Mills Corp

The developer of the $250 million Arundel Mills mall pulled out the stops yesterday for a glamorous groundbreaking gala at its construction site in Hanover, while a small group of opponents brandished anti-mall signs in the streets.Inside a large white party tent, Mills Corp. executives read the list of the first tenants to sign up for stores in the 1.4 million-square-foot mall and promised more tax revenue, jobs and shopping for the county. Outside, about 20 members of Concerned Citizens for Responsible Development warned of traffic congestion and irreversible environmental damage.

Nine reasons we don't need Arundel MillsA specter is haunting Maryland: monstermall.Here are nine 9 reasons to oppose Arundel Mills, the weary mother of all malls:1) It will fill 62,155 square feet of wetlands, 12.5 times what is considered significant. It will destroy 3,200 linear feet of waterways. It will make impervious 490 acres.2) The 3,500 jobs Arundel Mills plans are nonskilled, minimum wage jobs. If this is all the ambition and expectation that parents in Harmans, Jessup and Severn have for their children, why should the rest of the county worry about the quality of the schools in their areas?

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- At Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, a store the size of a Wal-Mart, fishing rods by the hundreds point skyward from their shelves, catfish wind their way through an indoor pond, shiny powerboats spin on revolving stands and golfers practice swings on a putting green.But none of that mattered to 9-year-old Tyler McConnell, who cared only about hitting a bull's eye in the Old West Shootn' Arcade. With his father's help, Tyler gripped one of the arcade's laser guns, peered at mechanical wild animals running amok through an old log cabin and squeezed the trigger, adding to the cacophony of pings and screeches.

Their arguments have been called extremist, alarmist and off-the-wall. But claims by a newly formed group that the proposed Arundel Mills mall will destroy the Piney Run watershed and create traffic gridlock are based on the impacts associated with a similar mall in Virginia.While Prince William County officials view Potomac Mills mall as an economic success, others say the shopping complex has led to deterioration of nearby Potomac River tributaries and has been a major contributor to the area's notorious traffic snarls.

Even as bulldozers are clearing trees for a proposed mega-mall in Hanover, opponents of the 1.4 million-square-foot Arundel Mills shopping complex are stepping up efforts to stop construction.Convinced that many northwest Anne Arundel County residents aren't aware that county officials approved the $250 million development a year ago, a newly organized group has launched a last-minute door-to-door information campaign.Today, they plan to finish a weekend sweep through Severn, Jessup, Hanover and Harmans to distribute about 5,000 fliers outlining their objections to the mall.

At a public hearing that drew more than 300 people to Harman Elementary School last night, developers of the proposed Arundel Mills mall presented their plans to preserve forests and wetlands on the project's 400-acre site in Hanover.The Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Department of the Environment have been reviewing the mall project for nearly a year. The agencies scheduled the hearing at the request of mall opponents who have expressed concerns about the project in the past few months.

BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST.That strategy is driving the retail industry -- and consumer spending -- to new limits.There was a time when Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie provided the ultimate shopping experience in these parts. Look at it now.It's a tattered shell as it sits with one last department store and a couple of banks.In the midst of a conversion to a conventional strip shopping center, it has been relegated to the dustbin of retailing history.Harundale, which pulled shoppers from downtown Glen Burnie and Baltimore, was overtaken by bigger fish, including one a short drive down Ritchie Highway: the stylish Marley Station.

A cutting-edge skateboarding park and a hunting and fishing store complete with a stream may be part of the retail and entertainment mix at Arundel Mills mall, according to Laurence Siegel, developer of the 1.4-million-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex in Hanover.The featured speaker at the BWI Business Partnership's 14th annual meeting yesterday, Siegel said construction of the mall on 380 acres south of Route 100 east of Ridge Road will begin this summer. It should be finished in November next year.

Breakfast meeting will focus on corporate giving The Maryland Chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE) is sponsoring a breakfast and training meeting on corporate giving from 7: 30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesday at Country Inn and Suites by Carlson, 2600 Housley Road, Annapolis. Speakers are Jim Hollan, vice president for administration and finance, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, and Carl Smith, area manager, external affairs, Bell Atlantic.