Here we go!

GREAT LINK: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2005/01/31/tidbits1.html
READ! READ! :D

N.Y. developer gets prime west side project
Heather Harlan
Staff
The Baltimore Development Corp. named three development teams on Tuesday to transform a large swath of the city's west side.


The largest part of the site, which is bounded by West Clay, West Fayette, Howard and Liberty streets, will be redeveloped by the Chera Feil Goldman Group of New York.

That team is planning a 225-unit residential complex with about 65,000 square feet of retail space. Although the original cost of the project was estimated at $60 million, the New York developers said at a press conference Tuesday that the number will likely double.

M.J. "Jay'' Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp., said the negotiations with the development groups have just started, and land acquisition costs as well as the possibility of public funding have not been determined.

Also selected were Carmel Realty Associates of Philadelphia and the French Development Co. of Baltimore. Carmel Realty will renovate their properties at 117-121 N. Howard St. with ground-floor retail that can be accessed by West Lexington Street.

The French Development Co. will redevelop the southern portion of the block between Park Avenue, Fayette, Marion and Liberty streets into a 25,000-square-foot office building with ground-level retail. Marks, Thomas & Associates Inc. of Baltimore is serving as the architect on that particular project.

The Baltimore Development Corp. decided not to award the final piece of the project to a Washington, D.C., outfit called Federal Development LLC, which responded to original requests for proposals.

"Ourselves and some others questioned whether they were the right people for it,'' Brodie said. Federal Development had proposed a residential and retail combination.

The Baltimore Business Journal first reported in October 2004 (See: http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2004/10/25/story1.html) that the WestSide Renaissance, an organization backed by Orioles owner Peter Angelos, wanted the Baltimore Development Corp. to scrap the original proposals and solicit new plans.

Lloyd Goldman, president of BLDG Management Inc. in New York City, said his west side proposal is not his first investment in Baltimore. Several years back, the developer said, he and his father had invested in some Crown gas stations.

He was drawn to downtown Baltimore because of its increasing number of residents and the harbor. "All of that works,'' he said. "I'm a city dweller in New York. Just mixing the culture and diversity. There's nothing like it.''

Goldman is one of the largest real estate owners in New York, investing in properties such as the World Trade Center redevelopment with Larry Silverstein, the Four Seasons and Peninsula hotels as well as more than 150 residential and commercial buildings.

His partner, Isaac Chera, also has extensive experience. He is president of Next Generation Chera LLC, the owner and developer of inner city and suburban retail projects in cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia and Toronto. In New York, the firm is recognized for redeveloping large portions of Brooklyn.

The development group said it has many relationships with national retailers, and hopes to bring them to Baltimore.



© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.

I can't wait to see some designs and renderings on this one...

I think this is going to really bring together the whole westside/mt vernon area really well

N.Y. developer gets prime west side project...

This looks like a step that the West Side really needs.

Should be big! :)
I can't wait for renderings, too! :D

MORE INFO:

City enhances west-side revival plan
3 development teams picked for 'superblock'
By Jill Rosen
Sun Staff
Originally published February 2, 2005

City development officials unveiled a more expansive plan yesterday for the linchpin of Baltimore's west-side redevelopment efforts, the cluster of key streets known as the "superblock."

Though west-side revitalization efforts have stalled at times, developers charged with overhauling the superblock showed they're confident enough about the area's prospects to bump up the scale of their original plan for bringing stores and apartments to the once-vibrant commercial arteries of Lexington and Fayette streets.

The Baltimore Development Corp. has assigned to three development teams, led by a group from New York, the renovation project of more than $100 million, which officials hope will bring life back to the largely bypassed area, helping to link Charles Center and the city's downtown core with the University of Maryland.

Since rough plans for the superblock were released last fall, the New York development team said that its investment commitment has doubled, and that the number of apartments it wants to bring to the area could nearly triple, to as many as 700 units.

"When we looked at how the city circled this blighted area, I said this is the core, and nobody's touching it," said developer Stanley Chera. "We have grand plans for great retail, restaurants, residences and a cultural area."

Proponents of the city's west-side renewal - while acknowledging that efforts have plodded - cite the reopening last year of the Hippodrome Theater and to Centerpoint, a residential and retail development not far from the superblock, as proof of progress.

But the magnitude of the superblock, in both investment dollars and what it could mean for west-side momentum, surpasses that of the other landmarks, officials say.

The 3.6-acre superblock territory, within Howard, Fayette, Clay, Park and Liberty streets, includes 51 properties. Most, but not all, of that area will be redeveloped under the proposal.

"This is the block that links everything," said Ron Kreitner, executive director of WestSide Renaissance. "The superblock is one of the most significant development opportunities in the area."


Historic scope

The city's sweeping plans to rejuvenate the west side is easily the most significant project it has undertaken since the Inner Harbor, said M.J. "Jay" Brodie, the BDC's president.

But, to succeed, development officials must determine how to lure people to the area to live and then give them reason to stay.

While the city has made progress with residential development, retail has been much more elusive.

"We can't get [the retail] without people living and working around it," Brodie said, adding that the interest in the superblock demonstrates that the balance might be tilting the city's way. "We think we now are in sight of that critical mass of a customer base."

