Annapolis' Parole Plaza

This sign, proclaiming PAROLE (PLAZA), stood from the mall's 1962 completion to sometime after its 2005 demolition.

In 1962, the shiny new PAROLE PLAZA encompassed around 264,000 leasable square feet and contained over twenty stores and services. The original anchors were Sears and Britts, which was a semi-upscale department store division of the J.J. Newberry 5 & 10 chain.

The PAROLE PLAZA Sears was in business between May 1962 and March 2002. The 73,000 square foot store was the final operational tenant in the complex. 

Britts' PAROLE PLAZA location was dedicated in October 1962 and was one of seven inaugural Britts units. The store encompassed 2 levels and 79,700 square feet.

Photo from the McCrory Corporation Annual Report 1972 

The Annapolis Federal "sailboat bank" opened, as an outparcel of PAROLE PLAZA, in October 1962. Designed by Baltimore's Frank Gant, its 70-foot-high white concrete sails have made the building a local landmark. This Mid-Century Modern edifice was spared when the PAROLE PLAZA mall was knocked down in 2005.

Photo from http://gba-architects.com / Gant-Brunnett Architects

DC-based Woodward & Lothrop added a third anchor to PAROLE PLAZA. It opened for business in September 1964 and shut down for good in November 1995.

Drawing from Woodward & Lothrop, Incorporated

The new "Woodies" is indicated in light gray on this circa-1964 layout. The mall now covers around 354,000 leasable square feet and houses twenty-six stores and services.

By 1984, several PAROLE PLAZA stores have changed. Woodward & Lothrop was expanded southward in 1974. Food Fair was rebannered as a Pantry Pride in the late 1960s and would close, along with all Maryland Pantry Pride markets, in August 1981. The vacant space was taken by DC-based Magruder's. Britts morphed into a Kmart in 1979. 

PAROLE PLAZA TENANTS 1984:

KMART (with snack bar) / SEARS (with Coffee Shop, Garden Center and freestanding Auto Center) / WOODWARD & LOTHROP / MAGRUDER'S supermarket / Annapolis Clothing / Annapolis Federal Bank (outparcel) / Baltimore Gas & Electric (outparcel) / Blair's Outlet / Brilliant Optical / Christian Bookshop / Docktor Pet Center / Fabric Corner / First American Bank / Funcade / Hickory Farms of Ohio / Hobbycrafters / Hofhiemer's Shoes / Jules Hairstylists / NewsCenter / Nicholas Jewelers / Parole Barber / Ricky's / Rite Aid Drug / Show Town / Stride-Rite Shoes / The Lunch Box / Yankee Peddler / YMCA 

An early 2000s snapshot of the building which housed the mall's Food Fair, Pantry Pride and Magruder's supermarkets.
Photo from http://dcgrocery.multiply.com / DCGrocery"

After languishing as a vacant and deteriorating structure for several years, PAROLE PLAZA was demolished. An upscale lifestyle center was built, which opened for business between October 2008 and April 2009. The new ANNAPOLIS TOWNE CENTRE (AT PAROLE) encompassed 2.1 million square feet of retail, office and residential components.

Photo from www.loopnet.com

PAROLE PLAZA

Forest Drive and Riva Road

Anne Arundel, County, Maryland

Maryland's first capital city shopping mall was developed by Camden County, New Jersey's Cy Freedman and constructed on a 33-acre plot situated 2.5 miles west of the Maryland State House. Construction commenced on the single-level PAROLE PLAZA in 1961.

The mall site, in an unincorporated section of Anne Arundel County, was part of an area known as Parole. It had been named after Camp Parole, a Civil War-era outpost. Union soldiers had been interned there while awaiting a post-war exchange with Confederate soldiers.

The land parcel had also been used as the Parole Hunt Club, a half-mile horse racing track. This facility was in operation between 1940 and 1957. As a matter of fact, the first recorded horse race in Maryland had taken place at the Parole parcel, in May 1743.

Originally encompassing 264,000 leasable square feet, the open-air PAROLE PLAZA began to open for business in the spring of 1962. Its first operational store was a 1-level (73,000 square foot) Sears, which included a freestanding Sears Auto Center. These were dedicated on May 16, 1962. 

