In with the old and the new; Baltimore Co. focused on both

Driving the 52 miles around the Baltimore beltway offers a lesson in the diversity of Baltimore County's economy.

On one side of the circle, the University of Maryland Baltimore County has a technology incubator and the first two buildings of a new technology park scheduled to have five buildings in all. On the other side, remnants of the World War II-era manufacturing boom are being turned into new homes and commercial development.

And in between there is everything from a large federal headquarters to small town centers with locally owned retail and restaurants.

While other jurisdictions scramble to diversify their economies, Baltimore already has achieved it, which will help the county and its residents in the event of a downturn in any given industry. Nevertheless, challenges remain.

Rediscovery

Baltimore County surrounds Baltimore City. As city residents left for the suburbs, many settled in a ring just over the city-county line. That wheel formation is still seen in the neighborhood downtowns and community centers, but changing residential and shopping trends have drawn shoppers and diners away from these older, inner suburbs.

A new campaign, Re Discover Your Neighborhood Downtown, aims to attract residents back to the centralized commercial areas. Targeting 12 neighborhoods, the campaign touts each area's unique attributes in attempt to lure new and repeat customers.

Also, as part of a commercial revitalization program, the county offers incentives, including low-interest loans and tax credits, to businesses moving back into those areas.

“It's making certain that the county develops more evenly, even as they've got exciting new business areas in White Marsh and Owings Mills and Hunt Valley,” said Robert Hannon, assistant secretary for the state's Department of Business and Economic Development. “Making certain that the older communities get their share of public reinvestment and also new business investment is part of that challenge.”

While the revitalization efforts are taking place throughout the county, perhaps the most visible are those on the county's eastern side.

During WWII, the population on the county's eastern side skyrocketed as the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Co. manufacturing facility employed 53,000 workers. Hastily constructed houses became what were supposed to be temporary homes for the plant's employees.

But following the war's end jobs were cut drastically at Martin and other manufacturing facilities in the region, and the homes remained.

While a significant manufacturing presence remains — Middle River Aircraft Systems and Lockheed Martin still have facilities in that part of the county — residents of the east side have seen decades of neighborhood deterioration and job loss.

But now, with the county pushing to revitalize Dundalk, Essex and Middle River, private developers are showing interest and new residential developments are replacing rundown complexes.

One of those projects, Miramar Landing in Middle River, will be built in place of a group of about 1,100 ramshackle houses owned by a single landlord. In place of those structures Ryland Homes will build 845 new units on 101 acres.

Developers and businesses are also taking advantage of the county's 175 miles of waterfront. Marinas have seen new investment and residential developments are popping up with the water as the focal point.

Meanwhile, the area is also seeing significant commercial redevelopment. Both Dundalk and Essex are on the list of neighborhoods targeted for revitalization, and improvements can already be seen in both places.

Near Miramar Landing, the Martin Plaza Shopping Center is getting a facelift. A recently opened Target anchors the center.

“What this does for the psyche of the neighborhood is as important as the real estate,” said William Jones, representative for redevelopment and the waterfront areas for the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development.

Eastern expansion

But the most significant commercial investment is expected following the completion of a $60 million, 3.8-mile extension of Maryland Route 43, connecting Middle River with the White Marsh growth area and effectively opening up for development 1,000 acres of land accessible from Interstate 95 and already zoned for commercial use.

Few large undeveloped parcels remain inside what's known as the Urban-Rural Demarcation Line, drawn into county plans in the late 1960s. Aiming to control development, the county provides water and sewer infrastructure inside the boundary to accommodate development, while residents and businesses outside the boundary must use private wells and septic systems.

A planned business park for the property is expected to create as many as 10,000 new jobs. It will accommodate a variety of businesses, though the county is focusing marketing efforts on bioscience firms, said David S. Iannucci, Baltimore County's director of economic development.

“You can't make yourself into something you're not. Forty-six states have biotech marketing plans. It's real, though, in Maryland,” he said. “We work very closely with our counterpart in the city in an effort to capture that strength.”

To tap biotechnology opportunities, the two jurisdictions rolled out a joint marketing campaign called BaltimoreBio at a recent industry conference in Philadelphia.

The county has the UMBC facility, as well as a growing technology cluster in Hunt Valley, while the city has several new bioscience parks and some major research institutions.

“With the extension of Route 43 and its proximity to Bayview and East Baltimore, it's just a natural marketing plan,” said Donald C. Fry, president of the Greater Baltimore Committee.

The county's other targeted growth areas, Owings Mills and Hunt Valley, are also seeing redevelopment efforts. A large transit-oriented development at Owings Mills will have retail and office space, as well as the county's largest public library. In Hunt Valley, the old mall recently underwent complete redevelopment. Basically turned inside out, the mall is now an outdoor shopping area with retail, restaurants and services.

Those projects open opportunities for high-end retail, which Iannucci said the county has the demographics to support.

Second to one

Iannucci also expects growth in the government services sector. The Social Security Administration employs 9,800 people at its headquarters in Woodlawn, while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides more than 3,000 jobs, also in Woodlawn.

Those facilities also spur job creation in the private sector. For example, Lockheed Martin Information Technology recently added 100 jobs to a Woodlawn complex that already employs more than 1,000 people.

“As the federal government continues in its path of increasing productivity, it has outsourced a lot of the functions that were housed inside those to outside, private businesses,” said DBED's Hannon. “So you get some clustering of businesses that do business with them.”

Recently, the county celebrated news that it trails only Montgomery County in job growth.

“We're a county that was at one point a manufacturing center, and now we're taking pride in marketing ourselves for IT, biotech, financial services and health services,” Iannucci said. “We've seen that kind of growth because of the diversity of our economy.”