The vast majority of the superblock will be developed by the New York team consisting of the Chera, Feil and Goldman families of New York. Two other developers will join them - Carmel Realty Associates of Philadelphia will renovate properties that Carmel owns on Howard and Lexington streets, and Baltimore's French Development Co. will build a five-story office building with street-level retail on a small parcel at Fayette and Liberty streets.

The New York builders have a history handling urban retail developments, with projects including malls and strip shopping centers in Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Though its plans aren't firm, Goldman said that the price tag for his group's share of the project, earlier thought to be $60 million, might now be "twice that." And though the developers were initially shooting for about 300 rental units, they now would like to have as many as 700 scattered through the superblock site, including efficiencies or studios to appeal to young and single people.

For the retail element of the plan, the youthful and fashion-forward bargain retailer H&M is a likely prospect, they said. "It's a pretty good match between what they look for and what this location has to offer," Goldman said.

A grocery store is also a possibility, the developers added.

Not everyone applauds the plan.

Attorney John C. Murphy, who represents nine of the store owners who might lose their businesses to make room for redevelopment, said he worries that new will trample old.

The city has the right of eminent domain to seize properties for the redevelopment zone.

"I feel so badly for them, they've been under the condemnation gun since 1999," Murphy said of the businesses.

Brodie and the developers said that they plan to keep some of the older stores to create a dynamic mix of national and local retail, but that not every current retailer can stay.

Murphy is leading those businesses in a suit against the BDC, challenging its closed-door decision making and specifically its decision in a private meeting last fall to choose the superblock developers. As a quasi-public agency, the BDC contends it is not subject to open-meeting laws.

Murphy and the shop owners are asking the court to invalidate the BDC's superblock decisions. The matter is scheduled to be heard Feb. 18 in Baltimore Circuit Court.

Brodie said he does not believe that the dispute will affect the superblock's progress. "We don't see it inhibiting in any way the city's ability to move forward," he said.


Old buildings' fate

Meanwhile, preservationists worry that historic buildings will fall to make way for the new apartments and stores.

Though a city ordinance protects certain historic west-side properties - including many in the superblock zone - other buildings there deserve protection, historians say.

Officials with the Maryland Historic Trust, Preservation Maryland and Baltimore Heritage have written to the BDC, urging it to preserve more than the bare minimum of buildings dictated in the ordinance.

"This isn't historic restoration. This is adaptive reuse," Brodie said. "Some buildings are adaptable, and some are not. One shouldn't imagine that every last building will be kept."

DOWNTOWN RETAIL UPDATE

Here are the latest Downtown retail developments and announcements:

- 7-11 has opened at Centerpoint at 300 W. Baltimore Street.
- Adrienne Vittadini, an upscale women’s clothing store, has opened at The Gallery at 200 E. Pratt Street.
- Blimpie Subs & Salads and Subway will both open new stores in the 300 block of N. Charles Street.
- Blu Bambu, an Asian eatery, is a recent addition to the Power Plant complex at 621 E. Pratt Street.
- Gaines McHale is moving its antiques showroom from Federal Hill to the E.J. Codd Building in Harbor East.
- Gambrino's of Spain opened its Spanish delivery and carryout at 885 N. Howard Street.
- Five Guys Famous Burgers & Fries will be opening soon at 517 N. Charles.
- Office Depot began construction on its second Downtown location at 100 N. Charles Street.
- Pazo, serving Mediterranean tapas, opened recently in the E.J. Codd Building at 1425 Aliceanna Street in Harbor East.
- Ramshead Live!, an 1800-person concert venue, is now open at Power Plant Live! at 35 Market Place.
- The Twenty Third Degree Restaurant & Wine Bar at 1225 Cathedral Street is now open for lunch and dinner.


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DOWNTOWN LIVING UPDATE
Mt. Vernon:
- Twelve new loft apartments in The McDowell Building at 339 N. Charles Street are now leasing. Call 410.539.6565.

- The Lofts at Copra, two apartments above the popular Downtown restaurant located at 313 N. Charles Street, are also now leasing. Click here for information.

- Reservations are now being taken for Symphony Center Apartments at 1020 Park Avenue, a 136-unit tower that is nearing completion. Call 410.783.7200.

- The Printer’s Square development was recently announced for 1312 Guilford Avenue. When complete in early 2006, 60 new loft apartments will occupy a former fire station and Waverly Press Building.

- The former Fair Lanes Bowling Center at 602 N. Howard Street was recently acquired with plans to convert the building to 50 loft apartments.

Westside:
Reservations are also being taken for Camden Court Apartments, a new 221-unit building at 300 W. Lombard Street that will be ready in late summer. Visit camdencourtapts.com.

Waterfront:
The first units in Spinnaker Bay at 801 Aliceanna Street in Harbor East will be ready this spring. Visit spinnakerbaycondo.com.

Development News:
The Baltimore Development Corporation has awarded two major development projects that will add hundreds of new residential units to Downtown over the next few years.

- CityScape Tower at Calvert and Lombard streets in City Center is a 300-unit, 35-story high-rise planned to open in 2007.

- The Westside Superblock was awarded to a team of developers that plan approximately 300 apartments or condominiums, with retail and parking, at Lexington and Howard streets.

Congratulations to Partnership members The Shelter Group and Mark Sapperstein Company, both of Baltimore, on CityScape and to New York-based Next Generation Chera, LLC on the Superblock award.

sounds like a FANTASTIC project!!!!!!!!!!!:)

How did we get here? Wasn't this forum closed months ago?