Pushing the limits of the Metropolis a little bit to ahead up to Bel Air in Harford County, where the master plan for new development downtown is slowly coming into the light, including the first of a few new 'mini-towers,' the first in the town.

Of course, there aren't any official renditions of the final plans yet, but I mocked some up from Windows Maps to show you what's going on, and what progress has been made. The key should be pretty easy to figure out.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q97/samcba2/In%20Town/Development/BA2.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q97/samcba2/In%20Town/Development/BA3.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q97/samcba2/In%20Town/Development/BA4.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q97/samcba2/In%20Town/Development/BA1.jpg

1 - A torn-down gas station. It's being used to hold materials while Main Street is being repaved and landscaped. The long running word is that a 4-5 story building is going to be placed there when Main Street is finished.

2 - Likely a future office building for the county. The small shopping center was bought out last week. The building next to it was built in 2005 as the new Board of Education center.

3 - Apparently, I forgot about this number.

4 - The Court House square - the fountain is going to be moved out into Main Street as a traffic deterrent, and a new park plaza will be built.

5 - Part of or all of the County parking lot will be redeveloped into a second public parking garage.

6 - Torn-down gas station. Word is that a five story tower will be built on the lot, and may be for condominiums rather than office.

7 - Former butcher shop. Emptied, will be torn down this spring for a 4-5 story office tower.

8 - Empty lot to be developed into a retail store.

9 - Former gas station and car lot. Torn down, and is being built up as a bank. Construction is halfway done.

Away from the frame, Bel Air High School is being rebuilt next door to the current building.

If anyone comes across any news through the Aegis or Sun, please update!
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Photos

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q97/samcba2/In%20Town/Paper/DSC08529.jpg

The current resurfacing and grading on Main Street. (October 2007)

That's great news! :yes: Thank you for posting this! :yes:
Love to see the finished projects. :)

great news for bel air!! :okay:

How's BRAC devlopment going on in Harford County? I am hearing that HarCo is woefully unprepared for the BRAC realignment. I've water and sewer capacity is going to be a huge problem.

It might not be downtown, but Harford Community College has a pretty bold plan for expansion.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/samcba/hcc2.jpg

Off topic, but if you combine Bel Air with bel Air North and Bel Air south it would have 75,000 people making it the second largest incorporated city in Maryland

If Bel Air North and South were incorporated, yeah.

Main Street is just about done, I'll update on that soon.

I think they should be incorporated, too. It makes BA feel smaller when the census says 10,000 but in reality its 7.5 times that

That's great news! :yes: Thank you for posting this! :yes:
Love to see the finished projects. :)excellent news for bel air!! keep up the great work up there!!:okay:

I love downtown Bel Air, it's really nice and has a great small town feel.

yeah, very down-to-earth people. it appears to be very safe also, well, atleast the areas i've been to.

I've got a couple of updates to make, but I'll wait until I have some official news.

For one thing, most of the rumors in the first post are dead. The town decided to halt all of these big projects, and now wants to come crawling back with some mixed-use buildings again. So who knows what's going on right now, it seems like finishing the re-dedication of Main Street is first priority.