City Comptroller Joan M. Pratt questioned the BDC's contract-awarding process, saying that it lacked transparency and could cost the city taxpayers more money because it circumvented a competitive process. Arnold Jolivet, the managing director of the Maryland Minority Contractors Association, also raised fairness concerns, saying that the process didn't allow all companies an equal chance to bid on work.
Dixon's statement on Tuesday condemning the BDC practice prompted Brodie to halt a plan that was in the works to bulldoze another group of city-owned warehouses on land where a garage for the proposed casino would be built.
As The Baltimore Sun reported, the BDC was using the same selective method to pick a demolition firm for that contract, and five firms gave prices from $266,930 to $379,885 to raze the warehouses. The contract has not been awarded.
The BDC contacted eight demolition firms to offer prices on the City Center project, and Berg offered the lowest, Brodie said. The head of that firm, David Berg, was boarding an airplane when he was reached yesterday afternoon and could not comment for this article.
Mark Sapperstein, the developer, said the change would not affect the plans for his project, which includes 300 rooms in the two hotels, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites.
"I can start demolition at any point over the next year and not affect the project," Sapperstein wrote in an e-mail. The developer would have reimbursed the city for the demolition costs, Brodie said.
Separately, the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute for Architects passed a resolution Wednesday protesting the planned City Center demolition out of fear that Sapperstein may not have the financing to go forward and that the buildings could be replaced with surface parking, which would "continue to disfigure prominent parts of downtown Baltimore where significant and historic buildings once stood," according to the resolution.
Councilman William H. Cole IV, who represents downtown Baltimore, said he was pleased BDC "recognized the need to slow down."
"The last thing we wanted to see was buildings torn down for a hole in the ground," Cole said. "I don't like demolishing properties just for the purpose of demolition, unless you have a plan ready to go."
