Just Horsing Around

My colleague Tom Whelan sent me this video clip today. It is from a security camera mounted in front of a friend’s brothers’ real estate office in Saratoga Springs, New York. Back in the summer of 2007, Roohan Realty installed a horse sculpture in front of their offices as one of thirty four “Saratoga Style” horses in a citywide arts project. The statue was subsequently vandalized a few times which prompted the installation of the security camera.

Last Sunday the camera caught these urban cowboys demonstrating their horsemanship skills. Supposedly these aspiring cowpokes wandered over from a wedding reception across the street.

I think alcohol was involved.

Big Boy Toy Store Closing

According to this story in the Business section of yesterday’s Washington Post, high end electronics retailer Tweeter is closing all of their stores including the one in Dobbin Center in Columbia.

This is becoming an all too familiar story in these tough economic times.

Harris Teeter Coming To Turf Valley?

In a previous post I speculated that Greenberg Gibbons Commercial was negotiating with Harris Teeter for their new shopping center in Turf Valley. In order for that to occur the developer first needed to amend the Planned Golf Course Community zoning to allow for a 55,000 square foot grocery instead of the 18,000 square foot grocery allowed under current PGCC zoning.

According to this story by Larry Carson in The Sun today, the County Council voted unanimously on Monday evening to approve this request.

It is no secret that Harris Teeter is trying to expand its footprint in Howard County. They opened their first county store in the Kings Contrivance village center earlier this year and have already started work on a second store in Maple Lawn. A typical Harris Teeter store is 55,000 square feet.

In This Months Business Monthly

“Blue Cross used to be the gold standard of healthcare.”

That is what a friend of mine said to me last month as he articulated his frustration with increasing premiums and declining service. I’m not so sure about the “gold standard” thing but I will say that it seems like my recent dealings with big blue have been more frustrating than they used to be.

Then again, I didn’t used to think much about health insurance. For me it was just like automobile insurance or homeowners insurance. I was happy just to have it and I hoped I’d never really need it.

Sadly that is no longer the case. As I have gotten older heath insurance has become more important because that is what drives the quality of health care I receive and that care begins with my primary care physician.

My previous primary care doc was a good guy. His office, on the other hand, was a nightmare. It was common to sit in his waiting room for at least half and hour after arriving for a scheduled appointment. When I’d finally be ushered into an exam room I’d typically wait another twenty minutes before actually seeing him. I’d then get about ten minutes of quality time. In return for this privilege I paid my big blue insurance company over $300 per month.

I put up with this situation until it literally became unhealthy. A little over a year ago I came home from my morning run and was feeling pretty beat up. At Mama Wordbones insistence I scheduled an appointment with my doc for later that week. When he finally entered the exam room for our “quality time” I told him that my chest felt tight and I was feeling generally lethargic.

“Stop running and see me again in a week.”

Three days later I had a heart attack. I never saw him again. After some research I found a new primary care doc.

Now my doc has decided to move his practice to a non insurance model. He will no longer deal with big blue or any other insurance company for that matter. He does not believe that the insurance reimbursement model allows him to deliver quality care to his patients. If I want to continue seeing him I will need to pay him directly. I have decided that this makes perfect sense for me.

And the response of my big blue insurance company?

They’ve told me I need to pick another primary care physician.

Unbelievable!

You can read this month’s column here.

Fired Up Fan

Apropos to nothing locally, there was this brilliant football fan story by Matt Zapotsky in the Washington Post this morning. After tailgating at the Monday Night Football game at FedEx field, a fan placed hot charcoal from their grill into the trunk of their car before heading inside to the game. The resulting inferno took out a total of ten cars and took the fire department 25 minutes to bring under control.

“…one person whose sport-utility vehicle was burned said she suspects it was a Steelers fan”

The spokesperson for the fire department offered up these words of wisdom “The lesson learned is don’t put hot coals in the trunk of your car.”

Who would have known?

Never Say Never

Back in February I wrote this post about a brief conversation I had concerning yesterdays presidential election. When I was asked who I thought would be our next president I replied that if I were a betting man I’d put my money on Barak Obama.

“Never gonna happen,” was the gentlemen’s reply.

I can't help but wonder what he is thinking this morning.

Election Day Line Etiquette

As I stood in line waiting to vote this morning I chatted up the folks around me like I normally do. The topics we discussed ranged from the waiting time (it wasn’t bad at 10 AM at my polling place) to the Redskins loss to the Steelers last night. Notably omitted was any discussion of politics.

