As Carrolltown renovations move forward, tenants are under pressure

While construction of the deteriorating Carrolltown Center was initially scheduled for a spring 2015 completion date, the facility's owners have moved up the timeline, putting the few remaining tenants under pressure.
Six businesses were given until Sept. 18 to fully vacate the premises in order for the owners, Black Oak Associates, to begin environmental remediation the week of that date. Environmental remediation entails procedures like asbestos removal. Owners received the notice on Black Oak letterhead late July.
Wendy's, Denny's and Bank of America, which are unattached to the primary structure, will remain operational for the duration of the $50 million renovation, which will transform the facility into the Eldersburg Commons. Dollar General will stay open until Oct. 25, and Big Lots will be open for the foreseeable future, according to Black Oak Associates President Dixon Harvey.
Harvey said that in his talks with the county and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. - one of its Supercenters will anchor the facility - all parties agreed that beginning construction as early as possible would benefit the Eldersburg community. Black Oak now aims for the project to be completed fall 2014.
"The community doesn't want to have the eyesore of Carrolltown there for another winter," he said.
Local owners said while they don't resent the decision, they still scrambled to find an appropriate venue to accommodate their businesses.
Troy Jones, owner of TZ Sports, a Carrolltown training center, said he was under the assumption he had more time to find a new space. Jones initially operated on a five-year lease, but Black Oak exercised an option that terminated the lease and shifted to a month-to-month agreement, close to the announcement of the Eldersburg Commons late April.
Jones said he assumed Walmart wanted to open earlier than the initial projected date.
"The rule of thought is that [Black Oak] would be tearing down the building next year, not this year, based on having conversations with them. They said nothing was supposed to happen," he said.
Harvey denied that Walmart was the catalyst for the new timeline. Black Oak cannot proceed with a demolition of the Supercenter site before a meeting with the Carroll County Planning Commission, which was planned for Sept. 17, according to Harvey, but was rescheduled to Oct. 2.
At the moment, Jones is negotiating leasing a 25,000-square-foot space down the street from Carrolltown, near the defunct London Fog warehouse, which he said is larger but more costly than his current facility.
"It makes them look bad from a community standpoint to put the small businesses out, just like that on a whim," Jones said.
Commissioner Doug Howard, R-District 5, said he was unaware that Black Oaks Associates had enforced a deadline to the remaining Carrolltown businesses.
Howard met with residents when the project was first announced. He said then, adjacent businesses and the attendees were most concerned about traffic flow and the operations of the facility.
Those locals also expressed interest in local businesses occupying some of the facility's planned eight new buildings, according to Howard, but that their inclusion would likely be dictated by the leasing prices and other factors.
"But I also think businesses in the vicinity would also benefit and be enhanced, I would think," he said.
Mona Freedman and her husband, Jay, were partial owners of Jams Music Store, housed at the front of Carrolltown Center. When the announcement of the renovation came in April, she began seeking a home for the couple's completely re-branded business, Limelight Music School. Jams is now out of business, and Limelight is located off Liberty Road, close to South Carroll High School.
Freedman said she moved from her space in Carrolltown prior to the letters being sent from Black Oak, but said judging from a telephone conversation with Ray Keil, the Eldersburg Commons project manager, mom and pop shops would not be welcome back.
"He implied that it was more for the corporate game," she said. "Nobody really thinks it's going to be affordable for the smaller companies."
Harvey, acting as a spokesman for Black Oak, refuted the claim that local businesses would be shunned. Keil was also on the phone with The Advocate at the time of Harvey's interview.
"It's not true - if you look at our other centers, they contain a large component of local, small merchants," he said.
Black Oak owns 13 properties across Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, including Eldersburg Marketplace, located off Md. 32 and Main Street Eldersburg, at the intersection of Md. 32 and Liberty Road.
Harvey could not identify any of the other incoming occupants, citing ongoing negotiations with the companies.
Emily Clark, who has operated Maryland Dance Energy in Carrolltown since 1997, was forced to split her equipment between two new facilities after receiving her letter. She said she could not find a place that met her space needs while meeting her budget.
"I knew it was coming, though, I went out searching prior," she said.
Clark said Black Oak has treated her well during her stay and its representatives were in constant communication.
"It was a shocker at first, but it's not like they were keeping anything from us," she said.