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Towson Town Center
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Towson Town Center
Towson Town Center is a super-regional shopping mall located in Towson, Maryland. It was the largest indoor shopping mall in Maryland prior to the completion of Arundel Mills in November 2000 in Hanover and the 2007 expansion of Annapolis Mall.
As of August 2018,[update] the mall is owned and managed by GGP, a subsidiary of Brookfield Properties. As of December 2025,[update] the property had begun to struggle with vacancies and crime, and as of April 2026,[update] the mall is 74% occupied.
Towson Town Center originally operated under the name Towson Plaza, which was an open-air shopping center developed by Ralph DeChiaro of DeChiaro Properties on ground originally sold by Goucher College. The mall had its grand opening on May 13, 1959, and was built adjacent to the Towson location of Hutzler's, which has permanently closed in the 1990s and redeveloped into Towson Circle (now Circle East). Towson Plaza was one of the earliest multi-level shopping centers. Much of that original structure remains incorporated into the current mall as its two lower levels.
Towson Plaza was enclosed in 1973, renamed Towsontowne Centre, and renovated in 1982 with the opening of Hecht's across the parking lot. Lawrence Rachuba, through DeChiaro-Rachuba Group, were the developers. The renovation also led to the opening of Hutzler's, though it gone out of business in 1990.
Over the years, stores and attractions were added on to increase traffic in the mall and make it more competitive with other malls in the area. One memorable effort was Gadgets restaurant and arcade. It was a Warner Bros. themed restaurant with animatronic characters performing periodic shows on stage, which opened and closed in the early 1980s. Some of the original stores survived this era but later closed, including Hess Shoe Store, Loewmeyer's, and Friendly's. The Level 1 center court featured the Garden Cafe and a dandelion fountain at its entrance. The glass elevator was installed between the old escalators.
Towson Town Center undergone a massive $150 million renovation and reconstruction in the early 1990s. The third and fourth floors were developed by the San Diego, California-based Hahn Company (later TrizecHahn Corporation), in partnership with the Rachuba-DeChiaro Group and the California-based Santa Anita Realty, opening on October 14, 1991. It included the addition of the Arbor Terrace food court on Level 3. New fountains were added to the Nordstrom court and third floor courts along with a glass elevator connecting Levels 3 and 4. The upper floors sit above a parking garage while access to the lower levels form a downhill pattern, as much of the mall property was built on a slope. The 1990s renovation was designed by the Baltimore-based RTKL Associates, which also designed the competing Owings Mills Mall and White Marsh Mall. The 1991 renovation added significant space for 130 stores.
In May 1992, it was reported that the Garden Cafe had problems regarding extremely slow service, an overly ambitious menu, and poorly prepared food. During the 1991 renovation, the main fountain was replaced with a smaller one, and in 1999, the popular theme restaurant, Rainforest Cafe opened in the mall. The Garden Cafe closed its doors in early 2000, and was replaced with Bistro Sensations, which opened in April of that year.
TrizecHahn Corporation sold Towson Town Center to the Columbia-based Rouse Company in 1998 as part of a $1.1 billion deal, alongside other malls to Rouse and Westfield Group as part of TrizecHahn's exit out of the mall industry.
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Towson Town Center
Towson Town Center is a super-regional shopping mall located in Towson, Maryland. It was the largest indoor shopping mall in Maryland prior to the completion of Arundel Mills in November 2000 in Hanover and the 2007 expansion of Annapolis Mall.
As of August 2018,[update] the mall is owned and managed by GGP, a subsidiary of Brookfield Properties. As of December 2025,[update] the property had begun to struggle with vacancies and crime, and as of April 2026,[update] the mall is 74% occupied.
Towson Town Center originally operated under the name Towson Plaza, which was an open-air shopping center developed by Ralph DeChiaro of DeChiaro Properties on ground originally sold by Goucher College. The mall had its grand opening on May 13, 1959, and was built adjacent to the Towson location of Hutzler's, which has permanently closed in the 1990s and redeveloped into Towson Circle (now Circle East). Towson Plaza was one of the earliest multi-level shopping centers. Much of that original structure remains incorporated into the current mall as its two lower levels.
Towson Plaza was enclosed in 1973, renamed Towsontowne Centre, and renovated in 1982 with the opening of Hecht's across the parking lot. Lawrence Rachuba, through DeChiaro-Rachuba Group, were the developers. The renovation also led to the opening of Hutzler's, though it gone out of business in 1990.
Over the years, stores and attractions were added on to increase traffic in the mall and make it more competitive with other malls in the area. One memorable effort was Gadgets restaurant and arcade. It was a Warner Bros. themed restaurant with animatronic characters performing periodic shows on stage, which opened and closed in the early 1980s. Some of the original stores survived this era but later closed, including Hess Shoe Store, Loewmeyer's, and Friendly's. The Level 1 center court featured the Garden Cafe and a dandelion fountain at its entrance. The glass elevator was installed between the old escalators.
Towson Town Center undergone a massive $150 million renovation and reconstruction in the early 1990s. The third and fourth floors were developed by the San Diego, California-based Hahn Company (later TrizecHahn Corporation), in partnership with the Rachuba-DeChiaro Group and the California-based Santa Anita Realty, opening on October 14, 1991. It included the addition of the Arbor Terrace food court on Level 3. New fountains were added to the Nordstrom court and third floor courts along with a glass elevator connecting Levels 3 and 4. The upper floors sit above a parking garage while access to the lower levels form a downhill pattern, as much of the mall property was built on a slope. The 1990s renovation was designed by the Baltimore-based RTKL Associates, which also designed the competing Owings Mills Mall and White Marsh Mall. The 1991 renovation added significant space for 130 stores.
In May 1992, it was reported that the Garden Cafe had problems regarding extremely slow service, an overly ambitious menu, and poorly prepared food. During the 1991 renovation, the main fountain was replaced with a smaller one, and in 1999, the popular theme restaurant, Rainforest Cafe opened in the mall. The Garden Cafe closed its doors in early 2000, and was replaced with Bistro Sensations, which opened in April of that year.
TrizecHahn Corporation sold Towson Town Center to the Columbia-based Rouse Company in 1998 as part of a $1.1 billion deal, alongside other malls to Rouse and Westfield Group as part of TrizecHahn's exit out of the mall industry.
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