Apparently this is quite common. As I drove to the office I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show on WAMU. She was taking calls from people all around the country sharing their voting day experiences. Those who said they spoke with others while standing in line also said that they spoke about everything but politics. Maybe we are a more civil people than it sometimes appears.

And doesn’t it just figure, the one time I actually rooted for the Redskins they had to go and blow it.

He Makes It Sound So Easy

Once again Alan Klein shows his depth of understanding of an issue. In an article by Jonathan Pitts in The Sun yesterday, Alan demonstrated a keen sense of the Central Library issue in Town Center.

Instead of embracing a plan that could transform an overcrowded functionally obsolescent facility with a world class center of learning modeled on the groundbreaking Cerritos Millennial library, Alan and his CoFoDoCo adherents have opted to lecture us on sustainability.

“"The first rule of sustainability is 'use what you've got,'" Klein said. "Let's put our good ideas into the library we have."”

And just how does CoFoDoCo suggest we do that?

Let’s say for a moment that we could figure a way to incorporate the current building into the type of facility that GGP envisions. The current library building is maybe 25,000 square feet. The type of library that GGP is talking about would require a building of about 90,000 square feet. It would be impossible to put a building that size at the current library location. It just won’t fit.

Scene This Week In...

It can’t be much fun for Greg Hamm these days. No sooner is he ready to advance his case for the redevelopment of Town Center than his company is hit with a perfect storm of a credit crunch that threatens its very existence. Last week, at forum held by Bring Back the Vision, the first question put to him was whether The Mall in Columbia is up for sale. It is tough enough that he has to deal with the local folks who think things are just fine the way they are, he also has to deal with the uncertainty that surrounds GGP’s financial woes. The expression on his face in this photo says it all and that makes Greg this weeks’ Scene This Week in Columbia.

It is that time of year when I start shutting down the home lawn care operation. This year, that task involved removing the blade from electric lawn mower and taking it in to be sharpened. It has been awhile since I’ve had to do that and I wasn’t sure where to take it. I don’t think the chain home improvement stores provide that type of service. The old hardware stores do though and thankfully some of them still exist in Howard County.

I took my dulled blade up to Clarks Hardware on Route 40. This store still looks and smells like a hardware store. Every time I go there I find the staff to be both accessible and helpful. They sharpened my lawn mower blade on the spot for eight bucks.This really should not surprise me. Clarks Hardware has been in Howard County longer than even an old dog like me can remember. The first time I ever visited their store it was located on Maryland Avenue across the street from the train station in Ellicott City. Years later they moved to St. Johns Plaza before finally building their own new store farther up Route 40. Despite all these moves they still provide the same down home local service and for that reason they are this weeks Scene in Ellicott City.

An Uncertain Future

General Growth Properties is on the ropes. In his column in The Sun today, Jay Hanock summarized the depth of the companies’ financial distress.

“It faces a balloon payment of nearly $1 billion, due Nov. 28, which it doesn't have the cash to pay and which it will have extreme difficulty refinancing in this credit market.An attempt to sell up to $2 billion in preferred stock flopped. Hence the need to sell malls, quick.”

And it’s not just the malls for sale either. The company openly acknowledges that anything and everything is for sale.

"We're certainly happy to discuss other properties" with qualified buyers, General Growth spokesman Jim Graham said. "We've had plenty of inquiries about properties all over the country."

Ironically, that may prove to be the company’s ultimate redemption. GGP isn’t the only one trying to unload real estate to raise cash these days, particularly retail real estate. It’s a great time for the few buyers too. Everyone is bottom feeding. No one is going to pay the true value of these assets right now. It may be in GGP’s creditors’ best interest to renegotiate with GGP rather than put them in default. They would stand a better chance of being made whole on their loans if they allow the company to get through this period than they would if they force the company into bankruptcy.

A Ghoulish Tale in Howard County

Just in time for Halloween there was this story by Jonathan Pitts in The Sun today. The Rhee family in Clarksville is claiming that the developer of their subdivision, Highland Development, removed headstones from a 300 year old cemetery on their lot before building a house on it and never revealed this material fact to the purchasers.

No word as to whether the former inhabitants have made their presence known to the newer residents.

Happy Halloween!

