Part of the final deal worked out between General Growth Properties and the county in the enabling legislation for the redevelopment of Columbia Town Center is that ownership of Merriweather Post Pavilion will eventually be transferred from GGP to the county.
Once GGP reaches a benchmark of 5 million square feet of new development in Town Center, the the company will relinquish ownership of the outdoor music venue. This will occur after GGP has renovated the property.
The redevelopment program calls for approximately 13 million square feet of retail, commercial, residential, hotel and cultural development. This transfer would occur at about the midpoint of the development cycle.
Preserving and maintaining Merriweather Post Pavilion has long been a priority of the county executive Ken Ulman and now it appears that he has insured that it will remain a fixture in the county for the foreseeable future.
HoCoLocal Video Vignettes
9 hours ago
3 comments:
Now is the time (it's never too late)
for GGP, CA & the County to discuss the future of the "whole downtown park". First, CA needs to put an immediate halt to financing it's Symphony Woods plan. Next it needs to treat the plan as a great first iteration in the final holistic plan for the combined final plan and bring the plan to the discussion table with GGP & the County. It is time for teamwork.
It's time for the County to get serious, admit that CA has failed as a steward of Symphony Woods and comdemn it. Howard Co needs this park and CA has not shown any ability to make it happen. Their plan is awful.
last i checked "Wine in the Woods" was more popular than the very bland "Columbia Arts Festival"..If the County was smart, they would've developed what works best-more, than trying to remake a failure. Its funny but no matter what plan they come up with-its catered to the adult population and not the children,whatsoever.I remeber growing up in Columbia, and what was a constant was the lack of things to do if you were a kid...the few things we did do-bike riding,going to the creek,loitering in the mall or going to the arcade in the mall(which is now gone)was just about it aside from going to my friends house and playing on his computer system..I understand that times have changed but even my 3yr old has almost grown out that play area in front of JCpenney and god help me if I take her to one of the many beat up "totlots" at the various villages..Lately the best place to take my kid,isn't the mall at all but the play park behind Long Gate Village Center..If this county is so bloody rich,why wasn't one of these put near the mall or within the mall along time ago??Even an indoor arcade or water park would benefit the downtown area dramatically-and be more of a reason to go besides P.F.Changs or the Cheesecake Factory..
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