Frederick Maryland Online

This news just shocks me, mostly because I live in southern Frederick County and I can’t imagine how this idea can even be considered for the Urbana area.  What do you think?  From the Gazette:
Tom Natelli, president of Natelli Communities, is proposing to build a 600,000-square-foot outlet center along Interstate 270, south of Fannie Mae, [...]

The Herald-Mail is reporting the potential start of a new shopping center at the junction of I-70 and Rt 40 in Washington County.
According to the article:
The site plan shows the office space would be to the east of the shopping center, which would include several retail shops, a cinema, restaurants and a hotel
Maybe the [...]

This little tidbit was buried in the comments on this post so I thought I would bring it to the forefront in case someone missed it.
The space being vacated by Value City discount store at FSK Mall will be filled by two new businesses.
William DeTora, the mall’s general manager, said [...]

In keeping with the walkable/bike-able theme, I found this bit of information about Bike to Work Day, set for Friday, May 16th on the City of Frederick website.
Commuters throughout the Washington/Baltimore region are encouraged to participate in Bike to Work Day 2008 on Friday, May 16, 2008. TransIT invites you to participate in [...]

An interesting question in the Frederick Forum:
Especially with the price of gas going completely nuts, how friendly is Frederick to the pedestrian or bicycler?
Any thoughts? Answer in the forum.
~Guy~

According to this article we may have another park in Frederick some day.
A Frederick County Circuit Court judge has ruled that the City of Frederick may move forward in court to seize 148 acres in Frederick’s West end for a $39 million regional park.
In January, property owners Hargett Farm Development, LLC asked Circuit Court Judge [...]

I noticed today that there are two new signs along Rte. 355 for a new shopping center, scheduled for fall of 2009 (they finally took down the signs that said fall, 2007).  One sign is across the street from May’s Restaurant and the other one is across the street from Office Depot.  Does anyone have [...]

They have rescheduled the meeting to the 23rd.
Based on the feedback received and the anticipated attendance, we have decided to reschedule the Residents Focus Group for Wednesday January 23rd, 6:30pm at City Hall in Room 212.
Again, our goal is to have a group of 10-12 City residents to participate in a focus group-format discussion on [...]

I received this email from the city today and wanted to share it with others:
If you could send the email below to the NACs in an effort to bring together a focus group on downtown retail and the topic of national/independent retail, that would be greatly appreciated. We would like a cross-section of residents from [...]

According to this article from Slate, a new Starbucks doesn’t necessarily spell doom and gloom for local coffee shops. In fact, they may help them out.
Strange as it sounds, the best way to boost sales at your independently owned coffeehouse may just be to have Starbucks move in next-door.
That’s certainly how it worked out for [...]