Situated in a prime location in Baltimore County, with visibility from I-95 and adjacent to Ikea and White Marsh Mall, The Avenue at White Marsh is a regional entertainment destination featuring IMAX and Dolby AMC theaters, an iFly indoor skydiving arena, and a 6,900 sf outdoor ice rink along with a collection of restaurants and retail.

When Federal Realty came into ownership, they knew the key to successful retail is user staying-power. The longer your patrons stay, the more they will interact with your development. If you can strike the right balance of passive and active uses for people to engage at various levels, it can transform a shopping center into a destination. Landscape, in particular, plays an essential role in placemaking. No retail destination is truly complete without a central gathering location that provides a place for the human experience.

The first move was to cap the open end of the plaza with a new anchor retailer that wasn’t afraid to spill out past their building line and engage the plaza. Now instead of a square that leads to a parking lot, we’ve densified and reinforced the strongest retail on-site. Secondly, a human-centric amenity space greets visitors with intimate areas for semi-private lounging and open lawn for concerts, community events, and even ice-skating.

Not everything is about selling goods – if you can sell an experience you’re more likely to captivate your market audience and achieve a holistic program that keeps visitors coming back time and time again.