SJC Ventures is preparing to launch the next phase of redevelopment at Harford Mall in Bel Air, Maryland, with demolition work set to begin next week at the site of the former Macy’s department store. The company will first oversee the removal of the vacant anchor building as it clears the way for a new mixed-use project called Derby Place.
Derby Place is planned as a 95,000-square-foot mixed-use center that will be anchored by a Whole Foods Market. In addition to the grocery anchor, the development will include 60,000 square feet of luxury boutiques, restaurants, shops and amenities. The project is designed to replace a single large-format department store with a mix of retail and service offerings intended to refresh the Harford Mall property.
Before demolition, Buch Construction will disconnect the former Macy’s structure from the balance of the enclosed mall building. Once the former anchor is separated, the contractor will proceed with taking down the entire Macy’s building. The remainder of the Harford Mall property is not part of this phase; it remains under the ownership of CBL Properties, which plans to move forward with its own redevelopment on a separate timetable.
The Derby Place work follows an earlier phase of repositioning at the property. In the first phase, SJC Ventures acquired and redeveloped the former Sears building at Harford Mall, transforming it into the Shops of Harford Mall, which was completed in 2024. That earlier project converted another former department store space into a retail configuration that is distinct from the enclosed mall, establishing a blueprint for incremental redevelopment of the broader site.
Alongside the new retail and amenities, Derby Place will introduce a residential component. Plans call for 249 multifamily units to be developed as part of the project. Construction of the residential portion is expected to begin in the fall of 2026 and will be carried out by another, currently unnamed developer. This future phase will add housing directly adjacent to the reconfigured retail environment, further shifting the former single-use mall site toward a mixed-use format.
CBL Properties will continue to control and separately redevelop the remaining sections of Harford Mall, while SJC Ventures advances its piece of the overall repositioning with Derby Place and the previously delivered Shops of Harford Mall. The combined activity marks a transition away from traditional department store-anchored mall layouts toward smaller-format retail, grocery and multifamily uses at the property.
