BALTIMORE — State transit leaders are hoping to turn Baltimore's Reisterstown Plaza Metro station into a hub of new development in the northwest part of the city.
They're now working on a master plan to develop the area around the metro, especially Wabash Avenue and Patterson Avenue, and are looking for the community's feedback. That plan should be done by early March.
A community open house will be held Thursday, Jan. 18.
Transit-oriented development is a "huge priority" for Gov. Wes Moore's administration, said David Zaidain, Chief of Transit Oriented Development for Maryland Department of Transportation.
The plan isn't necessarily focused on the nearby Reisterstown Plaza shopping center, just across the tracks on Reisterstown Road.
Zaidain said they're looking more at reworking Wabash Avenue to support bicycles and pedestrians, and be better connected to the Metro station. The development should also be sensitive to the surrounding community, which is mostly low-density houses.
He said:
We're really looking at making Wabash more of an urban boulevard and not kind of the six-lane highway it is today.
A prominent local example of transit-oriented development is the Owings Mills Metro station, which has seen development brought closer to the actual transit station since the demolishing of Owings Mills Mall.
Zaidain said the Reisterstown Plaza project should be "better" than that, noting that the Owings Mills development "hasn't really driven transit ridership."
He noted:
We want the transit to be front and center.
There have beenprevious plans and studies done about transit-oriented development at that station. The city is also studying improvements on Wabash Avenue.
Last year, the state brought in developer Wabash Development Partners as the company to redevelop the area.
