When a 10-story marble and glass building full of shops, offices and theaters opened on Towson's main thoroughfare seven years ago, local officials took it as a sign that life was returning to the struggling downtown district.
At a whopping $70 million, Towson Commons was a shout of confidence in Baltimore County's aging seat of government, designed to lure moviegoers, diners and shoppers while boosting business on York Road and nearby side streets.
That was then. Now nearly empty of shops and food stands, the once-gleaming hope of Towson's revitalization is the centerpiece of a business district that appears still troubled. Up and down York Road, once-prominent storefronts stand shuttered, from Finkelstein's clothing store to J. P. Henry's restaurant, marring Towson's central artery just blocks from its booming mall.
"We struggled for many years to do business there until we gave up," said Richard Rudolph, 82, who moved his long-established Towson Bootery two years ago from York Road to a nearby mall, The Shops at Kenilworth. "It breaks my heart to see what happened to Towson."
Nationwide, old downtown business districts fight to remain viable in the face of competition from regional malls and mega-retailers even as the population shifts farther out from edge cities like Towson.
In the Baltimore area, local officials have begun revitalizing old-line commercial strips from Dundalk to Pikesville. Towson has enjoyed considerable success opening a five-way roundabout to ease congestion just south of its thriving Towson Town Center mall and spending millions on brick sidewalks, decorative lighting and shrubbery.
The long-vacant Hutzler's building was renovated, converting an eyesore into a sparkling anchor featuring Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Storage USA, Sprint and soon to include Pier One Imports.
Next month, the ornate 1929 Towson Theater -- now a billiard hall -- is to reopen as a live concert hall for 850 people.
"It's not all gloom and doom," says Susan K. DiLonardo, executive director of the Towson Business Association. "The recent $4 million investment by the state and county into the roundabout and streetscape is an indication they believe in Towson."
While that work seems to have jump-started businesses along Allegheny Avenue, the effect appears to have stalled north of the traffic circle and south to Burke Avenue at York Road, where an abandoned service station looms as the gateway to the downtown district.
