More Food and Beverage Needed in Columbia

COLUMBIA, MD—An economic study of Columbia's economy has produced a series of site-specific enhancements to the eight village retail centers here. A common theme from the consultant's report is that all locations could use more restaurants.

Tom Moriarity, lead consultant on the study, says the recommendations were based on the area's demographics and that a key factor for the various options outlined in the report was the proximity to existing retail and civic uses. The report was initiated in the fall of 2013 and was commissioned by the Columbia Association in partnership with the Howard County Economic Development Authority and the county's Department of Planning and Zoning. The recommendations were detailed at a meeting of the Columbia Association late last week, according to the Baltimore Sun.

"We tried to respond to things that were there and maybe not fully utilized," he said. "All village centers, in varying degrees, we think can support more and different food and beverage," he said. "America has gone crazy for eating out. We don't cook as much at home anymore."

Kimco Realty's Wilde Lake Village Center was excluded from the study because it is currently undergoing a comprehensive renovation. As part of the redevelopment, Kimco is building two apartment buildings that will make it the first of Columbia's village centers to feature major residential development. Geoff Glazer, vice president of development and acquisition for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions at Kimco Realty, posted in a recent blog that the Wilde Lake Village Center redevelopment is one of the first Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) projects Kimco has pursued. See story in the Baltimore Sun.