When you pull up for an early dinner at The Mall in Columbia this fall, should you take the open space by the restaurants or circle for a free one? Starting this August, that became a real choice.
On Monday, August 3, 120 spaces near the mall's restaurant row and Main Event became "preferred parking," and they now cost money. The mall has 6,675 spaces in total, and more than 6,000 are still free. That makes the paid section less than 2% of the lot. The mall didn't spread those spaces around the property. It put all of them where people go to eat and play in the evening, and that's the same corridor where several empty restaurant spaces are now lined up for new tenants.
So the change is mostly about where a dinner out starts. Here's how it works, what's open around it right now, and what's still on the way.
The rates and the rules
The Banner reported the preferred rates in July 2026:
| Time parked | Preferred space rate |
|---|---|
| One hour | $2.45 |
| Three hours | $6.45 |
| Four hours or more | $10.45 |
Look at the jump between tiers. A quick Shake Shack stop fits in the first hour for $2.45. A sit-down dinner with drinks, or dinner plus a movie, can easily go past three hours, and then you're paying $10.45. The longer your evening runs, the more the free spaces a short walk away are worth.
The mall's own visitor page adds a few details the first news coverage didn't include. Parking overall is still complimentary. The preferred spaces are managed by a company called 12 Oaks, and enforcement runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So a late movie doesn't get you out of the fee.
Some of the money goes to a local cause. The mall says 10% of its net proceeds from each preferred-parking payment goes to Grassroots Crisis Intervention, not counting taxes, platform fees and the operator's share. The mall describes this as "for a limited time only." The Banner describes Grassroots as a nonprofit that offers 24-hour crisis support and emergency shelter services.
Mall spokesperson Lindsay Kahn explained who the spaces are meant for:
"The preferred parking spots are for those who know where they want to go, run in and out, or they don't want to look around looking for a spot. We are just trying to ease a frequent customer pain point."
Kahn also said parking complaints show up across the company's nearly 100 malls. The policy is a company-wide approach. Columbia's version is placed at the dining and entertainment end of the property.
Why that stretch, and why now
The mall calls Restaurant Row its outdoor dining area on the west side of the property. The Banner describes it as a key dining corridor that connects Howard County's only remaining movie theater to the heart of the mall. Main Event, the arcade and entertainment complex the parking announcement names, is at the same end.
That corridor lost three restaurants in 2025 when Chicken + Whiskey, Bennie's Pizza and The Walrus Oyster & Ale House all closed. In July 2026, The Banner reported that two restaurants are set to move into the spaces they left: Fogo de Chão, the Brazilian steakhouse, and Nan Xiang Soup Dumplings.
Nan Xiang is a Chinese restaurant chain that started in Flushing, New York. In May, mall officials said it was expected "later this year or in early 2027." As of the end of September, the chain's own Columbia location page still says "Coming Soon!" with no date. No opening date has been published for Fogo de Chão either. Neither announcement says which of the three former storefronts each restaurant will take.
So the 120 preferred spaces sit next to a stretch the mall is actively re-leasing. Paid parking arrived before the new restaurants did.
What's serving on that side of the mall right now
The empty storefronts get attention, but there's still plenty open nearby. The mall directory lists these restaurants on The Plaza and near AMC Theatres:
- Maggiano's Little Italy, Level 2 of The Plaza, taking reservations and carryout orders at the mall address
- Seasons 52, Level 2 of The Plaza, with reservations through its Columbia location page
- Uncle Julio's, Level 2 of The Plaza
- The Cheesecake Factory, Level 1 next to the AMC
- P.F. Chang's and Shake Shack, both on Level 2 near AMC Theatres
These six cover a lot of different dinners, from a quick burger before a movie to a reservation-only night out. They also explain where the parking pressure comes from. A theater, a group of full-service restaurants and an arcade all on one side of the property draw the overlapping evening traffic that fills the closest spaces. The paid section gives people who want a guaranteed space a way to pay for one, and everyone else can still park free farther out.
The tenants inside are planned for longer visits
The new businesses coming inside the mall point the same way. Several are things you spend an afternoon or evening at, not stores you run into for one item. The Banner noted in May that some malls have turned to experiential and entertainment-based attractions as shopping moves online, and it listed Columbia's examples.
- Bouncetastic, an indoor bounce house and play area, opened last year along with Uniqlo.
- Kako Claw, a claw-machine arcade, was getting ready to open "later this summer," according to Baltimore Fishbowl in June. We couldn't confirm that it has opened.
- Pokiddo Indoor Playground is expected in 2027. It will be the company's first Maryland location, after parks in Duluth, Georgia, and Staten Island, New York.
Shopping is part of it too. Exotic Snack Guys, which sells viral snacks and drinks from more than 40 countries, lists the mall on its own locations page. The mall directory now lists Glamour Lounge, a salon and color bar, and Sisarykey, which sells clothing, ponchos and gifts made in Ecuador's Imbabura province. Garage, the national teen apparel retailer, was forecast for November in the May report and for "this fall" in later coverage.
Put a bounce house, a claw arcade, a future indoor playground and a planned Brazilian steakhouse together, and it's clear the mall expects longer visits. That's also where the parking rates add up fastest. Once you pass three hours, a preferred space costs $10.45.
When the evening doesn't start at the mall
Two nearby options this fall skip the lot question entirely.
Luna del Sea Steak & Seafood has opened at 8808 Centre Park Drive, the former home of The Periodic Table. Its website now takes reservations and lists daily hours. The Howard County Alcoholic Beverage Hearing Board granted its new liquor license on July 15, 2026. The licensee is Centre Park View, Inc., and the applicants were Kamran Sarlak and Kamran Assadi. The dinner menu has crab and seafood starters, seafood platters, lobster, hand-cut steaks and a seafood boil. If you were waiting for Fogo de Chão to bring a steak-focused dinner to town, Luna del Sea is already serving one.
Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods, at 10431 Little Patuxent Parkway, has a full October calendar.
- Sunday, October 11: Howard County Pride Festival, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., free
- Saturday, October 17: Hispanic Heritage Festival, noon to 4:30 p.m.
- Sunday, October 18: Columbia Orchestra Pops Concert at the Chrysalis, 4 to 6 p.m.
- Sunday, October 25: Downtown Columbia Maker Faire, noon to 4 p.m., with workshops and demonstrations in robotics, art and crafts
The Pops concert ends at 6 p.m., right at dinnertime. If you go, the parking table above will help you decide whether a guaranteed space near Restaurant Row is worth $2.45 or a short walk from a free one makes more sense. Earlier this year, we wrote about how the new Lakefront stage changed Columbia's summer nights. October's park calendar picks up where that left off.
For a longer look at the community around the mall, our Columbia neighborhood page covers the villages, and the Maple Lawn Saturday playbook shows how a nearby Howard County town center plans its weekend.
At Moving to Maryland with Shari, we keep track of everyday details like which spaces cost money and which restaurant is moving into which storefront, because they shape what living here is actually like. If friends or family are thinking about coming to Howard County and want that kind of local knowledge from the start, send them our Ultimate Moving to Maryland Guide. We'll gladly show them around Columbia once they arrive.
