Carrolltown Mall Update

It's been a couple of months since my last update, so I know that you're anxious to know about all of the renovations and new tenants at the Carrolltown Mall owned by Dixon Harvey's company Black Oak Associates.

Closed:

Unfortunately, the renovations have not started. And there are no new tenants. And Black Oak Associates seems to have forgotten that they own the property. They have chosen to let the opportunity of owning prime shopping destinations in the upper middle class neighborhoods around Eldersburg disperse in the wind.

In fact, Black Oak Associates seems to be going out of their way to make the mall as horrible as they possibly can. Perhaps they are hoping that their next tax assessment will prove that the mall is useless. To those of us who have lived in Eldersburg for at least 10 years, we know that the mall has been useless for a long time.

What spurred this series of pictures is that I was in a hurry one day and needed something quick so I regrettably stopped into the ghetto K-Mart. I quickly got what I needed and raced to the cash registers. And wouldn't you know it? Only 1 lane open. The lady in front of me had many items. The cashier rang them up. The customer handed her a coupon and the cashier says, "Sorry. We don't accept coupons at this K-Mart." What????? She informs the customer that there isn't enough sales volume to accept coupons. So do you think not accepting coupons will help generate more volume? It's a downward spiral and we can do nothing. Here's an idea - close the K-Mart!!!

Take a look at the landscaping updates. There are some new dead trees. Some older dead trees were cut down and the stumps left in the ground. Because why should they go through the whole process of properly removing the tree when they can do it half-ass for one quarter of the money?



There was a fitness place in the back of the mall where Manco used to be. They had a nice canopied sign. It's gone now. Some low-budget operation has taken it's place and a skeleton of the canopy remains.


You know a mall is going downhill when they start advertising churches and other religious centers that operate in former shops. You know a mall is a dead mall when those churches and religious have front-facing store-front.


So when do you think Dixon Harvey and his Black Oak Associates will do something about this nearly abandoned ghetto mall? Unfortuntely, it looks like it won't be for a while. Instead, it will sadly continue to crumble and be a false image of what a nice community Eldersburg is. Shame on you Black Oak Associates.

If you're getting tired of the nonsense, please call and complain to them:

Black Oak Associates
10055 Red Run Blvd. Suite 130
Owings Mills, MD 21117

Phone - (410) 356-5820
Fax - (410) 356-5822

Eldersburg Wal-Mart Make-Over

I was driving to my son's baseball game this weekend and I noticed that the Wal-Mart got a paint job. I went from the eye-sore battleship gray, blue, and red to the more subtle tan and beige.

I went in there 2 weeks ago to buy some unicorn blood disguised as a printer cartridge and noticed that they were doing a make-over on the inside. It actually looked fairly nice. Not as nice as a Target, mind you, but nice for a Wal-Mart.

Maybe Dixon Harvey will take notice and start to do something about the super eye-sore called Carrolltowne Mall that his Black Oak Associates owns. But I doubt it. I'm convinced that he hates Eldersburg and hopes that the town turns into a ghetto so that it matches his mall.

Carrolltown Mall Update - December 2009

I know you've all been dying to see what's new and exciting at Carrolltown Mall since that big renovation started. However, I am sad to inform you that we've been duped.

Fortunately there is some good news. You may recall that the mall had leased space to a beat-up storage trailer. Well, they've upgraded to 2 new shiny pods. So if you need storage space, please contact Pack Rat at 1-800-Pack-Rat.


Speaking of rats, we all heard that the Flagshit (oops, Flagship) Cinema, the only movie theater in the South Carroll (Eldersburg \ Sykesville area) closed. I decided to capture a picture if it before it collapses from neglect.


Remember the dead trees in the parking lot next to Hemlock Drive across from the Eldersburg Library that I complained about recently? Well they finally cut them down. Unfortunately, in typcal Black Oak Associates-style, they only paid them enough money to cut them down, not haul away the wood. So in an effort to save money, I suspect Dixon Harvey requested that the tree company strew the dead branches all over the parking lot. Oh, and leave the stumps. That way the thousands of people that visit the mall each day will have a nature-like place to sit.



Remember the liquor store that was in the Carrolltown Mall? That space is now empty, like 90% of the mall. However, if you look across the street, you will see the new liquor store. And next door to the liquor store is a new pharmacy. Now Eldersburgers can conveniently get their liquor and drugs at one stop.

Carrolltown Center - Dixon Harvey & Smelly Rhetoric

Black Oak President Dixon Harvey must be practicing to be a politician because he's so full of smelly poop.

In an article posted Sunday in the Carroll Eagle and cross-posted on The Sun, Harvey commented about the closing of the Flagship Cinema by stating that they are in the early stages of planning a new theater.

Early stages? If anyone understands rhetoric, 'early stages' means that he thought of it on the spot when asked about a replacement. The thought being in his head. I seriously doubt there's anything on paper. If there is - Mr. Harvey, I challenge you to share that with the community.

I'm in the early stages of planning my vacation in 2025. I'm in the early stages of buying presents for my grandchildren. I'm in the early stages of planning my move to South Carolina.

The Flagship Cinema in Eldersburg was closed on November 30th amid health concerns with moisture. I guess I should hope that K-Mart and the rest of Carrolltown Center Mall needs to close because of health concerns. Every time I go in there it makes me sick. And the condition of the mall and the stores it offers the citizens of Eldersburg makes us all sick.