A 1-level (81,000 square foot) New York City-based Britts followed, on October 3, 1962. Britts, a division of J.J. Newberry 5 & 10s, was the second store opened in the newly-created retail chain. The PAROLE PLAZA location had fifty-four departments and included a William Tally House Restaurant.

Britts' grand opening was accompanied by the dedications of Sherwin Williams Paints and a freestanding Annapolis Federal Bank. By 1963, the full roster of twenty-six stores and services was in operation. These included Shoe Town, Read's Drug, Buster Brown Shoes, Rick's TV & Electronics, Kinney Shoes, the Lynn Gift Shop and a Food Fair supermarket.

The first expansion of the center added a 2-level (90,000 square foot), DC-based Woodward & Lothrop. This store was officially dedicated on September 30, 1964. The building was expanded -by 48,700 square feet- in 1974, then encompassing 138,700 square feet. The mall now housed approximately 402,786 leasable square feet.

By the late 1970s, inline stores at PAROLE PLAZA included Docktor Pet Center, Hickory Farms of Ohio, the Yankee Peddler and a Pantry Pride supermarket (which had assumed the Food Fair space in the late 1960s). Britts was shuttered in January 1979, with Kmart leasing its space.

For its first 18 years, PAROLE PLAZA had no true rivals. Then came ANNAPOLIS MALL {.3 mile northwest}. This complex, dedicated in 1980, was expanded in 1983, 1994, 1998 and 2007. It came under full ownership of Australia's Westfield in 1997 and was renamed WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN ANNAPOLIS in November 1998. This was shortened to WESTFIELD ANNAPOLIS in June 2005. Following its 2007 expansion, it was Maryland's largest shopping mall.

By the mid-1980s, competition from ANNAPOLIS MALL had drained the life out of the older and smaller PAROLE PLAZA. The center took on a dilapidated appearance, as more and more stores closed and maintenance was deferred. The first major defection was done by Kmart, who pulled their proverbial plug in May 1995. Pantry Pride had closed for good on August 15, 1981, with Magruder's leasing the space in the mid-1980s. This store went dark soon after Kmart's closing. Woodward & Lothrop shut down on November 10, 1995.

Sears relocated into a vacant Montgomery Ward, at WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN ANNAPOLIS, on March 21, 2002. By now, the writing was on the wall for PAROLE PLAZA. Although a redevelopment plan had been on the drawing board since 1991, no progress had been made. The open-air mall continued to deteriorate while county officials were embroiled in disagreements over a redevelopment plan.

A proposal for a Wal-Mart, at a new PAROLE CENTRE complex, was bitterly opposed for being too pedestrian-unfriendly. Developers came and went. The tide finally turned in May 2004. Owings Mills, Maryland's Greenberg Commercial Group bought the "abandoned dirty husk" in a joint venture with Annapolis-based Petrie Ross Ventures. They announced plans for a 400 million dollar lifestyle-type, mixed-use complex.

ANNAPOLIS TOWNE CENTRE (AT PAROLE) would be situated on 3 retail levels and house 674,000 square feet of stores and services, 91,700 square feet of office space, a 150-unit "luxury condominium" complex and four parking garages.

Demolition of PAROLE PLAZA got underway in July 2005. The groundbreaking for the new lifestyle center took place in December of the same year. The first group of tenants opened on October 12, 2008. These included a 1-level (140,000 square foot) Target and inline stores such as Coldwater Creek, Lucy Activewear, P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Great Gatherings. An official grand opening was held on May 6, 2009. The festivities at the "Fun Around Towne" celebration included a free outdoor concert, shopping and restaurant specials and prize giveaways. 

