In 1952, Edward C. Baltz, Thornton W. Owen, David S. Moore, and Edward L. Strohecker, Sr., announced a plan to construct a shopping center and 1,000 homes on 250 acres at Georgia Avenue, Layhill Road, and Randolph Road. The Glenmont Land and Development Corporation began construction of the shopping center in 1956. The center was not constructed in one building campaign. It was expanded as the developers were able to bring in new businesses. In its original construction, each store had a large plate glass display windows held in by tubular aluminum, known as an "open design." One portion of the shopping area, known as the "Arcade," included a 24-lane bowling alley. The alley was named for Alphone "Tuffy" Leeman, who played for the New York Giants in the 1930s and 1940s. By 1957, the shopping center included the bowling alley, a dry cleaner, a hardware store, and a restaurant. A Grand Union supermarket opened in 1959. By 1962, the shopping center included a hairstylist, barber shop, shoe service, insurance agency, Glenmont Inn Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, a hardware store, a saving a loan association, a High's Dairy Store, a glass and mirror store, a bicycle store, a People's Drug Store, and a post office.