The suburbanization of Reisterstown Road outside the Beltway is nearly complete.
With the opening in April of Avalon, a very large planned community that straddles Reisterstown Road between Interstate 695 and McDonogh, the final vestiges of the area's rural past have disappeared.
Single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums sprout from land that once yielded corn and tobacco. Sedans and sport utility vehicles have replaced the tractors that once worked the fields. The Grey Rock Mansion, once surrounded by open space, is a focal point for a growing community.
Derelict homes fronting Reisterstown Road just beyond the Beltway have been bulldozed to make way for a Marriott assisted-living facility as well as a new building for a jewelry and crafts store.
"That all used to be farm out there, and now it's all developed," said Hannah Tabor, a longtime independent real estate broker in Pikesville who has sold properties in that area for more than 40 years. "I think it's exciting."
David Desser, an associate broker who works out of the Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. office at the Festival at Woodholme, just off Exit 20, remembers the area as open space with the lone commercial venture a produce stand at the corner of McDonogh and Reisterstown roads.
"Now it's going gangbusters," he said.
John Reister would not recognize the road that bears his name.
He lived in what is now Reisterstown during the late 1700s, when Reisterstown Road was just a dirt track known as Main Street. He envisioned businesses, homes, schools and churches -- and his dream has been fulfilled with a vengeance.
That former dirt road is a paved jumble of mixed housing, schools and stores of all types.
"There are not a lot of available vacant sites along Reisterstown Road," said William Huey, district planner for Baltimore County's 3rd Planning District.
Along Reisterstown Road between the Beltway and McDonogh Road, there is no undeveloped land left. There are a few abandoned houses on three lots rezoned for commercial use that front Reisterstown Road. Tabor represents them and said there is a high degree of interest. One has recently sold, and she does not expect the others to be on the market long.
Huey said that stretch of Reisterstown Road has "definitely become the commercial corridor for that part of the county." And where there are stores, there are homes.
While no new applications are pending in the county planning department for residential construction along that stretch, there are projects that are drawing a diverse crowd, ranging from young professionals without children to empty-nesters.
Area's many attractions
Desser said the area attracts because of the variety of housing, the reputation of the schools, a perception that the surroundings are safe and, most of all, proximity to major roadways.
People who already live in the area have mixed feelings about the building boom. "I guess it's good for the tax base to have more people here, but the traffic already stinks," said George Wolf, who lives in Owings Mills.
A drive along Reisterstown Road now from Beltway Exit 20 to the intersection where McDonogh Road and Cradock Lane split is a stop-and-go affair that offers as a view two strip centers in a narrow commercial band.
Behind the businesses -- banks, bakeries, dry cleaners, convenience stores and the like -- apartments and condominiums share residential areas with single-family homes and townhouses -- lots of townhouses.
This part of Reisterstown is dominated by four planned housing developments that have taken shape since the beginning of the decade: Cobblestone, Greene Tree, Grey Rock and the newest, Avalon.
Cobblestone, which began in 1990, is a community of single-family patio homes. Talles Homes has been building in the project since 1995 and, of 118 lots, only 12 remain unsold.
Ranchers and two-story homes are available, and each home has at least three bedrooms.
Most have basements and some have four bedrooms. Base prices range from $214,900 to $324,900. Maintenance and yardwork is done by the community for residents, who pay a monthly service fee.
"What people are buying at Cobblestone is a lifestyle," said Marie Pequignot, a spokeswoman for Talles Homes.
She said most community residents are empty-nesters who wanted a home with low maintenance near their children, grandchildren and friends.
Talles also built Greene Tree, a gated community of luxury townhouses off Reisterstown Road begun in 1989.
As is its sister community, Cobblestone, Greene Tree is still building. However, most of the townhouses are already under contract.
Base prices for the homes, which offer two-car garages, range from $299,000 to $380,000.
Pequignot said they appeal to families and empty-nesters who want a safe community that is convenient to shopping and major thoroughfares.
"We have people who sold million-dollar homes to move here; it's a lifestyle choice," she said.
A quarter-mile away is the mixed development of condominiums and townhouses called Grey Rock.
The condominiums, dubbed "European flats" by the builder, Rocky Gorge Homes, also cater to empty-nesters desiring single-floor living.
About 130 units have been completed and another 31 are on track to be built.
The European flats come in 10 floor plans and are priced from $133,990 to $155,990. The flats done in six of those floor plans have sold out.
Of the townhouses, Rocky Gorge has sold about one-third of the 120 units planned. The townhouses range from 1,900 square feet to 2,700 square feet and from $169,990 to $187,990.
The development is to be completed in three years.
"It's close to everything, but it's isolated and gated," sales assistant Maureen Berry said.
Next door to Grey Rock is part of Avalon, the most recent development. Avalon is a huge development -- 42.8 acres on the west and 105 acres on the east -- that stretches off both sides of Reisterstown Road, just before the McDonogh Road/Cradock Lane intersection.
"We wanted to develop a community that had a really unique identity," said Steve Gorn, president of Questar Homes, which is building Avalon.
He chose the name "Avalon" as a nod to his early fascination with the legend of King Arthur. Avalon was the island to which King Arthur -- mortally wounded -- was taken and from which he promised to return someday.
"Avalon is a magical, mystical place, and we wanted to evoke that," Gorn said.
At Avalon East, there are condominiums, townhouses, courtyard homes and estate homes. Avalon West has 258 apartments that come with one- or two-car garages.
The units, of which 60 are complete, range from 890 square feet to 2,350 square feet. Phase II of the project in Avalon West, which is to begin next year, will have at least 147 units built. Gorn expects Questar to complete construction of the apartment complex next summer.
Like hotel services
As a reflection of the 1990s, the complex has fax, conference room and Internet facilities available to residents, as well as a pool, clubhouse and workout room.
"We're trying to create a feeling like hotel services," Gorn said.
The apartments have several options and can be customized by the renters.
Questar is considering building a four-story, mid-rise condominium building as part of the complex next summer.
Gorn is particularly proud of the clubhouse, which was converted from a barn built in 1881.
Under construction in Avalon East are 70 condominiums, 57 townhouses, 77 courtyard homes, 23 estate homes and seven estate lots in the first phase. When Phase II is completed, there will be 445 homes in the east side of the development.
The 23 estate homes are under contract and the seven lots will be sold to buyers who can elect to hire their own contractor to build customized homes.
Twenty-seven of the townhouses have been sold and 15 of the condominiums and 33 of the courtyard homes, construction of ** which began in July, are sold.
BTC Prices for condominiums range from $155,000 to $185,000. Townhouses go for $170,000 to $210,000 and the courtyard homes sell for between $215,000 and $275,000.
Gorn said his company has no plans for more projects on Reisterstown Road.
Why?
"There's simply nowhere to build," he said.
Neither the city nor Baltimore County has estimates for the population along Reisterstown Road, but anecdotal evidence along with the traffic and school enrollment projections show it is booming.
"I see a fairly steady flow of residential relative to the commercial development," said Huey, the county planner. "Traffic will con- Development14P
Pub Date: 9/27/98