Revenue Authority Approves Extension for Towson Circle III

The Baltimore County Revenue Authority approved an extension agreement on Thursday for the planned Towson Circle III project.

The five-member board approved the extension by a 4-1 vote.

Towson Circle III is expected to be a mix of movie theaters, retail, restaurant and office space. The project is planned for a a site adjacent to the Towson Town Center along Joppa Road.

The plan includes a 712-car garage that will be built by and Cordish Company, the developers of the project. The authority will ultimately buy and manage the garage.

The authority and the county have pledged $18 million for the private project.

The project has become a victim of the economic downturn and  developers have had trouble finding financing for the project because of the tight credit market.

The extension agreement was needed when the developers failed to meet a Dec. 31, 2009 deadline to start construction of the parking garage. The authority agreed to hammer out an extension rather than terminate the deal.

Leslie Pittler was the lone vote against the deal. He was also the only board member to vote against the original agreement when it came before the board nearly three years ago.

Pittler said he opposed the project because he did not believe the authority was legally permitted to enter into the deal because the project benefits a private developer and is not for a public purpose.

Andrea van Arsdale, who awaits confirmation as planning director for the county, said during her Tuesday interview with the County Council that the extension agreement would give the developer the time it needed to get the project started.

Under the terms of the extension agreement, the developers will now have until Dec. 31, 2012 to start garage construction.

The agreement also changes the minimum square-footage of the project to include a movie theater that is at least 64,349 square-feet and has 2,580 seats. The project will also have to include at least 26,970 square-feet of non-restaurant retail and 26,169 square-feet of restaurant space and 61,851 square-feet of office space.