Pulaski Highway / US 40 and Golden Ring Road
Baltimore County (Rosedale), Maryland
In April 1972, a joint venture of Indiana's Melvin Simon & Associates and Missouri's May Centers announced plans for a northeast Baltimore shopping hub. GOLDEN RING MALL, a dual level, fully-enclosed complex, was to be constructed on 42 acres, situated 7.1 miles northeast of Baltimore's Central Business District.
The site, in the unincorporated Baltimore County community of Rosedale, was adjacent to a 36-mile section of the Baltimore Beltway, which had been completed in 1962. The entire circumferential highway would open to traffic in 1977.
Ground was broken on May 31, 1973. When fully realized, GOLDEN RING MALL encompassed 718,900 leasable square feet and contained seventy-nine stores and services. The retail hub was designed by Robert Young Associates, of Dallas, Texas, and Ralph Kelman Associates.
The first operational tenant, a 2-level (168,600 square foot) Montgomery Ward, held its grand opening on September 11, 1974. A 2-level (160,000 square foot), Baltimore-based Hecht's opened for business on October 2, 1974. The mall's 3-level (195,900 square foot), Baltimore-based Stewart's, debuted on October 14th.
A mall-wide dedication commenced on October 28, 1974. Charter tenants included Musicland, Cole's Books, Buddy's men's wear, Casual Corner, Bakers Shoes, Kinney Shoes, Herman's Bakery, Spencer Gifts, a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour & Restaurant, Time-Out Video Arcade and Orange Bowl snack bar. Court areas in the Brutalist-style complex featured tropical plantings, sculptures by Rita Blitt and Bogdan Grom and three fountains.
Major competitors of GOLDEN RING MALL included EASTPOINT CENTER (1956) {3 miles southwest, in Baltimore County} and WHITE MARSH MALL (1981) {2.6 miles northeast, also in Baltimore County}.
The United Artists Movies at Golden Ring 1-2-3 opened for business, on the Upper Level of the mall, on June 30, 1976. This venue was joined by a second upper floor theater. The United Artists Movies 4-5 showed its first features on September 16, 1977. Lower Level space near Hecht's was reconfigured as the United Artists Movies 6-7-8-9, which was dedicated on November 27, 1985.
Stewart's departed from GOLDEN RING MALL on January 22, 1983. The vacant store was filled by a Connecticut-based Caldor discount mart on June 16, 1983. A face lift "polishing" of the mall commenced on May 13, 1992 and was completed late in the year. This project added new common area flooring, a restyled Main Entrance and refurbished Center Court.
All cinematic venues were also closed for renovations. A new multiplex was installed on the Lower Level, next to Montgomery Ward. Named Movies 1-2-3-4-5-6, it showed its first features on December 23, 1994. The old Movies 4-5 became the Movies 7-8. Lastly what had been the Movies 6-7-8-9 was now the Movies 9-10-11-12.
GOLDEN RING MALL had been in a downward spiral since the mid-1980s. Caldor vacated their "underperforming" store in the spring of 1998. The space was never retenanted. The mall owner, now known as the Simon Property Group, put the past its prime property up for sale.
A major redevelopment was proposed in March 2000. The mall would be demolished, leaving only its Montgomery Ward standing. This store was to be worked into an open-air power center. Inline stores closed in October and November of 2000. Hecht's stayed in operation until January 2001. Initially, Montgomery Ward was fully-committed to participating in a new shopping complex. However, the GOLDEN RING store was shuttered, along with the entire chain, in March 2001.
The Simon Property Group sold the property to a joint venture of Annapolis-based Petrie Ventures and Chagrin Falls, Ohio-based Heritage Development in April 2001. A wrecking ball renovation was soon underway. Work on new CENTRE AT GOLDEN RING structures was already in progress in the former parking area of the mall. Phase I consisted of the construction of three big box stores, including a 1-level (131,500 square foot) Sam's Club and 1-level (138,000 square foot) Home Depot. A 1-level (157,500 square foot) WalMart opened for business July 17, 2002.
The Simon Property Group sold the property to a joint venture of Annapolis-based Petrie Ventures and Chagrin Falls, Ohio-based Heritage Development in April 2001. A wrecking ball renovation was soon underway. Work on new CENTRE AT GOLDEN RING structures was already in progress in the former parking area of the mall. Phase I consisted of the construction of three big box stores, including a 1-level (131,500 square foot) Sam's Club and 1-level (138,000 square foot) Home Depot. A 1-level (157,500 square foot) WalMart opened for business July 17, 2002.
Phase II of the redevelopment involved the vacant Montgomery Ward, which had been left standing when the rest of the mall was razed. The building was gutted, with its lower level sectioned into sixteen store spaces. Among these were a (16,000 square foot) Office Depot (15,000 square foot) Petco and (12,300 square foot) Factory Card Outlet. These stores opened for business in late 2003. The fully-realized CENTRE AT GOLDEN RING encompassed 480,000 leasable square feet and housed twenty-seven stores and services.
Sources:
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Afro-American
"Baltimore's Bygone Department Stores: Many Happy Returns" / Michael J. Lisicky
www.petrieross.com
www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
"The Centre At Golden Ring" article on Wikipedia
FAIR USE OF GOLDEN RING MALL IMAGES:
The photographs and advertisements from The Baltimore Public Library Legacy Web and Baltimore Sun illustrate key moments in the mall's history that are described in the article. The images are not replaceable with free-use or public-domain images. The use of the images does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the images in any way. The images are being used for non-profit, informational purposes only and their use is not believed to detract from the original images in any way.
