Annapolis Stories: The changing face of Parole

By JANICE GARY For The Capital

Published 10/06/08

"Let me tell you how much times have changed," Lou Hyatt said, speaking about the new Annapolis Towne Centre at Parole.

Photo courtesy of Maryland Archives 1961 groundbreaking for the new Parole Plaza.

SLIDESHOW

Parole Plaza: Then and now

"In the late '50s, I sold 18 acres to the Parole Plaza for $180,000." Fast forward 50 years or so to the upcoming Annapolis Towne Centre, rising over the site of the old 60s-era shopping.

In 2004, developers Greenberg Gibbons Commercial purchased the property for approximately $26 million dollars. "Of course," Hyatt pointed out, "that was for the entire 32 or so acres." But it still shows you how much things change."

The story of the development of the Parole area mirrors the changing face of Annapolis itself. In 1953, Hyatt had just begun his career as a real estate agent. He was fresh out of the Korean War and co-owned a downtown bar on Market Space with his brother, Dave, when Steve Shanker, an Annapolis lawyer and Realtor, talked him into getting his real estate license and joining him at his new brokerage.

"One day, Sy Freedman walked in and said he wanted to buy land for a shopping center. Now I didn't have much experience, but I knew the town," said Hyatt, who had grown up around the City Dock area. He drove Freedman out West Street past Taylor Avenue, heading toward Parole which was "really out in the boonies."

Even as late as the 1950s, most activity for the town stopped at Taylor Avenue (now Westgate Circle). Beyond that point, the road led to truck farms and newly built homes that eventually became a thriving African-American community. But Hyatt must have seen the growth potential of what was then known as the West Street extension.

"When Freedman came, I didn't have tax maps or computers to rely on. I got to know people by knocking on doors and driving around."

View slide show

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/slideshow/1223317176ParolePlazaThenandnow

One of the people he knew was Earl Campbell, who owned the Annapolis distributorship for the Baltimore-based National Beer Company, fondly known as "Natty Bo." Campbell also owned 18 acres of grass and farmland out in Parole. It was country, but country that was growing ever closer to Annapolis.

After World War II, as Americans began buying cars and starting young families, Parole became a close-by cruising destination for leisure activities. Tubby's Hamburger Drive-In at the corner of Old Solomons Island Road was a popular hangout for teens, and by 1955, the new Colonial Drive-In was attracting hundreds of cars on hot summer nights.

One of the oldest attractions in the area was the Parole Hunt Club, a half-mile race track on Riva Road featuring pacers and trotters. Gus Leanos, one of the original members of the club, has many fond memories of going out to watch the horses and attending the well-known Saturday card games.

Freedman, the developer of Parole Plaza, approached the Hunt Club members with an offer to buy the property. He needed more land than the 18-acre Campbell tract, and the Hunt Club property, which bordered the land he had already bought, was perfect for his needs.

The race track represented the last vestiges of a tradition of horse racing in Annapolis that went back to Colonial times, but it had seen better days. "I didn't want to sell," said Leanos, "but I was outvoted."

No one thought the land was worth much in those days. "You have to remember," Leanos recalled, "It was all country, then." Riva Road was a narrow two-lane road made up mostly of farmland owned by two families, the Bowens and the Bausams, whose large acreages covered the vast expanse of land on either side of the road.

Today, you can still see the remains of that legacy in one or two spots in the Parole area. Bowen's Farm Supply on the corner of Riva Road and the Aris T. Allen Boulevard is a wonderful throwback to the equine and farm history of the area. And if you pull into the huge county complex on Riva Road and drive around to the parking lot, you can glimpse the last remaining section of the Bausam farm property next door, where horses and goats can still be seen grazing in a small paddock.

The last piece of property Freedman bought to complete the plaza was from Nick Mandris, who divested enough of his property to provide the last of the 32 acres needed for the retail development. The remaining acreage of the Mandris property was bequeathed to be used as a Greek cemetery, which still stands next to the Holiday Inn Express on Riva Road.

Like the Annapolis Towne Centre, the Parole Plaza was eagerly anticipated but not without controversy. "People said it would hurt downtown," Hyatt recalled, "and it did." By the early 1960s downtown had lost its status as Annapolis' shopping district. "At least 20 stores were vacant on Main Street," Hyatt said. "Even then, parking was a problem."

There was also the question of infrastructure. A sewage system, water and roads were needed to support the plaza. Hyatt served on City Council around the time the plaza was built. He recalls the battle between the city and county over annexation and the sewage and water issues.

Fierce political maneuvering ensued, but in the end, a new sewage facility was built to serve not only the Parole area, but other undeveloped areas close to Annapolis, such as Bay Ridge and the entire Annapolis Neck. "After that," Hyatt said, "Annapolis started growing in all directions."

When the Parole Plaza opened in 1962, it heralded a new era of expansion for Annapolis. People flocked to the center, eager for the mix of national retailers such as Sears as well as local establishments. "Before, people had to go to Baltimore or Washington to shop at big department stores," Hyatt said.

A suburban building boom followed the plaza, helped by the infrastructure put into place. The farms of Riva Road quickly became homes, schools, and office complexes.

The progress initiated by the shopping center ended up being its undoing. The Westfield Annapolis mall followed close on the plaza's heels, transforming yet another large parcel of farmland, followed by other centers such as the Festival at Riva and Annapolis Harbour Center. By the 1990s, the Parole Plaza had fallen into disrepair and out of favor.

Next month, the first phase of the much-anticipated Annapolis Towne Centre will open to the public, offering a very different concept than the earlier Parole Plaza. Following a national trend, the $500 million dollar development has been designed as a mixed-use community, integrating shopping, dining, office space and residential units as well as green spaces and some walking trails. It has streets and public spaces, and has been planned to resemble a small city rather than a dedicated retail center.

Hyatt notes that things have come full circle in the 50 years he has been involved in Annapolis real estate. "We've gone from Main Street to large open shopping centers to covered malls and back to the downtown concept."

When you talk to people who remember what it used to be like in Annapolis when it was simply Annapolis - people such as Hyatt and Leanos - who eagerly speak about the Ice House on City Dock and watermen pulling into the harbor and summer evenings strolling Main Street, you realize how much Annapolis has changed and in fact, how much it always is changing.

Given this perspective, who knows what the next chapter will be for Parole and Annapolis?

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Janice Gary is an award-winning writer of creative nonfiction and teaches memoir at The Annapolis Senior Center. She can be reached at jangary22@hotmail.com

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