Several buildings in Towson are being torn down to make way for the proposed Towson Row development.
Crews with Towson-based Caves Valley Partners are demolishing several retail buildings on West Chesapeake Avenue and will then move to tear down an office building on Towsontown Boulevard, a county-owned former office building on Washington Avenue and lastly, buildings on York Road, said Arthur Adler, a partner in the firm.
Adler's company controls five acres of property in the area and plans to build a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use project including a 200,000 square-foot office tower, 374 apartments, 225 units of student housing, a 150-room hotel, a 1,500-space parking garage and 100,000 square feet of restaurants and shops anchored by Whole Foods.
Towson Row has not yet been approved by county officials, and at a recent community meeting, some Towson residents complained that the project lacks open space and that Caves Valley will pay too little — $55,000 — in waiver fees to compensate for the lack of open space.
Adler said that even though the project hasn't been approved and his company might need to make changes, it's prudent to demolish the old buildings and start replacing utilities in the area.
"No matter what we end up doing, those buildings aren't staying," Adler said. "At some point, something will get approved and you can't have utilities in the middle of the site."
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