A Minneapolis-based development company wants to build a 414,736-square-foot shopping center in the Wheatfield neighborhood of Ellicott City that would become one of Howard County's largest retail centers if it won county approval.
Opus East, the company's Bethesda office, plans to build the center on 43 acres of a 53-acre site bounded by U.S. 29, Route 100, Long Gate Parkway and Route 103. Owned by Ellicott City developer Robert R. Moxley, the site is zoned for businesses, retail and office buildings.
According to site development plans, the project would include eight buildings ranging in size from 24,000 square feet to 116,796 square feet.
Plans also call for 2,074 parking spaces.
The center would offer warehouse-type stores such as Zany Brainy, an educational electronics retailer, or Target, a Minneapolis-based discount chain that sells everything from lawn furniture and shampoo to clothing and toys.
In the area, only The Mall in Columbia and Snowden Square, a regional shopping center on Snowden River Parkway, are bigger than the proposed center.
"We're trying to get high-end retailers in there," said Bob Mahoney, senior project manager for Opus East. "We don't have deals made yet."
Added David Carney, attorney for Opus East: "We feel very good about it. It's a reasonably large shopping center."
Mr. Moxley did not return phone calls this week to discuss the project.
At a meeting tonight, company officials plan to show residents a model of the project and discuss the project's architectural design and landscaping along state Route 103 and Long Gate Parkway.
The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the county office building.
"We're there to listen to some of the community's input," Mr. Carney said.
Wheatfield residents have long opposed development on the parcel. For the past two years, they have been fighting a proposal to place a firehouse on two acres west of the Ellicott City Armory, one of two sites under consideration by county officials.
But in July 1993, the county Zoning Board approved an agreement between Wheatfield residents and Mr. Moxley to rezone about 43 acres of the property for general business, which could include warehouse-sized stores.
The agreement also included 8.2 acres of planned office and research facilities along Long Gate Parkway as a buffer between the Wheatfield neighborhood and any proposed shopping center.
Some residents have adopted a wait-and-see attitude about the proposed shopping center.
"We know it's coming," said Robert Walton, president of the Wheatfield Homeowners' Association.
"It's just a matter of seeing what [developers are] going to do. As long as they live up to their agreement," there will be little conflict between developers and residents, he said.
Others, however, are unhappy about a project that they say will bring traffic congestion and noise to their neighborhood.
"It's definitely going to disturb our peaceful little neighborhood," said Cathi Higgins, a director of the Wheatfield Homeowners' Association. "It's going to be a big mall. People are going to come from all over."
The county Planning and Zoning Department is reviewing plans for the project which include waiver petitions for wetlands and flood plains.
The review is expected to be completed by March 26, after which the Planning and Zoning Department may give final approval.