A Balanced View

There is a nice opinion piece about General Growths proposed zoning changes for Columbia Town Center on the editorial page of The Sun today. The last paragraph says it all:

“Outright rejection of the plan would set a dangerous course. It could lead to unplanned, piecemeal development of the property with negative consequences for the county, citizens and General Growth. More open communication and compromise would produce a better result.”

Amen to that. You can find the complete editorial here.

Firewater at the Old Firehouse

In a previous post I wrote about a rumor that a wine bar would be the new tenant of the former firehouse on Main Street in Ellicott City. The other day when I was checking out the 90 year old tree that knocked out power in the old town, I spotted this liquor board hearing notice on the old firehouse doors.

It looks like the new joint will be known as the Wine Bin. Their application for a full blown (beer, wine, liquor) Class A-1 license was approved at the Liquor Board hearing this past Tuesday.

Timber!

A big ol’ tree came crashing down in Ellicott City this morning blocking the intersection of Church Road and Main Street. As the tree came down it took some power lines with it which resulted in this fire.

Perhaps it is time to consider burying this spaghetti of power lines on Main Street.

Feelin' Fallish

Last night Mama Wordbones and I cruised through the mall. It was the day before her birthday and we were visiting jewelry stores. We visited six of them to be exact. The one she liked best was Littman Jewelers and the worst was Kay Jewelers.

One of the six we visited was Connell Jewelers. This is a non chain locally owned jeweler. Last night I discovered that the Connells had sold their store. I didn’t catch the new owner’s names but they seemed like good guys. It remains a non chain locally owned store.

Around 7:00 PM this dog’s stomach was growling and so we decided to hop over to Clyde’s for dinner. It felt cold as we walked down to the lakefront.

“Feels like fall now,” I remarked. Mama Wordbones said her feet were cold.

Much to our surprise when we walked into Clyde’s there were more than a few available tables. Later, Paul Kraft, the GM, stopped by our table and he acknowledged that it was an unusually slow Friday night.

“It’s the economy,” he speculated.

Mama Wordbones and I thought that it was the sudden arrival of a chilly night that was keeping folks at home.

It was most likely the economy though. The ripples of the financial crisis are certainly being felt locally. General Growth Properties is facing a “perfect storm” of its own financial crisis. Faced with a heavy load of debt that is coming due they find themselves trying to raise new capital in a very difficult and uncertain lending market. It is not an impossible task but it will take a herculean effort on the part of the company and its dedicated employees to get there. I wish them success.

To raise some cash, the company is soliciting offers for two Town Center office buildings. Neither of these buildings would be affected by the proposed redevelopment plans for that area of Town Center. Even though these Class A office properties are attractive assets they will have a difficult time fetching a top dollar offer given the current environment where most buyers are focused on distressed assets.

By the time we left Clyde’s around eight thirty, all the tables were full. As we walked back outside it seemed as if it had actually warmed up a bit.

Things are seldom as bad as they seem.

Smarter Growth

“Rather than continuing to suburbanize the agrarian landscape, we should urbanize more of the existing suburbs. This is the essence of ‘smart growth’”

In his “Shaping The City” column in today’s Washington Post, Roger Lewis makes the case for the very plan that GGP has proposed for Columbia Town Center. You can find it here.

A Local Snopes

Last night Mama Wordbones and I attended a cocktail reception to celebrate the newly constituted Reese & Carney law firm. On September 1st, Reese & Carney officially became Carney, Kelehan, Bresler, Bennett & Scherr. The event was held in the Great Room at Savage Mill.

I spoke briefly with Jen Terrasa, the County Councilperson representing District 3 (which happens to include Savage). I asked if she was in favor of General Growth Properties proposed zoning changes for Columbia Town Center. Being an adroit politician she avoided making a commitment. I’ll cut her some slack on this since it is still early and no public hearings have been held.

We got to talking about blogging and the internet and its impact on local politics. We both lamented the fact how bad or even outright false information often gets taken for gospel. It was Jen who suggested that it would be great if we had a local rumor checking site like Snopes.com where residents could check the veracity of any local rumor they may have heard. She shared with me how one of her constituents had heard that the council would be voting on GGP’s plans at the end of this month. I could only laugh at the thought that government would ever move that quickly. That only happens when Wall Street needs $700 billion.

But I digresss…

I told Jen that I also thought a local Snopes site would be a good idea. I mentioned to her that James Howard had already created a search engine for local issues. Perhaps he could take that to next level and address this concern too.

