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New Businesses Revitalize Old Jubilee Store
Ingrid Mezo
 The old Jubilee building in Thurmont, which has stood vacant for more than four years, will soon be open for business again. But, this time, the building where
locals once shopped for groceries will no longer be a place to buy food.
Instead, Donald Owens, president of Catoctin Development, Inc. and co-owner of the building along with his sons since October, is putting three of his own
businesses there. Those businesses, which will take up 6,000 square feet of the 18,000 square feet of available space, include Catoctin Development, Inc., Advanced Development, and a
410 Sprint car racing team. Owens plans to start moving in January 17 and expects to be operational on January 23.
Several other businesses are now negotiating with Frederick Land Co., the company handling the leasing of the remainder of the property, to rent out the other
12,000 square feet, Tom Rozynek, Frederick Land Co. co-owner said.
"We have a number of people who have expressed interest, but there are no confirmed deals on it yet," Rozynek said.
Catoctin Development, Inc. is a development firm that is involved in the initial stages of development, but is not an actual home builder, has worked on
developments in Ijamsville, Jefferson County, WV, and Carroll County, MD, Owens said. Advanced Development does underground utilities, mostly electric, cable, water, and sewer. And,
the cars for the 410-sprint-car racing team "will never be started there," he said. The cars, which race on tracks in New Oxford, and just outside of Harrisburg, Pa., are
high-powered and built to race on dirt-tracks, he said. That part of the building will be used as a workshop for them.
Owens, who has lived in the Thurmont area his whole life, except for his college years in Tennessee, and grew up on Friends Creek Road in Sabillasville, said he had
started looking at the property five years ago.
"I’ve been in business for 12 years,
and both my sons go to Catoctin
High School, and I actually live in that area, so it made sense," Owens said.
Owens added that he had looked elsewhere throughout the town including the old bowling alley to re-locate his business from Frederick city. He added that there are
not a lot of options for business owners who want to move their businesses here. "There’s not too many vacant retail spaces in Thurmont for businesses to relocate to," he said.
The property has a town commercial zoning, Rozynek said, and he said the types of businesses they are looking for are offices like medical facilities, financial
institutions, or insurance companies.
"One of the uses that is under discussion is incubator space," Rozynek said.
A business incubator is an organization that supports entrepreneurs and helps increase survival rates for new businesses by giving them the space and support
network for the first couple of years they are open, according to Wikipedia online. The Frederick County Office of Economic Development is encouraging such incubators in
municipalities throughout the county as a means of growing local economies, will host a forum at The Cozy on January 19, 12:00 - 2:30 p.m., according to their web site.
But, Owens said he would prefer to see the space used for offices or medical facilities.
"I’d like to have the building permits in the process and the space leased by spring," Rozynek said.
After that, it would take a couple of more months before businesses could become operational out of there, while the space is remodeled to suit their purposes, he
said.
In addition, Rozynek said the look of the old Jubilee will also be updated.
"It will probably be canopied in front of it," he said.
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