Rotunda

Josephine D. "Josie" Davis, a dialysis patient for 36 years who continued to work for the Social Security Administration during her treatment, died Aug. 19 of kidney disease at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She was 63 and lived in Pikesville. The daughter of a truck driver and a homemaker, Josephine Dorothy Owens was born one of 13 children in Baltimore and raised on China Street. After graduating from Edmondson High School in 1966, she attended Strayer's Business College and the Community College of Baltimore City on an academic scholarship.

If I had to vote on which food store I would like to see at the Rotunda, I would vote for Graul's Market. My reason is simple: Graul's is a full-service market. Retirement communities and apartment buildings, all inhabited by senior citizens, surround the Rotunda. St. Mary's Roland View Towers is a two-building complex near the intersection of Roland Avenue and 40th Street. Roland Park Place and Keswick Multi-Care are right across from the Rotunda on 40th Street. Many who live and work in those complexes depended on the Giant for groceries until it moved down the hill.

Regarding Steven Riveli's praise for the Rotunda mall owner's design decisions and list of experts who favor this type of development, the key to the most favorable plan lies in the character of the community it will serve ("Rotunda owners right to turn the mall inside out," Aug. 21). The community surrounding the Rotunda is not Harbor East or Towson. It is in an area that serves three senior citizen complexes and several well-established neighborhoods. This community welcomes the upgrade of the Rotunda and new neighbors.

This letter is regarding MOM's Organic Market being considered for the space vacated by Giant in the Rotunda ("Rotunda redeveloper taking fresh look at MOM's Organic Market" Mar 20). This small boutique grocery will not meet the needs of the community. The seniors who live nearby need a full-service grocery such as Graul's. It is sad to see seniors struggling up and down the hill to Giant. Those who wish to shop at Mom's can easily drive there for their organic products. Stephanie Charles, Baltimore Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

It will be bigger and taller, home to residents and retailers, with ample parking and a subterranean supermarket. A redeveloped Rotunda will extend the happenings in Hampden up through staid Wyman Park and revive a North Baltimore landmark - finally. And the mixed-use revitalization project won't cost the public a penny in subsidies; that's a win for Baltimore on many fronts. With last month's approval by the city Planning Department, developers expect to break ground on the new Rotunda shopping center this spring.

This letter is regarding MOM's Organic Market being considered for the space vacated by Giant in the Rotunda ("Rotunda redeveloper taking fresh look at MOM's Organic Market" Mar 20). This small boutique grocery will not meet the needs of the community. The seniors who live nearby need a full-service grocery such as Graul's. It is sad to see seniors struggling up and down the hill to Giant. Those who wish to shop at Mom's can easily drive there for their organic products. Stephanie Charles, Baltimore Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

News that the Giant at the Rotunda is moving west to the old Superfresh store is good news. It will be great to have a Giant that's larger and comparable to the one on York Road north of Gittings Avenue.   The bad news is that the supermarket site at the Rotunda will be vacant. Those who work at the Rotunda and  those who shop at the other stores in that once bustling shopping center will miss having a handy grocery in the building. So will the residents of Roland Park Place and the senior high rises on Roland Avenue south of 40th street.    While the Giant will not be far away, it will be down a hill and farther from those seniors than it was before.

As a resident and small business owner in Charles Village for more than 20 years, I applaud Rotunda owner Hekemian & Co. for advancing and sticking to their plan to turn the mall-styled shopping center "inside out" by re-orienting the stores to face the sidewalks and street ("Rotunda's owners tweak redesign," Aug. 16). While I greatly respect the views of the city officials who think otherwise, their position in favor of a more traditional, inward-facing mall are not in sync with well established community development best-practices.

New details about planned redevelopment of the Rotunda have emerged, including a possibly quicker timetable for moving a new grocery store into the struggling mall in Roland Park. "One of the (grocery retail) groups we're working with has expressed a desire to move in as soon as possible. We're hoping the logistics work out," Al Barry, a local land-use consultant to mall owner Hekemian & Co., told a neighborhood advisory task force Tuesday. "Retailers like parking and access. That's going to be a challenge.

The University of Virginia honored the memory of Cockeysville native Yeardley Love with a symbolic display on the schools grounds in anticipation of Friday's "Day of Dialogue. " The columns of the school's Rotunda were draped with black material this week as part of an art project meant to remember the U.Va. lacrosse player. According to a release, 10 south-facing columns were draped in "black diaphanous fabric. " The University also announced Friday that they were planning a series of events the following Friday that are designed to encourage dialogue among U.Va.

