Demolition activity is underway on the west side of downtown Baltimore, signaling potential progress in the redevelopment of a city-owned parcel once called the Superblock.
A demolition crew has torn down two four-story buildings in the 200 block of West Fayette Street, part of a row of vacant commercial structures owned by the city and targeted for demolition to make way for one phase of a development called The Compass. The work began late last month, leaving the site filled with rubble.
The Baltimore Development Corporation in late 2020 selected a group called Westside Partners LLC to develop The Compass in an area bounded roughly by Fayette, Howard and Lexington streets and Park Avenue – 18 city properties in all. The area is actually two city blocks divided by Marion Street and was dubbed “the Superblock” by a previous developer.
Westside Partners was selected over five other bidders after proposing construction of a mixed-use, multi-phase development containing residences, offices and retail space in a combination of new construction and adaptive reuse of existing buildings. The proposed investment is more than $150 million.
At the time of the award, Bernard C. “Jack” Young was mayor and city officials said they selected Westside Partners in part because the group proposed a “preservation oriented” project that would fit in with the surrounding historic district. The recently-demolished buildings were among the 18 city-owned properties that the BDC agreed to sell to Westside Partners at a price of $4,500,001. The latest plans for the Compass, unveiled last fall, call for 302 residences and 102 hotel rooms as well as street-level retail space and meeting venues.
Five & Dime Historic District
As of this month, the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore still own the 18 properties. The demolition activity is one of the first signs of site work at any of them since Westside Partners was selected as the developer. It comes less than a month after the Mayor’s Office invited local artists to paint murals on other buildings that are within the Compass footprint and targeted for preservation, during an event called Art After Dark.
All 18 properties are part of Baltimore’s Five & Dime Historic District, which means that any changes up to and including demolition must be approved by the city’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP).
Lauren Schiszik, acting executive director of the preservation agency, said in an email message that CHAP’s commissioners authorized the demolition work on Fayette Street after holding hearings to review plans for the Compass project in 2023.
The hearings were scheduled after Westside Partners sought permission to raze seven buildings at the northeast corner of Fayette and Howard Streets to make way for one new structure they wanted to build as part of the Compass development.
The buildings that Westside Partners asked for permission to tear down were: 101-103, 105 and 107 North Howard Street and 220, 222, 224 and 226 West Fayette Street. The building at 105 North Howard Street included a four-story wing fronting on Fayette Street, and that section was the first structure to be demolished, followed by 226 W. Fayette Street.
Review process
The request from Westside Partners triggered public hearings in May, July and August of 2023. CHAP has a demolition review process for historic districts in which it holds an initial hearing to determine whether a building targeted for demolition is a “contributing structure” in a historic district. If a building is not deemed a contributing structure, the commissioners won’t block demolition but they will review plans for a replacement structure or structures. If a building is determined to be a contributing structure, CHAP will hold a follow-up hearing to learn why the developer wants to tear it down and whether it poses an economic hardship to the developer if demolition is denied.
In the case of the Compass project, the developers told CHAP that the existing buildings are in poor condition and would be prohibitively expensive to renovate. They said they wanted to replace them with a structure that’s designed to meet the current building codes and respond to current market conditions.
In a presentation last fall to the city’s Urban Design and Architecture Advisory Panel, Westside Partners showed plans for the seven structures to be replaced by a four-story building labeled “Future of Work.” The developer said the replacement structure would contain office space and areas devoted to health, wellness and education, with retail space at street level. The lead designer is Hanbury.
The commissioners determined at the first hearing that the buildings at 101-103 N. Howard Street and 226 W. Fayette Street did not contribute to the historic district, but they said the other five were contributing structures. After the second hearing, CHAP denied the developer’s request to raze the five contributing structures. According to CHAP staffer Stacy Montgomery, the structures were built in the mid- to late-19th century and represented “some of the oldest remaining buildings” in the Five & Dime Historic District.
But on August, 8, 2023, after the developers showed a master plan for the entire Compass project and provided cost projections, CHAP agreed to permit demolition of the buildings at 220, 222 and 224 W. Fayette Street and 105 and 107 N. Howard Street, although they asked Westside Partners to retain or reconstruct the front facades of the Howard Street buildings and incorporate them into the proposed replacement structure. After agreeing to that request, the developers essentially had obtained CHAP’s permission to take down all seven buildings in their original application.
Preventing eyesores
Some local preservationists have argued that the city shouldn’t permit demolition of any buildings in city historic districts until the developers show proof of financing for a replacement structure.
The preservationists say that sort of policy would help prevent eyesores such as the empty lot at the southwest corner of Baltimore and Charles streets, where a developer took down the Mechanic A. Theatre starting in 2014 and then never moved ahead with the replacement project that was proposed.
Another example is the site of the former the Hendler Creamery at 1100 East Baltimore Street, where developer Kevin Johnson proposed to incorporate two of its facades into a new apartment building called The Hendler but then stopped work, leaving the 1892 structure partially demolished and exposed to the elements. Faced with an abandoned project, CHAP voted in June of 2023 to allow demolition of the entire Hendler structure.
It is unclear whether Westside Partners has provided proof that it has obtained financing for its project, when it might take title to the properties, or who is paying for the demolition work. Kim Clark, the BDC’s executive vice president, and Westside Partners principal Chris Janian did not respond immediately to requests for information.
A member of the demolition crew said the contractors don’t intend to recycle any materials from the Fayette Street site. He said his team previously worked with an organization that recycled bricks but that organization is no longer in business.
Historic Preservation is not what it once was and buildings that have been vacant decades are not what they once were. The image of the city needs to change I suppose as adaptive reuse has not worked out as originally planned.
Greening and cooling of the city downtown may be a more important issue at this point.
Since when does demolition, in this city, mean something is going to be built in its place?
Speculative demolition is only one facet of many. A more fundamental question is why do current regs. allow for disrepair by neglect, that is the necessary prequel to “speculative demolition”.
The value of this city’s 19C. fabric must be stabilized, there is simply exceptionally limited supply of longstanding “placemaking”, with value greater than any substitute structures, if only there was sufficient leadership and foresight….
Thanks for all of these reports, Mr. Gunts
Baltimore will keep looking like an abandoned run down slum until people realize that history is great but somethings are too old and neglected to have investors want to put money into something that will probably not give a worthwhile return Over regulation impedes,not encourages improvement