Greenberg Gibbons purchases Waldorf Station property

Super Walmart plans out with Chaney sale

Plans for a Super Walmart are officially a thing of the past with Chaney Enterprises’ sale of its Waldorf Station property to Greenberg Gibbons.

In July, Chaney Enter- prises pulled out of its contract with Walmart to place a store in the Wal- dorf Station area at the in- tersection of Mattawom- an Drive and U.S. 301. On Friday, the company finalized the sale of the property to Greenberg Gibbons.

Brian Gibbons, the chief executive officer of Greenberg Gibbons, said the company does not yet have concrete plans for the land and its development. But there will be no Super Walmart in the area, he said.

The property’s develop- ment will feature mixed use elements and be con- ducive to transit-oriented development, as the coun- ty has zoned for, Gibbons said.

The company is still analyzing the property, he said, but once the analysis is complete they will move forward in its planning. The company hopes to put together concrete development plans “over the next three to six months,” he said.

“We want to meet with community groups and elected officials once we get a bit further in our analysis of what potential development plans can be,” Gibbons said.

Hall Chaney, president of Chaney Enterprises, said the company is happy to sell its property to Greenberg Gibbons and believes it is in good hands. He said the company is the “best developer” to handle the property.

County Commissioner Ken Robinson (D) said Greenberg Gibbons executives met individually with county commission- ers before purchasing the property to gain an understanding of what the zoning requirements were and what may fit in the community.

Greenberg Gibbons owns properties across the state including areas of Baltimore, Anne Arun- del and Prince George’s counties and Ocean City. Some of its featured properties are the Waugh Chapel Towne Center in Gambrills, the Laurel Towne Center and the Annapolis Towne Center.

All of those locations fea- ture mixed use elements with residential housing along with both retail and entertainment options.

Robinson said the com- pany’s acquisition of the property is a “very en- couraging” development. The company has a great reputation throughout the region, he said, and having them here is a pos- itive.

“If they can provide a development in Charles County like they have done elsewhere, this will be a winner for our resi- dents,” he said.

Jim Long, president of the Mattawoman Watershed Society, who stood in opposition to a Super Walmart coming to Wal- dorf Station, said he will take a “wait and see” approach to the land acqui- sition.

The property sits close to the county’s Mattawoman Resource Protec- tion zone, and pushing the property into Western Parkway’s path would have damaged that zone. A 100,000-square-foot superstore, or anything that size, could still damage the area.

“From what I know, this firm does actually make mixed-use types of projects and so it might be a better gateway than a Walmart would have been,” Long said.

One of the concerns that still remains is moving the highway away from Mattawoman Creek, Long said. But a mixed use development may shorten the highway. The county will still have to wait and see.

No one has reached out to the Mattawoman Watershed Society as of yet, Long said, but they would be willing to talk with Greenberg Gibbons to inform them about the area and help create feasible designs.