Local arts supporters Sylvia and Eddie Brown are jump-starting a long-stalled effort to convert Baltimore's historic Bromo Seltzer tower to artists' studios by participating in a public-private partnership that would enable them to purchase the 94-year-old building from the city.
Under the agreement, which Mayor Martin O'Malley is scheduled to announce Monday, the city would sell the building at 15 S. Eutaw St. for $1 to a newly formed company that would transform the 15-story tower into 15 to 20 artists' studios.
The sale would pave the way for construction to begin early next year on a $1.5 million renovation - considered a key redevelopment project for downtown's west side.
"Our only interest is in preserving this historic structure and making it available for artists," said Sylvia Brown. "It's not for somebody who is well-established. These studios will be for artists who really need the help."
One of Baltimore's most distinctive landmarks, built to resemble a 13th-century Florentine watch tower and later donated to the city, the building has been vacant since the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Art and Culture moved out in March 2002.
The Browns would replace construction magnate Willard Hackerman as financial partners of the limited liability company (a cross between a partnership and a corporation that provides certain financial protections to its members) that would acquire and renovate the arts tower. An entity formed by Baltimore's Office of Promotion and the Arts would be the managing member of the company. After 42 years, ownership of the building would revert to the city.
Hackerman backed away from plans to invest in the project in late 2004, the same time he pulled out of a highly publicized land acquisition deal in St. Mary's County. His withdrawal delayed the tower's renovation.
Nearly a year later, the project is moving ahead, said Bill Gilmore, head of the city's Office of Promotion and the Arts. "It's going to happen, and the Browns are going to be instrumental in providing some of the capital. ... It's public-private partnership at its best."
The Bromo Seltzer tower is the latest of several high-profile arts projects to receive support from Glen Arm residents Eddie Brown, founder and president of Brown Capital Management, and his wife, Sylvia.
They donated $6 million to help build and maintain the glass-clad Brown Center at the Maryland Institute College of Art and $1 million to expand the African-American collection of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