Just an idea anyway…

2008 Howard County CoRE Tour

If you were driving around Howard County yesterday you may have been suddenly stopped in traffic by a police escort of three Eyre’s buses. Did you wonder who the hell could possibly be in these buses that they required a police escort?

Was it some foreign dignitaries?

A sequestered jury pool?

Some mortgage brokers being run out of town?

You would probably be surprised to find out it was just a bunch of bankers, developers and commercial real estate brokers participating in the 2008 Howard County CoRE Tour put on by the Howard County Economic Development Authority. This tour is held every eighteen months to highlight the key commercial real estate development projects in Howard County. This was the first year it was afforded the police escort.

Was this a little overkill?

I happen to think so. I have been on similar tours in Anne Arundel County where they have had police escorts so it is not as if this is something that new, it’s just that it is new to Howard County. In my opinion, it really wasn’t necessary and I am not even sure if it helped to speed things up.

Aside from that, it was an interesting tour, as they usually are. I did learn two new things that I was previously unaware of. The first is the plan by W.R. Grace to develop an office park on 70 acres of their existing corporate headquarters campus on Grace Drive in Columbia near the village of River Hill. This is certainly a prime location along the Route 32 corridor.

The second piece of big news is that Trammel Crow has received a signed Letter of Intent for 150,000 square of the 200, 000 square foot Franklin Center building at 6841 Benjamin Franklin Drive in Columbia Gateway. It was just a little over a week ago that I wrote a post about this building and the high vacancy rate in that park.

This is great news for the local economy and it’s a further indication that our area is better off than most areas of the country right now.

A New Hangout for Terps Fans?

I noticed this sign on the windows of the closed Tiber River Tavern on Old Columbia Road in Ellicott City today.

I asked the boys in the office what they thought a “Maryland Style Tavern” was. The consensus was that it would be a place you could get crabs and beer. And, perhaps some terrapin soup as well.

These 19th century buildings are known as Taylors Row. They were originally a collection of barns built between 1830 and 1870 for the “ livery trade.” A little over 10 years ago they were transformed into a restaurant called the Mill Town Tavern which was then replaced by the Tiber River Tavern.

The sign did not give any indication as to when one might actually enjoy a libation again in these old horse barns.

Weekend Words

It’s been a pretty good day. The Ravens won big in Miami. It was a bit chilly but the sun was warm. It’s really feels like fall now. I need a new book.

Actually I’ve needed a new book since late August when I finished “Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America,” by Walter R. Borneman. James K. Polk. presided over the largest territorial expansion of the United States. He was nominated at the Democratic convention in Baltimore.

Now I am in search of another book. Today I saved the book sections of The New York Times and The Washington Post. I haven’t had time peruse them yet though.

My morning started with a supply run. First stop was Costco in Gateway Overlook. At 11:15 AM the lot was packed and the store was jammed. I asked one of the checkout ladies if this was an unusually large crowd for a Sunday and she confirmed that it was. Costco is one of those retailers that benefit from the current constriction in consumer spending.

This was the situation at their gas station. The price for high test was $2.83 a gallon. I don’t quite get that. Last night I filled up with mid grade for $2.99 a gallon at the Carroll Independent Fuel station at Dobbin Center. There was no line. I’m thinking that all those cars idling waiting in line at Costco are burning up any savings not to mention the added pollution.

As I headed for my next stop, the Giant at Lynwood, I lamented the lack of a Harris Teeter that was closer to home. I’m trapped between a Giant and a Safeway.

I suspect that Harris Teeter is angling to open a store at Turf Valley. According to this story by Derek Simmonsen in the Columbia Flier this week, Mangione Family Enterprises, the master developer of Turf Valley and Greenberg Gibbons Commercial are seeking a “major” zoning change that will allow it to expand the permitted size of a food store within a “Planned Golf Course Community” from 18,000 square feet to 55,000 square feet, the average size of a new Harris Teeter.

Turf Valley is the only development in Howard County that has this zoning.

It still wouldn’t put a Harris Teeter store any closer to me but I’ll bet the folks on that side of Ellicott City would like it. At least some would anyway. The owners of the Waverly Woods Shopping Center have already voiced their concern. They are worried that a new grocery store, especially a Harris Teeter grocery store would put their Weiss Markets out of business.

If I were Weiss Markets I’d be worried too, very worried.

There will be a public hearing on this proposed zoning change tomorrow night.