Owings Mills Mall was an upscale shopping center which opened in 1986 with over 150 stores/restaurants that declined in popularity after, among other things, a woman was murdered on the path to the nearby metro station in 1992. Eerie photos show the inside of a Maryland mall that was left abandoned in 2016 with dead palm trees, debris and smashed glass. The mall was demolished and reopened in 2019 as Mill Station.
As story on the mall in the Baltimore Sun stated The Owings Mills Mall was quite popular throughout the mid-late eighties and well into the 1990s. Exclusive and upscale stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Williams Sonoma, and Benetton were tenants. As a result of the renovations at other local Baltimore area suburban malls Towson Town Center and The Mall in Columbia, crime committed in and around the mall, and the shift in the socio-economic climate of the community surrounding the mall, Owings Mills Mall had steadily lost business since that time.
It was a busy place, for it was easily accessible from the nearby subway station. To make the mall even more accessible, there was a bus that offered its services from the metro to the mall. With time the shuttle bus service was closed, leaving potential shoppers with the option of using the less regular normal bus service, or walking the path from the Owings Mills Metro Subway Station.
With time the mall started to lose acceleration as its ‘foot’ was slipping off the pedal. Some of the malls located in close proximity to Owings Mills were already knee deep into renovation and people could hardly wait to the see them open and what they had to offer.
The increase in crime in the area coupled with a change in the economic stability of many residents in the local area meant less business for the Owings Mills Mall store owners. In late September 2015, the interior of the Owings Mills Mall was closed, leaving only Macy’s, JCPenney, out-parcel restaurants and movie theater in operation.
As reports in Baltimore Sun media indicate that in February 2017, Owings Mills Mall was completely demolished, and in December 2017 it was announced that the property would be redeveloped as a lifestyle center called Mill Station. The $108 million dollar project is 575,000 square feet and anchored by a Costco with up to 30 total tenants.
