It was mall versus mall, a retail battle for Allegany County.
In May 1978, Shopco Co. of New York released a concept plan for a new $11 million (about $55 million in today’s dollars) shopping mall in Allegany County. Shopco, which owned Valley Mall in Hagerstown and Frederick Town Mall in Frederick, proposed an 80-store shopping mall that would have four anchor stores built on 192 acres that had previously been used for strip mining and a golf course.
A feasibility analysis later compiled for Shopco by Realty Development Research said that as of 1972 (the most recent year for the data needed), the area was losing $14.2 million annually to shopping in Pittsburgh, Washington and Altoona, Pennsylvania, and it was only growing larger since that time.
In the Valley Mall, 40% of its credit card sale ZIP codes were in the Cumberland area, and 12% were in Allegany County.
“We’ll go out of our way to encourage local merchants to make this a community shopping center. We’ll take two steps to their one,” Allen Cooperman, Shopco leasing representative, said.
The developer started the zoning process, which involved a long series of hearings to get the project moving. They included two hearings before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, three in the Allegany County Circuit Court and five before the LaVale Zoning Board.
The opponents to the project felt it wasn’t a fit for the parcel. They pointed to the fact that a 1967 case before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals had rejected rezoning the parcel.
However, a 1975 appellate court case approved the comprehensive plan for rezoning LaVale as part of another case.
“That allowed for the rezoning of the tract on Winchester Road from rural residential to commercial A and paved the way for the proposed Country Club Mall,” the Cumberland Evening Times reported.
In August, a building permit was issued and tenants were sought with a goal to open the mall in spring 1980. Within a short time, excavation and grading were underway.
By December, it was announced that half of the needed tenants for the mall were committed, and they would be using about 75% of the available floor space. One of those early tenants was Kmart. At the time, Kmart had 15 stores in Maryland.
The LaVale store would be 68,337-square-feet and employ 80 people.
The new mall was already worrying area retailers, and it wasn’t even open yet. The Cumberland Evening Times said that the Altoona JCPenney was planning to open Sundays to be more attractive to customers and keep them from shopping at the new mall, which would have its own JCPenney store.
Closer to home, Cumberland Mayor Frank Nethken became an opponent of the mall because of the effect he foresaw it having on downtown Cumberland businesses.
“I’m sure they (the county commissioners) are cognizant of the fact that if the city of goes down the drain, Allegany County goes with it,” he said during one City Council meeting.
In March 1979, the city of Cumberland, represented by Nethken, Finance Commissioner Wallace Ullery and Councilman Ernest Kessell, filed a lawsuit to try to stop the construction of the mall. It was filed against the Farmers’ Home Administration, which was funding the construction of the water system for the mall and surrounding area of LaVale.
Kessell said in June, “He does not believe the city should be required to supply water to a large, sprawling shopping mall in LaVale which will only severely damage the city’s own shopping mall. Because of the potential economic damage to the city, he said he supports Nethken in the mall suit,” the Cumberland Evening Times reported.
The Allegany County commissioners and LaVale Sanitary Commission both asked the city to drop the lawsuit because it was putting the entire water system project in jeopardy.
The city finally dropped the lawsuit in July. Nethken said he had been told by his attorneys that “It was useless — there is no way the city of Cumberland could win since the water lines have already been installed,” the Cumberland Evening Times reported.
Commissioner Ullery said at the time, “It had never been our intention to create a financial burden on the county or LaVale.”
The lawsuit slowed the project down, though.
In January 1980, the grading was nearly completed, and the project had already been providing work for 500-600 local construction workers.
Tenants were signing leases, including three of the anchor stores — Kmart, Eyerly’s and JCPenney. Other tenants included Kinney Shoes, Gordon’s, Card-O-Rama, Walden Books, Tuerkes, Kay Bee Toys, House of Fabrics, Kay Jewelers, Rite Aid and Country Club 6 Cinemas.
McCrory’s, Fashion Bug, Radio Shack, Record Town, Spencer Gifts, Castleburg’s, Standard Sportswear, Petrie Fashions, Upstage, General Nutrition, Dream Machine Amusements, Lerner’s Fashions, Brown Shoes, Zale’s, Orange Julius, Pearle Vision, Brooks Fashions, 16 Plus, Charles, Richman Bros. and Endicott had committed to opening stores.
The original spring 1980 opening came and went as the developer worked to make up lost time from the lawsuit delay. In the fall, soft openings were announced for Eyerly’s and Kmart in early 1981.
The mall itself finally opened March 5. Events throughout the day centered around a Wild West theme. Various bands played throughout the day and special guests wandered the mall, greeting visitors. Throughout the day, $20,000 in prizes were given away, including a car, a vacation and diamonds.
The mall became the nucleus of retail activity in LaVale, and some would argue the county for years.