General Growth also secured tax increment financing from the Baltimore Development Corp. for infrastructure improvements. The city issued the $12.2 million bond in January, said Stephen M. Kraus, the city's treasury management bureau chief. The money is being held in an escrow account until the city verifies General Growth's expenditures. The bond will be repaid with increased tax revenues generated by the redeveloped property.
According to documents obtained by The Sun related to the state prosecutor's investigation of Mayor Sheila Dixon, Currie was scheduled to meet with her and with developer Ronald H. Lipscomb at the time that he was advocating on behalf of the Shoppers project at Mondawmin. Lipscomb's company, Doracon Contracting, subsequently got a subcontracting job at the mall.
The prosecutor's documents indicate that Dixon and Lipscomb had a personal relationship, which they have acknowledged, and that they exchanged gifts and traveled together. The documents do not say what the meeting with Currie was about, and officials with Chesapeake Contracting Group, the general contractor at Mondawmin that hired Doracon in mid-2007, say the company was selected through a competitive bid process.
