Concerned about the deteriorating condition of 18 city-owned properties that were awarded to Westside Partners in 2020 and the lack of progress on construction of a proposed revitalization project, the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) has given the group until the end of September to move ahead with its venture or the city will “consider alternative options.”
The 18 properties, all vacant, are part of an area on the west side of downtown Baltimore known as the Superblock. Former Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young awarded them in December of 2020 for construction of a mixed-use development called The Compass, but no construction has begun after three and a half years and the city still owns the buildings.
Last month one of the vacant properties in the portfolio, a four-story structure in the 200 block of West Fayette Street, partially collapsed after a heavy rainstorm, sending bricks onto the street and sidewalk below. No one was injured in the June 14 incident, but the city was forced to take down the remainder of the building that collapsed and the one next to it. Clean-up work at the site is still underway.
A BDC executive said in an email message this week that the agency, which oversees downtown development on behalf of the city, wants to see the developers complete their proposed acquisition of the buildings and move ahead with their project.
“BDC has established a target settlement date of September 30, 2024,” said BDC executive vice president Kim Clark, in an email message. “To meet this deadline, the development team must secure the necessary equity and financing to complete construction plans for the project and purchase the properties from the City. Given the concerning deterioration of the properties, it is imperative that progress is made promptly to either move forward with the project or consider alternative options.”
The properties awarded to Westside Partners fall within an area bounded roughly by Fayette, Howard and Lexington streets and Park Avenue. Westside Partners proposed a multi-phase development containing residences, offices and street-level retail space in a combination of new construction and adaptive reuse of existing buildings. The latest plans, unveiled last fall, call for 302 residences and 102 hotel rooms as well as commercial space and meeting venues.
The developers offered to pay the city $4,500,001 for the 18 properties, and their anticipated total investment exceeds $150 million. City leaders have touted the project as a key to rejuvenation of the west side of downtown, along with the renovation of CFG Bank Arena and the new home of Lexington Market.
Land Disposition Agreement
After Young chose Westside Partners to receive an exclusive negotiating priority, city officials on Dec. 2, 2020, entered into a Land Disposition Agreement (LDA) that gave the developers time to line up financing and the design and construction approvals they needed to complete their acquisition of the 18 properties. City officials cannot work on the Superblock properties with any other developers while the LDA is in effect with Westside Partners.
The LDA called for Westside Partners to complete the purchase of the city properties on or before a specific “target settlement date.” The date was 18 months after Dec. 2, 2020, or early June of 2022.
Since then, one member of the original team, Landmark Partners, left the project. The original lead architect, Gensler, was replaced by Hanbury. The developers were unable to meet the June 2022 settlement date and asked the city for more time. In response, the BDC has granted several extensions.
BDC officials set the Sept. 30 deadline before the Fayette Street building collapsed. In doing so, the agency pointed to the poor condition of the vacant buildings and warned the developers that the BDC is not inclined to extend the target settlement date any more if the team is unable to close on the city properties by Sept. 30. That would result in termination of the city’s land disposition agreement with Westside Partners.
Christopher Janian, a principal with Westside Partners, did not respond to a request for information about the status of his project.
The two buildings that came down on Fayette Street were part of the city’s Five & Dime Historic District, an area where any changes to building exteriors, up to and including demolition, are supposed to be approved in advance by the city’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation.
Clark, the BDC official, said the Fayette Street buildings were taken down by the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) but she didn’t say how much the work cost or who is paying for it.
“The properties remain part of the project,” Clark said in an email message, referring to the proposed Compass development. “They were demo’d as the building posed a public safety hazard and were demo’d by HCD. That’s all there is to say on the matter at this time.”
