A year after its owners started fixing it up, St. Mary’s Square in Lexington Park is drawing more shoppers, according to the business owners who work there.
Commissioner Scott Ostrow told his fellow Commissioners of St. Mary’s County on Oct. 6 that he had walked the shopping center the week before and talked with every business owner who was open. “The answer overwhelmingly was they were absolutely thrilled with the way that looks in there,” Ostrow said. “Their businesses have picked up. There’s a lot more foot traffic in there. There’s a lot more cars now coming in there.”
Ostrow said he reached all but three businesses, which were closed during his visit, and plans to go back to talk with them. Work at the center is not finished, he said, but “it absolutely looks fantastic.” He called the changes “a long time coming and an absolute wonderful improvement for our community.”
A private makeover
Ostrow did not detail what work was done or who paid for it, though he called them improvements “we finally been able to bring about.” When the project began in fall 2025, a county official described it as a privately funded renovation by the center’s owners, with cleanup, new storefront facades and a resurfaced, restriped parking lot, according to a summary of that announcement.
Ostrow, who represents the Fourth District, which includes Lexington Park, did not give sales figures or name specific businesses. The Chronicle has not independently confirmed the increase in business.
‘Why can’t we have a bowling alley?’
Ostrow also said he keeps hearing one request from residents. “People desperately still want a bowling alley in the community,” he said. He said about four people had emailed, texted or messaged him on Facebook recently asking why the county doesn’t have one.
His answer, he said, is that it would have to be a private venture. The county once had a bowling alley, Esperanza Lanes, which he said closed because not enough people used it. “It’s a very expensive venture,” he said, “but it’s not something that county government can just open.”
He said he would work with anyone willing to open one and wants to cut red tape for new businesses across the county. “I want St. Mary’s County, Lexington Park, California, the whole county to prosper,” he said.
