Our Changing Skyline: Annapolis Towne Centre at Parole
January 27th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
How do you feel about this?
Many of us who call Annapolis home drive by the new Annapolis Towne Centre daily. I do, several times a day, because our Keller Williams offices are within spitting distance just around the corner.
I know that some see the cranes and the skeletons of high rise condos and cringe. They imagine traffic gridlock, longer lines at checkout counters, increased pressure on local services. Some critics feel that the prettified spelling of Towne Centre is a lame attempt to put a quaint face on overdevelopment.
Personally, I think the critics are full of junque. I see a big ugly hole in the middle of town getting the sort of attractive makeover it has needed for years. I see a first class developer - Greenberg Gibbons - working the same sort of magic they have at The Village at Waugh Chapel in Gambrills and other areas. I see classy Sturbridge Homes condos with enviable views, a 75,000 sf Whole Foods - gotta love those pricey organic veggies - and a new Target about twice that size. Cool? Very. And I’m not even a shopper.
More traffic, more people? Of course. But prosperity loves company and Annapolis is going through a very attractive growth spurt. We’ll always be that fetching, historic small town by the Chesapeake Bay. But the things we love about the area - perhaps the very things that drew you here - continue to attract others.
That’s the thing about great areas like ours: nobody can be the last one in. You can’t shut the door behind you in hopes we won’t suffocate on our own success. Sure, growth has to be managed, but I think stacking several hundred luxury homes on top of one another - making good use of air space rather than precious ground space - makes perfect sense.
FOOTNOTE: Do you know where the name Parole - as in Towne Centre at Parole - comes from? I never did until I stumbled upon a historic marker along Route 2 as I was taking this photo. Tune in tomorrow for the answer.
