The old houses on Washington Avenue have been knocked down, and the digging is about to begin for the 18-story Palisades apartment building. Already, condos are rising across from the mall, and more apartments are planned near the university.
In Towson, a change is coming that rivals the makeover pulled off in Silver Spring.
In all, an estimated 2,500 new residences will be built within the next few years - a key component in a billion-dollar development boom designed to transform the Baltimore County seat into a regional hub for entertainment, shopping, dining and night life.
"We want Towson to be a more vibrant place, and that requires additional people living in the core," said Ed Kilcullen, president of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations.
A new wave of townies in Towson, he said, will change a "business atmosphere that empties out at about 5 o'clock."
Some raise questions about traffic, parking and the potential effect on schools. Kilcullen asks whether apartments will sell during a real estate slump. And Beulah Young, a resident of the area for more than a half-century, laments the gradual loss of a slower and quieter Towson.
"They keep building and building, and they've lost Towson," said Young, who moved from Rodgers Forge to the Edenwald retirement community three years ago. "We like Towson as it was. And I realize it sounds old-fashioned, but I think they've overdone the building."
But many seem to welcome the growth.
Brian Recher, co-owner of the Rec Room on York Road, has already started building an outdoor bar that will provide an entrance from Shealy and Delaware avenues - right on the doorstep of the Towson Circle III project.
"When you get that amount of people 50 feet from you, that's going to be awesome," said Recher, who hopes to have the new area open by December. "The more people here the better."
Southern Management Corp., which has built in Montgomery County, has broken ground on the Palisades building in downtown Towson. The company's marketing director, John Cohan, said: "Towson, I think, will be very similar to Silver Spring."
Some $700 million in downtown Towson retail, commercial and residential projects is planned for the next five years, and that doesn't include $500 million in development planned at nearby Towson University.
