Baltimore financier and mall developer James Rouse, founder of The Rouse Company, purchased the Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.-designed Baltimore Country Club Golf Course near his Roland Park home for $1,700,000 in 1963, site unseen.[1] The 5,000-person village was built on the historic property in 1965. Michael D. Spear was the development director, later becoming CEO of the Rouse Company. It was the first in a series of planned communities developed by Rouse. Office space was occupied by Rouse until the company moved to its next development in Columbia, Maryland.
The office and retail components of the property were acquired from Ashkenazy by Caves Valley Partners in 2020 and are undergoing significant leasing activity and reinvestment.[4]
History
The original iteration of the community at Cross Keys was named after an 18th century inn on Falls Road, then called Falls Turnpike Road, near Coldspring Lane. The inn initially provided overnight accommodations for travelers who transported goods to and from Baltimore; when freight and passenger traffic was diverted from the turnpike to the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad, the inn remained a social center for local residents. The community in the area originally was mostly African-Americans—it was one of a series of free-born settlements along Falls Road, along with communities at Mount Washington, Bare Hills, and Shawan. The Cross Keys area was once known as West Roland Park, in reference to the adjacent neighborhorhood, however, it was listed as Cross Keys Village on early maps, and referred to simply as "The Road," or "The Falls Road," by its residents. The homes in the early settlement were clapboard bungalows which housed workers who likely worked in the nearby Jones Falls Valley mills. Only a few of the original 76 houses which made up the village before its redevelopment in the mid-20th century remain, with many having been demolished.[5]
Notable residents
Oprah Winfrey Lived in Cross Keys from 1978 to 1983 while working for WJZ-TV.
Purnell, Baltimore, another neighborhood consisting of a large apartment complex; established and formerly owned by the Gorn family company tasked with Cross Keys' 2021 redevelopment
Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. The census-designated place had a population of 104,681 at the 2020 census, making it the second most populous community in Maryland after Baltimore. Columbia, located between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., is officially part of the Baltimore metropolitan area.
Owings Mills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,674. Owings Mills is home to the northern terminus of the Baltimore Metro Subway, and housed the Owings Mills Mall until its closure in 2015. It is also home to the Baltimore Ravens' headquarters facility, and the studios for Maryland Public Television. In 2008, CNNMoney.com named Owings Mills number 49 of the "100 Best Places to Live and Launch".
Towson is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorporated county seat in the United States.
White Marsh is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 9,513 at the 2010 census. White Marsh is a northeast suburb of Baltimore.
Harborplace is a shopping complex on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland.
Clarksville is an unincorporated community in Howard County, Maryland; the second highest-earning county in the United States according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The community is named for William Clark, a farmer who owned much of the land on which the community now lies and served as a postal stop that opened on the 4th of July 1851.
The Rouse Company, founded by Hunter Moss and James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company.
Oakland Mills is one of the 10 villages in Columbia, Maryland, United States. It is located immediately east of Town Center, across U.S. Route 29.
Roland Park is a community located in Baltimore, Maryland. It was developed between 1890 and 1920 as an upper-class streetcar suburb. The early phases of the neighborhood were designed by Edward Bouton and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.
Long Reach, one of ten villages composing Columbia, Maryland, United States, is found in the northeast part of Columbia along Maryland Route 108. Started in 1971, it is one of the oldest villages, and comprises four neighborhoods: Jeffers Hill, Kendall Ridge, Locust Park, and Phelps Luck. The village, with an approximate population of 15,600, is governed by five elected village board members through "Long Reach Community Association, Inc." The Village Office is located in Stonehouse, the community center, which opened in 1974.
Ruxton and Riderwood are unincorporated communities in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. They are sometimes considered a part of Towson and are part of Towson's census area.
Maryland Route 25, locally known for nearly its entire length as Falls Road, is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. It begins north of downtown Baltimore, just north of Penn Station, and continues north through Baltimore County to Beckleysville Road near the Pennsylvania state line. The road passes through the communities of Hampden, Medfield, Cross Keys, and Mount Washington in the city, and Brooklandville and Butler in Baltimore County. The entire length of MD 25 that uses Falls Road—and its county-maintained continuation north to Alesia—is a Maryland Scenic Byway, named the Falls Road Scenic Byway.
Edmondson Village is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of Baltimore, Maryland, encompassing most of the Edmondson Avenue corridor in 21229. The Edmondson Village area is made up of several smaller communities. Its communities include Hunting Ridge, Uplands, Rognel Heights, Wildwood, West Mulberry, Allendale, Edgewood, and Lower Edmondson Village. It is located north of Frederick Avenue, and south of the Gwynns Falls Parkway, Leakin and Gwynns Falls Parks. Communities in the area range from middle class to lower income. A notable shopping center opened in the neighborhood in 1947.
Brooklandville is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States near the intersection of Jones Falls Expressway and the Baltimore Beltway. The general area is a part of Lutherville, and some addresses in the area are considered to be in Lutherville, though Brooklandville has a postal zone and post office of its own. Some notable landmarks in the area, including the Park School of Baltimore and St. Paul's Schools are technically within Brooklandville, as noted by their mailing addresses. However, addresses within the main office complex in the area, Green Spring Station, are considered to be within Lutherville.
Owings Mills Mall was a shopping mall in Owings Mills, Maryland, United States that hosted 155 stores and eateries, in the Baltimore County, Maryland, community of Owings Mills. It was owned and managed by General Growth Properties. While its main entrance was off Red Run Boulevard between Painters Mill Road and Owings Mills Boulevard, the mall was also accessible from the exit ramps of I-795. It was originally known as Owings Mills Town Center. The mall was completely demolished in 2017, and redeveloped in 2019 as Mill Station.
Mondawmin Mall is a three-level shopping mall in West Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The mall was a development of the Mondawmin Corporation, a firm set up in 1952 by James Rouse and Hunter Moss under the Moss-Rouse Company. When it first opened in October 1956, it had an open-air plan and was called the Mondawmin Center. It was later enclosed and renamed the Mondawmin Mall.
The Jones Falls is a 17.9-mile-long (28.8 km) stream in Maryland. It is impounded to create Lake Roland before running through the city of Baltimore and finally emptying into the Baltimore Inner Harbor.
The Shops at Kenilworth is a mall in Towson, Maryland. It has more than 30 stores. The mall opened in 1979 as the Kenilworth Bazaar. The original anchor stores were Stebbins Anderson and Hochschild Kohn's.
The East Columbia Business District is a section of the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, United States that features a number of large shopping centers and office parks. This district also includes the Columbia Gateway Business Park, which is home to more than 50 companies employing over 17,000 individuals. The business district provides shopping resources for much of Northeastern Howard County. Many locals refer to the area simply as "Dobbin" or "Snowden" due to the major roadways that serve it.
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