| Address | 15606 Emerald Way Bowie, Maryland 20716 |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 2002 |
| Developer | Simon Property Group |
| No. of anchor tenants | 6 |
| Website | Bowie Town Center |
Bowie Town Center is a shopping center in Bowie, Maryland.
Shopping center developer Simon Property Group of Indianapolis broke ground on the retail portion of the project — a 560,000-square-foot (52,000 m2) lifestyle center called Bowie Town Center in October 2000. The Town Center project was a by-product of improvements that were made years ago to Route 50. The refurbished highway connects Washington, D.C., to Annapolis, Md., and that opened up the corridor to development, said Roderick Vosper, Simon Property Group's vice president of regional development and lead developer of the Bowie project.
During a boom in the 1990s, Bowie saw more than 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of retail and office space added outside of its downtown. Three subdivisions built on the outskirts of Bowie have been annexed by the city, and municipal officials are close to adding a fourth subdivision, said Jim Cronk, planning director for the City of Bowie. The project started in 1996, when Simon Property Group acquired the 93-acre (380,000 m2) parcel of land as part of its merger with DeBartolo Realty Corp. The project was originally intended to be a regional mall. But Bowie’s city officials asked Simon to consider alternatives to putting an enclosed regional mall on the site. After researching other open-air shopping centers in the Washington, D.C. market, Simon decided to bring that type of concept to the Bowie site, and secured site-plan approvals for the project, Vosper said. Simon, expected to spend in the area of $90 million for the project, due to a syndicated construction loan arranged by Minneapolis-based US Bank. Cleveland-based Key Bank and Toronto-based Scotia Capital also participated in the financing.[1]
Bowie Town Center is anchored by Macy's, Sears, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Safeway, Famous Footwear, and Old Navy. Bowie Town Center has numerous specialty shops, restaurants, and an enclosed food court.
On September 30, 2009, the City of Bowie initiated the process of building a new city hall building.[2] The building is at the intersection of Excalibur Road and Evergreen Parkway, adjacent to Bowie Town Center. The building is expected to house most administrative offices of the City and the newly established City of Bowie Police Department.[3]