Baltimore Messenger
July 7, 2005

Luxury Apartments In Rotunda's Future?
By Larry Perl

The likely buyer of the floundering Rotunda shopping mall wants to turn it into a residential, retail and office complex with at least 300 luxury rental apartments and underground parking.

Hekemian & Co. also wants to build an additional 115,000 square feet of retail space - including a rebuilt, 74,000-square-foot Giant supermarket that would be one of the area's largest.

The Giant would have a full-service pharmacy, which would put it in competition with Rite-Aid, the mall's other major anchor.

Hekemian, based in Hackensack, N.J., presented its mixed-use concept to a small group of community leaders and an elected official at a private meeting last week.

The development company is negotiating to buy the Rotunda from AMB Property Corp. of San Francisco. Chris Bell, a Hekemian official, told the group that the company expects to go to settlement in the next 30 days, according to several people who attended the meeting.

Bell could not be reached for comment.

Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who represents the 14th District and attended the meeting, said she's excited that the developer is taking an interest in the languishing mall, where many stores are vacant.

But she said she is concerned about the large number of apartments proposed, and she said Bell told the group Hekemian would like to build as many as 500 apartments.

The minimum number was a surprise to her, she said. At an initial meeting with residents and Clarke this spring, Hekemian officials broached the subject of apartments, but didn't say how many they wanted to build, Clarke said.

"But now they're talking about (at least) 300. That's quite a few," she said, adding that it begs many questions, especially regarding traffic and density issues.

"What's the impact on the surrounding neighborhood?" she said.

Another participant at the meeting, Cindy Leahy, president of the Keswick Improvement Association, said Bell told the community leaders that Hekemian believes luxury apartments would fill a niche in the area because there's a dearth of high-end rental units.

Whether the Hampden and Roland Park communities will approve of a mixed-use development remains to be seen.

Residents were worried earlier this year about rumors that a big-box store, such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot, would be built there, but Hekemian quickly dispelled those rumors.

In February, Hampden Community Council President Allen Hicks said he would oppose anything that threatened Hampden's fast-growing business corridor along 36th Street, known as the Avenue.

But he and other area community leaders and merchants said they could support a mixed-use concept, with residential, office space, shops and restaurants, similar to Cross Keys.

Clarke stressed that plans are still preliminary and that Hekemian doesn't even own the Rotunda yet.

"First and foremost, I am happy that the Rotunda is going to get the attention it needs to survive and thrive," Clarke said. "It's our marketplace."

But she wants a lot more details about Hekemian's plans.

"I'm not opposed, but I am concerned," she said.

One of the biggest questions is whether Rite-Aid will oppose the plan. Both Rite-Aid and Giant have long-term leases at the mall. Giant officials told the Messenger last month that they want a bigger store there.

A 35,000 square feet, the current Giant is the smallest in north Baltimore. But it's open 24 hours a day and has the highest sales volume per square foot of any Giant in the city.

Hekemian is proposing a prototype Giant that would dwarf even the 58,000-square-foot Waverly Giant on 33rd Street.

But Giant is insisting on a pharmacy in any new store.

According to Clarke, Bell told the group that Rite-Aid's lease grants the company exclusive pharmacy rights at the Rotunda unless the mall undergoes substantial expansion.

Presumably, Hekemian's thinking is that adding 115,000 square feet of retail - 74,000 for the Giant and 41,000 for other stores - would qualify as substantial expansion, Clarke said.

While the Rotunda awaits a new buyer, the mall has lost many of its tenants. Those who left in recent months include The Bead, a women's fashion store, and Gordon's Booksellers.

"Holes need to be filled," conceded Timothy Hearn earlier this year. Hearn worked at the Rotunda as a teenager in 1976. Now, he works for KLNB, a real estate broker in Towson and the local agent for AMB, the current mall owner.