TOWSON, Md. — Towson Square is a virtual ghost town. All of these businesses have closed. The only thing left open? A Cinemark movie theater and one restaurant, Nando’s, and pretty soon, the restaurant will be closing, too.
Now, people like Carmen Johnson are all asking the same question.
WATCH: Towson Square almost empty
“What happened to the area?” asks Johnson. “It's such a nice area and it’s so shocking to see that every single restaurant is closed.”
Well, we’re asking that question, too. So, WMAR went to local leaders and the owner of the shopping center to try to get a better understanding of what went wrong here.
And what's next.
“After Covid, everything changed,” says Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce. “And things aren’t the way they were.”
When Towson Square opened in 2014, it was touted as the spark that would kickstart a redeveloped Circle East area next to Towson Town Center.
And it did.
Now the area is bustling, and the spark that set it off has fizzled.
“When they came out, it was gangbusters,” Hafford says. “But that was pre-Covid. People are not back in the offices like they were before. And I don’t know if we'll ever see that trend come back again. So, everybody has to adapt.”
There are 92 restaurants within a mile of the East Joppa Road shopping center. More than 30 of those opened in the last four years.
“We know that restaurants can be extremely successful in our area,” Hafford says.
She says several of the locally owned restaurants are doing well, adapting to recent shifts in the economy by cutting hours and changing offerings.
All except one of the restaurants at Towson Square were national chains.
“The larger corporate chains, everything is the same,” she says. “The menu is the menu, and the price is the price. Nice thing when you get small mom-and-pop kinda restaurants, they can change their menu and adapt to the changing palates of their community.”
Baltimore County’s Department of Economic and Workforce Development and the Towson Chamber of Commerce are offering incentives to new tenants. Those incentives are designed to fill spaces that have been vacant for a while. They also can draw existing Maryland-based businesses ready to grow to a storefront or expand, Hafford says.
In a statement to WMAR, Jonathan Sachs, director of the county’s economic development, says:
“Towson is a healthy downtown area with a strong retail market. Recent data shows a greater than 90% occupancy rate. Unfortunately, there are areas that have been challenging and this includes Towson Square.
Last year, we worked with the property owner to help extend similar incentives offered in other areas of Baltimore County for potential new tenants. We will continue to be available as partners help fill Towson Square with tenants that the community will enjoy and would thrive in this prime retail space.”
Indianapolis-based Kite Realty inherited Towson Square four years ago when they bought another commercial property company. When reached for comment Tuesday, a spokesperson for the company says they’re “turning over every stone” and exploring all options to fill the vacancies.
The spokesperson also said that while those spaces were built out as restaurants, they can be reconfigured for retail or other commercial uses.
“We’ve heard that they are also looking at some really great retail businesses to move in there, to be like a multipurpose kind of establishment instead of just restaurants,” Hafford says.
As for Johnson, she shops in Circle East and goes to the movies here. She has an idea of what she’d like to see come here.
“I hope to see the businesses come back,” she says. “I love to sit at outdoor cafes and enjoy a nice meal, especially brunch. Brunch is my favorite.”