Regarding Steven Riveli's praise for the Rotunda mall owner's design decisions and list of experts who favor this type of development, the key to the most favorable plan lies in the character of the community it will serve ("Rotunda owners right to turn the mall inside out," Aug. 21). The community surrounding the Rotunda is not Harbor East or Towson. It is in an area that serves three senior citizen complexes and several well-established neighborhoods. This community welcomes the upgrade of the Rotunda and new neighbors.

As a resident and small business owner in Charles Village for more than 20 years, I applaud Rotunda owner Hekemian & Co. for advancing and sticking to their plan to turn the mall-styled shopping center "inside out" by re-orienting the stores to face the sidewalks and street ("Rotunda's owners tweak redesign," Aug. 16). While I greatly respect the views of the city officials who think otherwise, their position in favor of a more traditional, inward-facing mall are not in sync with well established community development best-practices.

Baltimore's Urban Design and Architecture Review panel approved Thursday the master plan for a nearly 3 million-square-foot development at Harbor Point, between Harbor East and Fells Point, where Exelon's new headquarters is expected to be built. The removal of a proposed building and an accompanying playing field for U.S. Lacrosse was the most prominent change to the plan since it was first presented to the panel in early July. The national governing body for men's, women's and youth lacrosse decided to move to Baltimore County instead of to the city's waterfront, according to Harbor Point's developer.

Officials criticized new plans for the redevelopment of North Baltimore's Rotunda mall on Thursday, questioning whether turning the landmark shopping center inside out - making stores accessible only from outdoor sidewalks - would best serve residents of the surrounding communities. New Jersey-based developer Hekemian & Co. has tried for more than five years to revitalize the 11-acre Rotunda site, but Thursday's presentation was the first time that details of the $100 million rehabilitation plan had been shown to a citywide group.

A fourth theater at Rotunda Cinemas will open Friday, owner-operator Ira Miller announced today. "It's the first part of an expanded entertainment center that will also include a coffee shop," he said. The new auditorium, which Miller has installed in the space formerly occupied by Tomlinson Craft Collection, is roughly the same size as the 80-seat theater that Miller opened in fall 2010. But this one is 3-D-ready (like the Rotunda's bigger theaters) and boasts a larger screen.

New details about planned redevelopment of the Rotunda have emerged, including a possibly quicker timetable for moving a new grocery store into the struggling mall in Roland Park. "One of the (grocery retail) groups we're working with has expressed a desire to move in as soon as possible. We're hoping the logistics work out," Al Barry, a local land-use consultant to mall owner Hekemian & Co., told a neighborhood advisory task force Tuesday. "Retailers like parking and access. That's going to be a challenge.

If I had to vote on which food store I would like to see at the Rotunda, I would vote for Graul's Market. My reason is simple: Graul's is a full-service market. Retirement communities and apartment buildings, all inhabited by senior citizens, surround the Rotunda. St. Mary's Roland View Towers is a two-building complex near the intersection of Roland Avenue and 40th Street. Roland Park Place and Keswick Multi-Care are right across from the Rotunda on 40th Street. Many who live and work in those complexes depended on the Giant for groceries until it moved down the hill.

With the closing of TCBY and the Charm City Diner in the Rotunda, shoppers and office workers there can no longer conveniently get a sandwich or a cup of coffee. So when the news went around that Denise Whiting, owner of Cafe Hon in Hampden, would be opening a branch of her restaurant in the TCBY space, patrons were overjoyed. But the original deal fell through, and it looked as if lunch would be limited to a slice of pizza from the Rotunda's Casa Mia or takeout from the Giant's salad bar. Last week, though, Whiting reached an agreement with Manekin Corp.

Hampden-area grocery shoppers now can shop around the clock, seven days a week, at the Giant store that opened in March in the Green Spring Tower Square shopping center, 1020 W. 41st St. The expanded hours take effect immediately, officials of Landover-based Giant Food said in a press release Tuesday. The 48,500-square-foot store is located in a former Fresh & Green's and SuperFresh. It relocated to the larger space from the Rotunda mall after 41 years. Baltimore City residents now have the added convenience of grocery shopping any time of day. Giant Food of Landover, Md. announced the Baltimore City Giant on 41st Street will now operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, effective immediately.

Now I really feel old. A friend of mine used to call the grocery store at the Rotunda the "Flirt Giant. " And it was true, back when I moved here about 25 years ago: You got the sense people were trolling the aisles there for more than Lean Cuisines. It was bad enough that over the years the Flirt Giant aged out — if there were still shoppers on the prowl there, they also were probably on walkers. The Rotunda itself was sagging a bit, slowly some of its smaller shops, but as long as the Giant anchored one end and the movie theater the other, the mall seemed to still have a heartbeat.