Plan for former Highlandtown library moves ahead

A $1.5 million proposal by the Southeast Community Development Corp. to redevelop the former Highlandtown Library cleared a key hurdle Thursday. The board of directors of the Baltimore Development Corp. voted in closed session to recommend to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake that the city accept the proposal.

Southeast Community Development Corp. was the only bidder that responded to a 2009 request for the proposals from developers interested in renovating the three-level, 1920s-era building at 3323 Eastern Ave. The plan, designed by architect R.M. Sovich, calls for the property to be renovated to house CDC headquarters and other tenants, including a restaurant or some other commercial use at street level. Under the plan accepted by the BDC, the vacant property would be sold to a for-profit affiliate of the CDC, so it would generate real estate taxes.

The BDC's recommendation will now be forwarded to the mayor's office. If the mayor concurs with its recommendation, officials say, city representatives would negotiate a land disposition agreement that would enable the CDC to acquire the property and carry out its plan.

The former library was vacated in 2007. The CDC's original proposal called for renovations to be complete by mid-2011.

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