A Baltimore-based retail developer plans to buy the struggling Hunt Valley Mall, demolish part of it and rebuild it into a shopping and entertainment-oriented destination to rival successful projects such as The Avenue at White Marsh.

The Erwin L. Greenberg Commercial Corp. said yesterday that it has agreed to purchase the 21-year-old mall in northern Baltimore County from Connecticut-based owner Starwood Ceruzzi for an undisclosed price.

The sale could close within several weeks, after which the developer would begin razing the vacant, two-story enclosed portion of the mall, leaving free-standing anchors, said Erwin L. Greenberg, the company's chairman.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Burlington Coat Factory and Sears, Roebuck and Co. are among the tenants that are to remain.

Greenberg Commercial, developer of the 700,000-square- foot Village at Waugh Chapel retail and office complex in Crofton, is exploring ideas for mall design, which could incorporate elements of a "Main Street" concept or be partially enclosed. The developer is also studying how to create the best mix of retailers.

"It would be difficult to make a list of [retailers] who would not want to go there," Greenberg said. "The demographics and the appeal of the whole area is phenomenal. It's explosive. We will select the type of tenant and the design and do so with great care."

The mall has languished half-empty for years, struggling through the 1992 loss of department store anchor Macy's, increased competition from newer, bigger regional malls and a string of owners and managers who forced out specialty stores and proposed - but never completed -mall makeovers.

Despite the mall's rocky history, Greenberg Commercial, with a track record of developing millions of square feet of retail space in Maryland, can make Hunt Valley "one of the premier shopping and entertainment destinations in metropolitan Baltimore," said Brian Gibbons, the company's president.

The enclosed portion of the mall, which would be demolished, is vacant. But a partial remodeling in the mid-1990s left the center with several strong anchors and the Hoyt Cinema megaplex.

The success of those stores, along with a recently remodeled Sears, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Dick's Sporting Goods store and two restaurants, shows the strong potential for the mall, retail experts said yesterday.

"Hunt Valley could really be a gem, if it were built up as an Avenue [at White Marsh] kind of project," said Jennifer Millman, director of the shopping center division of Millman Search Group, a national executive placement firm in Lutherville.

She noted that patrons now line up for the restaurants - Carraba's Italian Grill and Outback Steak House - and the cinema. "Customers who would be shopping there are forced to drive to Towson Town Center or The Avenue to get retail and entertainment."

The mall is well-located, close to the York Road corridor and easily accessible to northern Baltimore County residents, said Tom Maddux, president of NAI KLNB Inc. and a retail specialist. A redeveloped mall could be attractive to national chains that want to add stores in the market but find fewer sites available than just a few years ago, he said.

"The fact that the mall sat around is almost irrelevant," said Maddux, who said he is confident that "Erwin Greenberg will come up with a good formula to attract interested retailers."

Being a local company, the developer "would have an innate understanding of what belongs there and how it should be done," he said.

Greenberg Commercial would redevelop the mall in a joint venture with Prudential Real Estate Investors, the real estate investment arm of Prudential Financial Inc.

Greenberg said the mall's location, demographics, access to Interstate 83 and proximity to new housing and office buildings make it a prime candidate for redevelopment - in spite of other developers' previous failed attempts.

"We have tunnel vision on retail development and so far have been fortunate enough to be successful in everything we've built," he said.

The current owner, Starwood Ceruzzi, bought the mall in March 2000 and two months later announced plans for a $40 million makeover to transform it into a two-level "power center" with a mix of big box stores, specialty shops and restaurants. But the plans had stalled by mid-2001, when the developer said redevelopment had fallen behind schedule because of "construction issues" after remodeling an entrance for Dick's.

Starwood had purchased the mall from Equitable Life Assurance Society, which began remaking Hunt Valley as a value-oriented center in 1996.

Greenberg said he is not worried about competition from other area malls.

"This will be positioned differently," Greenberg said. "The distance from other malls in the area is adequate. What we're doing will be fresh and new and exciting, and extremely architecturally inviting."