Capital Gazette  |  Phil Davis

(November 1, 2016) — A regional bus tour Thursday will highlight various areas of growth and investment in northern Anne Arundel County.

Hosted by the Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, the first of its kind trip will visit a number of established businesses in the area, such as Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover.

It’ll also focus on residential developments as well as upcoming projects around the region, Chamber CEO Fran Schmidt said.

“The whole idea is people think of northern Anne Arundel County as a less desirable place to live or to have a business,” Schmidt said. “It isn’t less desirable.”

She referenced how many view the western part of the county as the economic focal point for Anne Arundel. The region plays host to the ever-growing corridor of BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport to Fort George G. Meade.

But she said there is a number of investment projects in northern Anne Arundel County.

The St. John Properties-owned “Glen Burnie Crossing” is a planned 30-acre, 57,000-square-foot retail development with a special focus on big box retailers and automotive dealerships and shops. The Hanover casino is also investing $200 million to construct a 310-room hotel and event center.

“The reason we’re doing it (is) … we have a lot of growth and development in this part of the county which people tend to forget,” Schmidt said, adding it’s “right off of a main artery (Route 97) that connects Baltimore city to Annapolis.”

She also pointed to how the region is currently in the throes of various revitalization efforts.

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development awarded over $700,000 worth of funds to various organizations and projects in the region, including $200,000 toward the construction of a Baybrook Youth Athletic Center.

The tour, running from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 3, is sold out, with tickets selling for $50 each.

Bus Tour Stops

♦ New hotel and convention center at Maryland Live! Casino

♦ Airport Square

♦ Nursery Landing Restaurant Park

♦ Aerotropolis North

♦ BWI Tech III

♦ Pleasants Development at Cedar Hill

♦ Enterprise Homes Project on Hammonds Lane

♦ Kaiser Permanente

♦ Flagger Force

♦ AAEDC Arundel Community Reinvestment Program (ACR) projects

http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/business/ph-ac-cn-north-county-tour-1102-20161101-story.html