Vacant Buildings

After months of silence about his plans, David G. Rhodes of Heritage Properties said yesterday that he has joined forces with another major developer to revive the former Hutzler's department store in Towson.Baltimore-based Cordish Co., which also has been chosen to redevelop the Power Plant at the Inner Harbor, will be working with Heritage to transform the long-vacant white elephant at a prime Baltimore County intersection into a top retail center called Towson Circle.Among the potential tenants: Circuit City, Gap's Old Navy Clothing, Designer Shoe Warehouse and Saks Off 5th."

A renovated Robinson's department store building, the last ++ large, vacant building in the Glen Burnie urban renewal district, should be at least partially occupied by a new bar and restaurant in time for Halloween.Peter's Bar and Restaurant will take 10,000 of the 16,000 square feet on the first floor of the two-story building, officials of the company that owns the building told the Glen Burnie Town Center Committee yesterday.The building on Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard east of Crain Highway has been vacant for more than seven years, during which several attempts by its owners, the North Star Group, to find tenants have fallen through.

Miller Corporate Real Estate Services yesterday unveiled plans for an extensive renovation of a largely vacant office building at 31 Light St., bucking a trend that has sapped downtown's older buildings of businesses.Miller intends to move to the five-story building at Light and Lombard streets in September, leaving the 30-story Commerce Place skyscraper where it has been since 1993."We surveyed the entire market, and at the end of the day felt a loyalty to the city and we wanted to make a commitment to the city," Miller principal Ira J. Miller told the city's Architectural Review Board, which approved in principle the firm's plans.

One month before the Lexington Terrace high-rises are to be blown up to usher in a new era of public housing, police experts yesterday set off their own bombs in the vacant buildings to practice solving cases.A series of three explosions rocked the area in the 700 block of W. Saratoga St., giving teams of local and federal authorities a chance to practice their skills at detecting explosives and finding minuscule fragments that can solve cases."This is really a unique opportunity," said Officer Joseph A. Costantini, an investigator with the Baltimore Police Bomb Squad.

In a move that could solidify Towson's role as a retailing powerhouse -- and eliminate a white elephant in the business district -- a developer plans to transform the long-vacant Hutzler's building into warehouse-style stores.Local government officials and community leaders yesterday endorsed developer David G. Rhodes' Towson Circle, a $25 million project that would link the aging business district to the thriving Towson Town Center mall."Towson Circle has the potential to become one of Towson's greatest assets," said County Councilman Douglas B. Riley, a Republican whose district includes the Hutzler's building -- often called the "wall" because it divides the old and new retail districts.

Snow and ice caused the roof of a vacant Columbia building to cave in Saturday night, the second collapse of a county business in a week, Howard rescue officials said.The LPP Retail Building in the 10700 block of Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia's Town Center was condemned by a Howard building inspector after its collapse, said Lt. Stephen Redmiles of the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue.About 10 p.m. Saturday, police officers and firefighters responded to a fire alarm at the property owned by the Rouse Co. and discovered that more than 3 feet of snow had caused the top center of the slanted roof to cave in, setting off the sprinkler system, Lieutenant Redmiles said.

HENRY FONDA and Margaret Sullavan were married in its ballroom. Sarah Bernhardt, Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers were among the hundreds of celebrities who reportedly stayed in guest rooms upstairs.Soon, a new generation of artists and performers may be able to visit or even live in the historic Kernan Hotel, as a result of Baltimore's efforts to transform the Howard Street corridor into an Avenue of the Arts.The vacant building at 306 W. Franklin St., last known as the Congress Hotel, is in line to be converted to a 42-unit apartment building, with lower-level restaurants and other public spaces.

As part of its growing effort to preserve Essex, the Baltimore County government is planning to buy a small commercial building for a novel public-private effort to help area families.The county, contingent on County Council approval, will spend $550,000 for the 10,000-square-foot building at 101 Back River Neck Road called Riverwood Plaza and help a church day care center to locate there.Current tenants would remain -- a pizza carryout and a nonprofit martial arts and fitness center. But the latter would be combined with the county-run Police Athletic League and recreation programs and no longer pay rent.

In an initiative to reduce the number of vacant houses pockmarking Baltimore neighborhoods, city lawyers have asked for injunctions against two inner-city landlords, demanding that they either fix their properties or tear them down.Until now, most of the city's efforts to get landlords to raze or repair their substandard properties involved prosecuting them for violating the housing code -- a criminal misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $500 per offense but no jail time.By requesting civil injunctions, city officials hope to obtain court orders demanding that the landlords take action.

Baltimore's mayor has ordered a police crackdown on scrap dealers who buy stolen metal stripped from vacant houses, saying the practice has reached "epidemic proportions" and is causing poor residents to suffer.In a strongly worded letter sent last month to 13 dealers across the city, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said he has asked the police chief to investigate scrap dealers and bring lawbreakers to justice.nTC "This theft is affecting the well-being of the housing stock in the city," the March 23 letter says.