Eldersburg's Only Theater Closes

In an effort to keep Eldersburg as ghetto as possible, Carrolltown Mall owner Black Oak Associates has decided to close the theater.

The closing is officially due to concerns about health and safety in the building. In an article in the Carroll County Times, patrons complained about water leaking from the ceiling while rows within the theater were roped off or blocked with cones.

I was hoping that Black Oak would let the roof collapse and we could have an outdoor theater. How many open roof theaters are there in the area? I think none!

Additionally, just like the other crumbling buildings in the Carrolltown Center, Black Oak Associates President Dixon Harvey said he has no immediate plans to repair the derelict building and it will remain closed. I love it when my friends come to visit me and they comment about having a ghetto mall in such a nice area of Carroll County. Dixon - can I give them your number every time I get that comment?

No word on the rat problem at the theater either. Perhaps if no one talks about it then it doesn't exist.

UPDATE
Two of the dead trees that face the Eldersburg Library were taken down. Fortunately they didn't remove the stumps and most of the limbs and sticks are still strewn across the parking lot. I would hate to think that Black Oak would spend money and actually hire professionals to do the job. They came through for us and I think they hired the weasels from Who Framed Roger Rabbit to do the tree work.

National Night Out

If you don't already know - August 4th is National Night Out. In Eldersburg, festivities will be held in back parking lot of the derelict Carrolltown Mall. Get there early because half of the parking lot lights are burned out, so when it gets dark, you won't be able to see anything.

The event will be jam-packed with exciting activities like the self-defense demonstrations near the walls of graffiti of the abandoned stores, emergency preparedness lessons by the Lions Club near the abandoned storage trailer by the theater, and an exciting moon bounce on the cracked and crumbling asphalt near the dead trees that line the parking lot.

And to help with deal with massive parking problems that the mall deals with on a daily basis, CATS, the Carroll Area Transit System, will be providing free transportation to the event. Additionally, overflow parking will be available at Faith Lutheran Church.

Local politicians also plan on attending the event to drum up support for the upcoming campaigns.

This will also be a prime opportunity for Carrolltown Mall owner, Black Oak Associates, to showcase their property: Carrolltown Mall - the diamond in their crown. I recommend they have a representative on site, such as president Dixon Harvey, to discuss the advantages of Carrolltown Mall over other ghetto malls such as the ones in Randallstown and Woodlawn.

Harvey could explain why spending money to keep up the appearance of the mall is a fruitless effort and why it makes more sense to let the mall decay to the point where it just collapses. He could explain why his mall is geared to residents not of Eldersburg, but to those of western Baltimore County. Harvey can gleefully detail the benefits of dead trees abutting our community and the opportunities he's providing to suburban gangsters to showcase their graffiti skills and territorial markings.

The event is free, but because of the thousands of people expected to attend, I recommend that you camp out tonight so that you can be guaranteed entrance to the event.

Carrolltown Mall Update

Carrolltown Mall in Eldersburg, owned by Black Oak Associates, continues to sit in a vat of its own filth, slowly decaying into a suburban slum. Unconcerned Black Oak continues to let the mall rot and die like an unwanted 3-legged runt with a stomach virus.

This past weekend I drove around the mall and took some pictures to show you the continued decline. However, not everything looked bad. Here's the new landscaping theme of the Carrolltown Mall. The theme is either Death of Nature or Year-Long Halloween. Here are two former trees in the rear parking lot. This is on an island in the parking lot. It's easy to spot this island in the parking lot. It has all of the surface cracks in the asphalt full of grass leading up to it. And the mall groundskeeping team is allowing nature to run its course by leaving fallen branches strewn about the parking lot.


You have to give it to the expert groundskeeping team. They went above and beyond with this tree repair. You'll notice the duct tape used to hold the broken top of the tree to the main trunk. This repair easily costs in the hundreds of cents.


Not all of the parking spaces at the Carrolltown Mall are safe for parking. Fortunately for us, the security team at Carrolltown Mall used this 20 ft dropped tree limb to mark off some spots that are unsafe. If you haven't read the safety policy of Carrolltown Mall, section 8 reads, "Do not park in spots containing 20 ft dropped dead tree limbs. These spots are unsafe."


On the west side of the mall between the empty and decaying K-Mart and Hemlock Drive near the Eldersburg Library, you'll notice a row of dead evergreen trees. Ironic that they call them evergreens. They're all black and brown. Perhaps they are now black oaks. I suspect that Black Oak has decided to keep the dead trees there as it offers a natural barrier between the mall parking lot and the street. This will help keep the throngs of pedestrians and car traffic from making inadvertent ingresses and egresses.


Black Oak, not satisfied to just offer the upper middle class Eldersburg fine Class-A shopping establishments like Big Lots, K-Mart, and Dollar General, they now offer top tier 1 storage. This desirable rusted mobile storage unit is located next to the derelict movie theater. If you are interested in storing your personal treasures in this convenient parking lot storage unit, please contact Storage Trailers at 410-287-5277.


So the next time you're in Eldersburg, take a minute and thank Black Oak Associates for the wonderful unused crumbling pile of shit mall laying in the middle of our town. You can call them at (410) 356-5820 and ask for Dixon Harvey or send an email to steve@blackoakusa.com. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you!