Jacobsville Town Center to feature Chick-Fil-A, Lidl, and 168 Age-Restricted Condos
After years of speculation from the Pasadena community regarding what might become of the former Brumwell’s property, Elkridge, Maryland-based developer Curwood Pasadena LLC confirmed plans that include a Chick-Fil-A, Lidl grocery store, and 168 age-restricted condominiums. “Those are the three that are definitely happening. It’s about time people start understanding what’s going on out there, because we’re about to start building,” said Jamie Fraser, who represents Curwood Pasadena.
Confirmed plans for the site include a Chick-Fil-A on the corner of Mountain and Magothy Beach Road, and a Lidl grocery store on Mountain Road, facing the former main entrance into Brumwell’s Flea Market lot. Fraser said construction is slated to begin on both within the next four to six months, with an anticipated grand opening within the next 12 to 18 months.
Additionally, there are plans for senior living. NVR, the parent company of Ryan Homes, will construct 168 age-restricted condominium units, divided into 24-unit buildings. The condominiums will be modeled after the NVR’s “Mosaic” design, which is currently being sold in Sykesville.
Bonnie Brumwell-Hoyas, who, along with her brothers, sold the family’s historic property to Curwood Pasadena LLC this past spring, voiced her enthusiasm for the plans. “I’m excited about it. I think it’s a good thing and something the community needs,” she said. “It’s close to Pasadena Senior Center, you’ve got The Y right next to it, Lake Shore Plaza is next door, there’s a church close by. Seniors won’t have to travel far to get what they need.”
Brumwell-Hoyas reflected on her family’s property, which was purchased by her grandfather 99 years ago. “My great uncle, George Schmidt, sold it to my grandfather. My grandparents had seven kids,” she said. “My dad, Royal Brumwell Sr., became interested in buying the properties. When my Aunt Grace passed away, the property where Roy Rogers used to be became her children’s, and then they sold it. My father then sold land his sister gave him when she passed, and he sold that to Koch, years later,” she said.
Over the years, the Brumwells property had housed many of the family’s businesses. “My grandfather was a carpenter, he built houses down on Gibson Island and Arcadia. Then he had a farm, he had sheep, a cow, a horse, chickens. He grew vegetables and had a vegetable stand which was my aunt’s house on the corner, it was called Willow’s Market,” she reflected. “And then my dad and his brother originally started the gas station called Brumwell Brothers. Then my uncle started his own gas station across from where the current Shell station now sits [on Mountain Road]. I had my interior design business there. And then my dad had the heating oil business. My two brothers are still in business – Glenn is in the HVAC business and Wayne is in the Septic & excavating business.”
And of course, there was also Brumwell’s Flea Market, which opened up in 1986. “There had been another flea market located across from McCauley-Polyniak Funeral Home, where The Daily Scoop is now, and it was owned by my dad’s friend. However, it turned out that my dad’s friend did not have the proper zoning to keep the flea market, so the county shut it down. But my father did have the zoning, so of course his friend tried to talk him into opening up a flea market on our property,” explained Brumwell-Hoyas. “At first my dad didn’t want anything to do with it. But, his friend eventually talked him into it as a way to make some money in the summer since his heating oil business was mostly a winter business. We started off with 10 vendors. Before the pandemic hit, we’d have 250-300 vendors each day.”
Last April, after 36 years, Brumwell’s Flea Market held its final flea market, and at the end of the day locked up the gates one last time. “It’s a tough business. It’s not the same as when my dad started it,” said Brumwell-Hoyas. “We’re [my brothers and I] getting older, and it was just time.”
Construction on the new Jacobsville Town Center began early last month, with the demolition of the buildings on the corner of Mountain and Magothy Beach Roads. “We rode by like everyone else and saw they tore the buildings down. I’m gonna be honest, it was hard. That piece of land had been in the family for over 100 years,” said Brumwell-Hoyas.
While the bulldozers and construction vehicles begin work, there is one iconic landmark on the property that will be preserved. “We worked very hard to save the huge tree in the middle of the site. We actually reworked the whole site to save that one tree,” Frasier explained.
Another piece of history that will be incorporated into Jacobsville Town Center comes with the name of the main road that will go through the new development. “We did something very cool in this case,” Fraser disclosed. “We weren’t sure what to name the road going through the site. At the time, the road’s name was Gray Squirrel Crossing. No idea why, but I thought to myself – there is no reason to name this road after a squirrel. So I went to an event at Hancock’s Resolution, and a historian suggested the name Annie Kess,” said Fraser.
Annie Kess, according to Isabel Shipley Cunningham’s Between Two Rivers: A Panoramic View of the Pasadena Peninsula, was a black midwife who lived near Lipin’s Corner and offered maternal and child health care monthly at her home, because black families in the community at the time had no place to go for medical care. Once the Magothy Health Center was founded in 1938, Kess became an integral part of the facility, serving the overall community for decades. In her 39 years of service to residents of the Pasadena peninsula, she delivered 1,500 healthy babies. She attended Mount Zion United Methodist Church up until her death in 1956, and proved to be a beloved member of the Pasadena community. Fraser confirmed the name of the road through Jacobsville Town Center will be Annie Kess Drive.
“This property was so good to us… and through it we met a lot of good people,” said Brumwell-Hoyas. “It’s kind of odd driving by now and not having to worry about popping in to pick up trash or cut the grass. But overall I’m excited, I think it’s going to be nicely done.”
