Progress on shopping center upgrades

Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007

Progress on shopping center upgrades

Owners, prospective buyers of Landover Hills center have been in talks for more than a decade

by Natalie McGill | Staff Writer

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Plans to give the Landover Hills Shopping Center a facelift, as well as add more retail, are picking up speed after more than a decade of negotiations between the original owners and prospective buyers.

Developer John Holmes of the Adams Investment Group, a Washington, D.C.,-based developer and retail and commercial property owner, said there are plans to add an additional 2,500 to 2,800 square feet to the 22,000-square-foot shopping center in the 7000 block of Annapolis Road. Holmes said Adams Investment Group will use private money to complete the $2 million project.

Holmes said the shopping center was a family-owned property and Adams Investment Group needed to buy the family out before any hopes for renovating the center could progress. He declined to release the family’s name.

‘‘It took us a good 11 years to work out the shares,” Holmes said.

Town of Landover Hills Mayor Lee Walker said the buildings are old and in need of repair.

‘‘For years we’ve been trying to get something done by the owners of that shopping center to refurbish it,” Walker said. ‘‘And it goes back a number of years. Finally, that’s coming to fruition.”

Holmes said the actual renovation would take six months, including redoing the façade, rebuilding perimeter walls, renovating the parking lot and installing new signage. Renovations could start as early as February and finish next summer.

No new tenants are lined up yet but Holmes said he hopes to attract a locally owned family restaurant to the shopping center as opposed to a chain restaurant such as the International House of Pancakes or Golden Corral. Holmes also wants to add a beauty salon.

The shopping center’s current tenants are SM Cleaners, 5-12 Food Mart, Red Octopus Tattooing, Landover Hills Barbershop, Kohler Equipment, J&B Auto Supplies, David’s Liquors and Chandler’s Medical Supply.

‘‘We haven’t marketed yet,” Holmes said. ‘‘We wanted to see the existing tenants we are going to be retaining.”

Chandler’s Medical Supply, formerly Chandler’s Drug Store on 7037 Annapolis Rd., is the center’s oldest tenant, established in 1948. Owner Ted Decker, who has worked at Chandler’s since 1973, expressed interest in remaining in the shopping center. He said renovations are long overdue.

‘‘I think it’s going to help for people coming in this store every day,” Decker said. ‘‘I think it’s going to help make the center look nice and make it look presentable for people who want to come in.”

Decker’s only concern is how to accommodate customers once the renovations begin. Decker said closing even for one week is detrimental to the infirm.

‘‘We can’t do that,” Decker said. ‘‘When people need something, they got to have it. If they’re having surgery the next day, you can’t be closed when they need it.”

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.