After garnering public input throughout the summer, Long Reach (Columbia, Maryland) Village Board staff presented the preliminary draft of the village center’s revitalization plan November 10, 2015, announcing that Howard County will be selling its share of the property to a private developer to analyze the area’s potential.
Plans to breath life into the center began last year, following the County Council’s vote declaring the empty village center a blight zone.
The county later purchased 7.7 acres in October 2014 for $5 million, according to Department of Planning and Zoning Deputy Director Raj Kudchadkar, and spent another $2.5 million in February for the former Safeway grocery store.
The deputy director said the property will be sold to a private developer through a request for proposal, or RFP, process, allowing the possibility of a public/private partnership.