The planned closing of the Macy’s store at Security Square Mall in Woodlawn may disappoint some westside shoppers, but it adds another piece of the puzzle for Baltimore County officials who hope to redevelop the slow dying mall.

A day after the department store chain announced last week it would close it and 64 other underperforming stores nationwide, the county announced Friday that it was paying $6.5 million to acquire the store property after it closes at the end of March.

The acquisition is “another important milestone” in the county’s effort to revitalize the mall, but it still needs to acquire more properties to realize its vision, a county official said Tuesday.

The purchase means the county has become the mall’s largest property owner, though officials still have to negotiate with several other property owners there who share the county’s vision, said Sameer Sidh, the senior deputy administrator for Baltimore County.

The county’s acquisition of the Macy’s space is particularly important because it is located in the center of the mall, which sits northwest of the juncture of Interstates 70 and 695.

“If that fell into the hands of another property owner that didn’t share our vision for redevelopment, that would make redevelopment much harder to accomplish,” Sidh said.

With the purchase, Baltimore County now owns 39 of the mall property’s 88 acres, having purchased a former Sears department store and several parking lots for nearly $20 million over the past three years.

The county identified two options for the mall in a Reimagine Security Square report issued in fall 20223: one that would do away with the half-century-old mall and another that would repurpose it. Either way, the county expects the site to serve as both a community square and as transit hub for the planned Red Line light rail system.

Built in 1972, the mall is located in a predominantly Black neighborhood with significant Hispanic and Asian populations, according to a 2023 report prepared by the county and several consulting firms. Many of its tenants are small businesses operated by Black women.

Like many second-tier malls nationwide, Security Square has struggled with declining foot traffic and unsightly, aging infrastructure.

County leaders and local residents have differed over the pace and nature of redevelopment. Some residents have voiced concern about the possibility of losing one of the only shopping centers with Black vendors in western Baltimore County.

Four years ago, the Randallstown NAACP offered its vision of a transformed mall site that would better serve the community. It called for a mixed-used center that would combine thousands of residences with offices, businesses and other amenities that “we don’t have on this side of town,” such as an ice-skating rink and sit-down restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory, said Ryan Coleman, the group’s president. The group also called for other features such as an arts amphitheater that would seat 300 people and wide walkways and greenery.

Woodlawn residents largely support some variation of this concept, the county and consultants said in their report. They want to see more green space, places for recreation and entertainment, and residential and commercial development.

The community is “not necessarily opposed to the concept of redevelopment, but [there’s] more kind of difference in opinions of the scope of redevelopment. A lot of that had to do with whether or not the mall should be demolished,” Sidh said.

Nearby residents, meanwhile, want to see the county pick up the pace. The county has owned large swaths of the mall for years, but it hasn’t been transformed, Coleman said.

“People think the project is being slow-walked because it’s in a Black community,” he said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily the case, but I do think that’s starting to come up where a lot of time has passed, and we’ve seen nothing.”

“We need to start figuring out what the mall is going to look like,” Coleman said.

Sidh said the county doesn’t yet have a clear vision of what a redeveloped mall property will look like, including whether to raze the current structure.

County officials also have to overcome logistical hurdles, including talking more with the other property owners, assessing the market demand and determining the best use.

“Real estate deals and developments take a bit of time,” but the county’s purchase is a step forward, said state Sen. Charles Sydnor III, who represents the Woodlawn area. “Sometimes acquisition and development take time, but things are moving forward. The good thing is the community has interest in having this ball move forward.”

If well-done, Sidh said, the redevelopment could spark economic growth at a time when the county’s population has been on the decline. It also could generate local tax revenue to offset the state’s $3 billion budget shortfall this year.

“Our ability to grow is important to the fiscal health of the county,” Sidh said. “Growth, specifically in the county, should mean redevelopment of sites like these that are underutilized.”