

Levin wants to hear input from the community if housing ever becomes a likely next step in the mall's overhaul.

"It is, from a lifestyle, what people want today," Levin said. "The demand is driving the development on these mall projects."

Levin thinks such a housing development would target younger residents who desire an urban vibe in the suburbs and older folks downsizing who don't want to leave the area.

"Everybody today wants the walkable experience. They want to live near amenities," Levin said. "They want to be able to walk out their front door, go to restaurants, go to the gym, go to a movie theater without having to get in their car and drive 2, 3 miles to go there. So the mall environment lends itself to the residential need."

Traffic Concerns Possible

The area around the mall is already bustling with development. New apartments in Beacon Square and Riva contribute to the 1,500 units planned in the Parole neighborhood.

Levin knows residential development would likely meet pushback.

"I understand the reaction. The reality is … there is a demand. They're not being built without a demand for people that want to live there," he said.

Levin thinks the mall's self-contained nature would mean residents leave less frequently than in other communities, thereby contributing less to traffic.

"A lot of this newer, mixed-use development allows people to live closer to where they work, play and shop," Fisk said. "These things can actually, almost counterintuitively, have a positive impact on traffic patterns if they're done right."

Fisk added that any potential housing may be streamlined by Anne Arundel County's new law incentivizing redevelopment of underutilized commercial properties.

One housing development at the mall won't fix the deeper issues with housing countywide, however.

"It's not going to be this panacea that solves our inventory issues," Fisk said. "We've been in this inventory deficit, and if we can kind of increase affordable housing and that missing middle, we can make the dream of home ownership more affordable for some of our younger generations and our senior demographic that's sizing down."

Levin thinks development in Annapolis would be a testament to the town's desirability.

"When you have good schools and a good community, people wanna come live there," Levin said. "When it's a great place to live, people wanna live there."

Plenty of obstacles lie ahead, but new management thinks its roadmap will make a stronger Annapolis Mall and a more interconnected city.

"This is not just a shopping mall; it's a community center," Michaud said.

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