Demolition of historic buildings on Main Street Ellicott City nears completion

The project to demolish four historic buildings and reshape Ellicott City’s Main Street is nearly complete.

Buildings that once housed Bean Hollow, Discoveries, Great Panes and The Phoenix Emporium have been removed as a part of the county’s Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan , a mitigation project developed following the floods of 2011, 2016 and 2018 that killed three people and left behind massive destruction.

The plan, estimated to cost between $113 million and $140 million, includes the creation of several dry ponds, installation of a mile-long underground tunnel, and demolition of the four historic buildings to provide a safe space for the creation of a new culvert. The focal point of the plan is the extended north tunnel project that, once completed, will carry 26,000 gallons of stormwater per second away from the foundations and streets in Old Ellicott City and the West End and directly into the Patapsco River.

The original plan, announced in the summer of 2018, called for all 10 buildings along the lower southside of Main Street to be demolished; however, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball reduced the number of buildings removed to four. The remaining six will be renovated and returned to use, Ball said in January.

“While the loss of these four buildings is bittersweet, we are glad to preserve aspects of six that were previously slated for demolition and this work will help us ensure that Historic Ellicott City can and will prosper for another 250 years and beyond,” Ball said in a news release at the time.

The building that housed Great Panes decorative glass studio is one of the four demolished as a part of the plan. Established in 1980 by Len Berkowitz, the art glass studio moved from Main Street after the building was purchased in 2019 by the county.

Berkowitz and his wife, Sherry Fackler-Berkowitz, decided to sell the building to the county after it became too much of a burden to maintain after the flood of 2018, they said. They now work from a studio in Marriottsville.

“[Former County Executive] Allan Kittleman was down in town every night after he finished at the county offices, and in 2018 I asked him if he would be willing to buy the building,” Fackler-Berkowitz said. “The second [flood] was much more frightening and the thought was that we didn’t want to own a piece of property where people could actually get injured.”

After Ball took office, the couple was paid $985,000 by the county and used it to pay off the debt they accumulated after the first flood and to clean out and remove their materials and open their current studio.

Len Berkowitz said that despite the hardships, he continues to believe in the small businesses of Ellicott City.

“When I moved to Ellicott City in 1980, it was a great experience for me because I found a location where I felt comfortable and I thought I could be successful,” he said. “Ellicott City changed a lot over the years, but the one thing about Ellicott City is that no matter what devastation has occurred, Ellicott City survives no matter what, and it appears that it is doing that again. Our heart is there for what we got from Ellicott City, and I’m happy to see that the businesses there are still being successful and that Ellicott City is moving forward.”

The building deconstruction process is proceeding on schedule and the building exteriors are expected to be fully removed this week, according to Mark Miller, administrator in the Howard County Office of Public Information. Following removal of the buildings, the county will remove the flooring and steel beams that straddle the stream channel, which will open up the area to the water below. The building removal process is expected to be complete before the end of May, Miller said.