Rather stealthily the much discussed Owings Mills "town center" and transit oriented development (TOD) is taking shape behind the two massive 3,000 vehicle garages which have been the most visible parts from I-795 forming the backdrop of the Metro Station for some time. They have been the objects of some derision both for their architecture and the irony of beginning transit oriented land use by accommodating the automobile.  Behind those monuments to the American lifestyle, though, there is much more to see now even though access by car or on foot remains awkward. (See also the picture tour below this article).

 

 

Last week the David Brown development company issued a press release pointing to their progress. I went to investigate if Owings Mills had finally become a model for town center development and TOD. Last time I had been here I had taken my bike on the train and had found out how truly terrible this greater environment is for a bicyclist (I had biked to the public television station some miles away, thoughstill in Owings Mills). This time, on a hot and sunny Sunday morning I eased the car to the curb of the new "main street" and stepped out into the sound of mall music playing all along the street, a unforgivable misstep for a developer who wants to create millions of square-feet of urbanity in just a few years and has to battle the impression of synthetic pretension sui generis.