 

Sources:

The Washington Post

The Baltimore Sun

The Capital (Annapolis, Maryland)
http://www.bizjournals.com

http://gba-architects.com / Gant-Brunnett Architects

http://www.ggcommercial.com / Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Group

http://www.hometownannapolis.com

http://www.departmentstoremuseum.blogspot.com

Baltimore's Reisterstown Road Plaza

Greater Baltimore's sixth regional-class shopping complex was built in the city's northwest environs. The first twenty-nine stores at RRP were in business by March 1962.
Drawing from Food Fair Properties

Baltimore's Stewart's chain reigned over the regional retail scene between 1901 and 1983. The REISTERSTOWN location encompassed 229,000 square feet and was the second Stewart's branch. The store, with its Chesapeake Room restaurant, anchored the west end of the shopping hub.
Photo from Library of Congress

The opposite end of REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA was anchored by a 185,000 square foot Hecht Company ( Hecht's), a retail chain in operation between 1857 and 2006. The REISTERSTOWN store, which included the Silhouette Room restaurant, was accessed from a lower level parking area, with its upper floor connecting with the main shopping concourse.
Photo from The Hecht Company

The original PLAZA was an open-air dumbbell plan mall with two anchors and nearly 700,000 leasable square feet. It eventually contained fifty stores, had parking provisions for 4,000 autos, and was the largest retail hub in the region. As a matter of note, the mall was (and is) situated within Baltimore City, which is a different political entity than the adjacent Baltimore County.

REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA TENANTS 1962:

STEWART'S (with Chesapeake Room restaurant and D'Arrigone Salon of Beauty) / HECHT's (with Silhouette Room restaurant and Beauty Salon) / FOOD FAIR supermarket / F.W. WOOLWORTH 5 & 10 (with bakery and ultra-modern luncheonette) / Ansonia Shoes / Baltimore Federal Savings & Loan / Benton's Tweed Shop ladies' wear / Best & Company ladies' & children's apparel / Bishops Holiday House toys & sporting goods / Calby's boy's & young men's apparel / Card Mart / Carefree Casuals ladies' sportswear / Carole-Ann Hat Shop / Equitable Trust Company / Fanny Farmer Candies / Forsythe Shoes / Grayson-Robinson ladies' wear / Gundy's Cards & Gifts / Hamburgers family apparel / Hanover Shoes / Hardware Fair / Hess Shoes / Hot Shoppes Restaurant / Household Finance Corporation / Lady Rose Corset Shop / Loft's Candies / Kavanaugh's men's & boy's wear / National Optical Company / National Shirt Shops / Peck & Peck ladies' wear / Plaza Barber Shop / Provident Savings Bank / Read's Drug (with Town & Country Dining Room) / Royce Shoes / Sachs Junior Shoes / Selis Shoe Repair & Cleanarama / Silbers Bakery / Singer Sewing Center / Tuerke's leather goods & luggage  

We now embark on a set of twenty-six vintage photos; these taken at the brand new Stewart's Reisterstown in early 1962. Above we see the interior of the elegant store's Reisterstown Road entry.
Photo from Library of Congress 

In this photo we see the Stewart's store's Ground Level sales floor. The interior of  the "Plaza" store was envisaged by renowned industrial designer Raymond Loewy.
Photo from Library of Congress

Another view of the Ground Level sales floor.
Photo from Library of Congress

The Ground Level escalators, which ascend to the store's second level.
Photo from Library of Congress

We now enter the realm of ladies' apparel.
Photo from Library of Congress

While touring the Better Dresses area at Stewart's, we stop at the entrance to the Country Clothes Shop.
Photo from Library of Congress

More Better Dresses.
Photo from Library of Congress

And the entry into the posh Camellia Room.
Photo from Library of Congress

Here we see the Varsity Shop.
Photo from Library of Congress

Then onto Corsets-Foundations.
Photo from Library of Congress

Finally, we enter the Ladies' Shoes department.
Photo from Library of Congress

Piece Goods...a.k.a. Fabrics & Notions. This section of the store is on a balcony which provides a view out of the store's main entrance windows.
Photo from Library of Congress

Above, we see the store's Silverware department.
Photo from Library of Congress

Here we see the Stewart's Reisterstown Housewares department.
Photo from Library of Congress

And the Garden department.
Photo from Library of Congress

Above, we have a view of the Stationery department.
Photo from Library of Congress