The “pink shopping center” in Owings Mills hasn’t been pink for a long time.

That might change soon. Tide Realty Capital is back with another redevelopment project, this time in the Baltimore suburb, just five miles down the road from construction at Reisterstown Plaza in Baltimore.

Valley Centre, which is known to longtime residents for the old color of its metal roof, hasn’t received a major refresh since 1980, according to Tide Realty’s president, Aaron Loeb. The roof turned from pink to red to now a charcoal gray, but Loeb said his team is considering adding an homage to the original color somewhere in the renovation.

It fits the bill for the type of property Loeb said he looks for: a project that is “under-loved” and “underperforming,” words he said apply to lots of retail stores in a world of Amazon and online shopping. According to the market research company EMarketer, 23% of retail purchases are expected to take place online by 2027.

Some headlines say brick-and-mortar retail shopping is dead, but, Loeb said, “we sort of took a contrarian approach.”

Loeb grew up in the Owings Mills area and remembers shopping at Valley Centre where he purchased his bar mitzvah suit in the late 1990s. Now his family is settled there, so he said focus on development in the Reisterstown Road corridor is personal.

Tide Realty also wanted to get Valley Centre to match the shine of its neighbors, Foundry Row and Mill Station, two brand new developments with over 1 million square feet in new retail, Loeb said. His company improved the mall’s exterior when work began earlier this year, providing the center a clean, modern look.

The center has strong anchor institutions: Aldi, T.J. Maxx, Ross and Dollar Tree. But Loeb said 80,000 square feet is still available for other national and local businesses.

“We want it to be a vibrant, active shopping center, attracting patrons of all ages,” Loeb said. He added that he expects the mall’s stores to remain open during construction.

The project will continue with improvements on the sidewalks and parking lot until new businesses begin coming in 2026, Loeb said. The property was purchased for $30 million, and Tide Realty plans to spend more than $6 million on the project.

Baltimore County Councilman Izzy Patoka, who represents District 2, said the office of economic and workforce development will continue to support the project by considering any public investments requested by the developer.

“One of the things with the retail business is that if you have vitality today you might not have vitality tomorrow,” said Patoka. “I think Tide [Realty] has the courage and fortitude to keep working at it to make sure their retail doesn’t become stale, it continues to be fresh and people want to shop there.”

Loeb said he’s working with his marketing team on some potential pink references. As she left T.J. Maxx at Centre Valley on Wednesday, Tonya Wilson said she’d like more eatery options to come in — and gave her vote to bring back the old color.

“A little nostalgia doesn’t hurt,” she said.