Towson Place
 | |
| Location | Towson, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°23′41.5″N 76°34′53″W / 39.394861°N 76.58139°W |
| Address | 1238 Putty Hill Ave. Towson, MD |
| Opening date | 1962 (Eudowood) 1998 (Towson Place) |
| Closing date | December 1995 (Eudowood) |
| Developer | Food Fair |
| Management | Kimco Realty |
| Owner | Kimco Realty |
| No. of stores and services | 20+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 12 |
| Total retail floor area | 679,843 sq ft (63,159.5 m2)[1] |
| No. of floors | Outdoor, 2 In Haverty's and DSW |
| Public transit access |  MTA Maryland bus: 36, 53, CityLink Green |
Towson Place, formerly Eudowood Plaza and Towson Marketplace, is an outdoor shopping center in Towson, Maryland. Opened in 1962, it was redeveloped extensively in 1998. The shopping center's major stores include Target, Walmart, Weis Markets, Marshalls, Bed Bath & Beyond, DSW Shoe Warehouse, PetSmart, Michaels, TJ Maxx, and Havertys. It is managed by Kimco Realty.
History
Eudowood Plaza opened August 23, 1962. The open-air mall was developed by the supermarket chain Food Fair, which was an anchor store along with Montgomery Ward and Woolworth.[2] A Best Products was added in 1978.[3] The Best building was one of the stores designed by Sculpture in the Environment (SITE) for that chain, featuring a 450-ton masonry facade tilted at a 35-degree angle.[3][4]
In 1981, Bramalea Limited bought the mall. The company spent $9 million to enclose the concourses and add discount retailers. It was at this point that the center was renamed Towson Marketplace.[5] As part of these renovations, the Woolworth store was replaced with Marshalls.[6] Despite these renovations, the mall remained poorly tenanted in the 1990s, and lacked visibility from nearby Joppa Road.[5]
Bramalea sold off the mall in 1991.[7] By December 1995, the mall was under the ownership of Talisman, who proposed to demolish most of the structure. By year's end, the last inline tenants had closed, leaving only Marshalls, Toys "R" Us, Montgomery Ward, Best Products, and Herman's World of Sporting Goods.[8] Four months later, the Best Products store was demolished to make way for construction of a Target.[9] Throughout 1997 and 1998, the center was largely demolished for conversion to a power center, which included PetSmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Super Fresh, Sports Authority, TJ Maxx, and Michaels along with the existing Montgomery Ward, Toys "R" Us, and Marshalls stores.[10]
Montgomery Ward later closed its store when the chain went out of business in 2001.[11] A two-story portion of the new center featured Today's Man on the lower level and DSW on the upper level. In 2004, DSW moved its store down to the space vacated by Today's Man after that store closed, and Filene's Basement opened its first Maryland store in DSW's original location.[12]
Kimco Realty bought the center in February 2004,[13] just as Walmart moved into the space vacated by Montgomery Ward.[11] Reflecting its former Montgomery Ward department store configuration, the Wal-Mart has two levels with escalators. Filene's Basement closed and became Havertys in 2012.[14] Super Fresh closed in 2012 and became Weis Markets a year later.[15]
On June 29, 2018, Toys "R" Us closed all their stores in the U.S. including the one at Towson Place.[16]
References
- ^ "Leasing flyer" (PDF). Kimco Realty. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ "Eudowood Plaza Sets Its Official Opening". The Baltimore Sun. August 19, 1962. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ a b Loudermilk, Suzanne (May 14, 1996). "Tilted Best to Tumble in Towson". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ Schehlein, Melissa (2011). Towson. Arcadia Publishing. p. 60.
- ^ a b Mullaney, Timothy J. (May 21, 1994). "Marketplace is given back to lenders". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ James, Ellen L. (January 5, 1983). "Marshalls to open first area store in Towson". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ Martin, Ellen James (October 19, 1991). "Struggling Towson Marketplace sold". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ Loudermilk, Suzanne (December 27, 1995). "Mall merchants pack up memories Towson Marketplace retailers make way for major renovation". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ Loudermilk, Suzanne (April 19, 1997). "Best store tilted wall tumbles down Towson landmark goes in center renovation". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ Kaiser, Rob (December 22, 1997). "Towson Marketplace undergoing a rebirth". Baltimore Business Journal. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ a b "Revived Towson Place sells for $85 million". The Daily Record. February 26, 2004. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ Ingraham, Lori (October 1, 2003). "New covenant pact rides wave of change at Towson Place". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ "Kimco buys Towson Place". Baltimore Business Journal. February 25, 2004. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ Mirabella, Lorraine (June 20, 2012). "Havertys furniture store will open in Towson". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ Meoli, Jon (February 26, 2013). "Weis Markets poised to open at Towson Place". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/03/15/how-toys-became-island-misfit-toys/7Mj4f2zexsLABCr2yXRAUO/story.html