Central Business District

Merging geographically divided plans and updating ideas for the future of downtown, Baltimore's economic development arm plans to present next week one big, new vision for the city's central business district to property owners. The plan is a revision to at least four urban renewal areas, plus additional land now considered the city's central business district. It was drafted by the Baltimore Development Corp., a quasi-governmental agency, based on their work and others. The unreleased document is expected to direct attention to preservation of the urban core's structures.

Harbor East is moving farther east with baker-cum-developer John Paterakis Sr.'s announcement Friday that he will break ground this summer on a new, mega-Whole Foods and later on a new residential/retail building across Central Avenue from the glittering mini-city he has almost single handedly built during the last 15 years. Things are bustling in that corner of the city, what with the planned construction of a new headquarters office tower for Exelon Corp. and a variety of other smaller scale residential, retail, office and hotel developments nearby.

They've studied the east side of downtown. They've studied the west side of downtown. Now the urban experts are turning their attention to the area in between.Seeking new ways to stimulate development in the heart of the city, the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore has launched a $180,000 effort to outline a strategic plan for the central business district, anchored by award-winning Charles Center.The nonprofit group, which works to create a "cleaner, more prosperous and vibrant downtown," has hired Hammer Siler George and Associates of Silver Spring to complete an economic analysis of the central business district and Design Collective of Baltimore to prepare a plan to guide physical development there.

For a city whose last Fortune 500 company was about to be acquired by an out-of-town corporation, there was not just consolation but actual excitement over one of the deal sweeteners: Chicago-based Exelon Corp. promised to build a new downtown office building for the merged company, the first such construction in Baltimore's central business district since 2004. The competition was spirited among a handful of developers: They produced architectural renderings of shiny towers and lined up contractors and financing packages.

A pair of local developers said yesterday that they plan to buy the air rights above a city garage downtown and build 320 luxury rental apartments. The proposal by Consolidated Equities Corp. of Lutherville is the largest of several projects that developers envision in the central business district. It would also be one of the few complexes that would be new construction, rather than a conversion of an older office building. Consolidated's principals are scheduled to present preliminary plans for Water Tower Apartments to the city's Design Advisory Panel today.

A long-delayed Marriott Residence Inn proposed in the central business district more than four years ago will get under way now that a lawsuit challenging its public subsidy has been dismissed, the developer said yesterday. The lawsuit, brought by a group of taxpayers and a hotel workers union in October, alleged the city broke its own rules in granting a $3.2 million, 10-year tax break called a PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, to support the project. City Circuit Judge Kaye A. Allison dismissed the suit yesterday.

A Baltimore developer plans to begin Friday the process of turning a long-vacant Charles Street office building into apartments. Savannah Development Corp. plans to construct 36 apartments in the building at 300 N. Charles St., known mostly by the Kinko's copy store on its first floor. It is one of several apartment projects planned downtown, where the city has been promoting housing as a means to bring more people, and dollars, to the central business district after office hours. "It's a great location.

WESTMINSTER'S EFFORT to refine the outward appearance of its central business district is an encouraging sign that the Carroll County seat is experiencing economic renewal at its heart.A Frederick architectural firm is soliciting ideas and opinions from people who live, work and own property in the downtown area, to help reshape the city's existing "Standards for 'u Renovation."The city law contains guidelines for the types of building facades, signs and architecture permitted in the central district along Main Street.

After overcoming a lawsuit, a late-night injunction and a partial loss of financing, Baltimore's long-delayed Marriott Residence Inn is to formally break ground today in the central business district, more than four years after the project was first proposed. The 15-story tower, planned for the southeast corner of Redwood and Light streets, will feature 188 units and be Baltimore's first hotel built for extended stays. "It's been a long time coming," said Kevin M. Urgo, senior vice president of Urgo Hotels, a Bethesda developer.

The first of several new buildings proposed for the city's central business district is about to break ground and become the first major office development in about a decade. The 15-story building, a top-tier, modern glass tower that will fit atop the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. substation on Pratt Street, could become the next headquarters for the utility or its parent company, Constellation Energy Group Inc., according to sources familiar with the deal. Willard Hackerman will lead the development group, which plans to break ground in the spring and open some offices by November 2002.

The law firm of Miles & Stockbridge said Thursday that it will move its Baltimore office to the Transamerica Tower by early 2013. The relocation will keep 275 employees in the city's central business district. Miles & Stockbridge is the latest of several large firms to lease space in the 35-story structure, originally constructed for USF&G Corp. and one of downtown's most prominent buildings. Its owner, a subsidiary of Lexington Realty Trust of New York, has spent approximately $45 million on upgrades for new tenants since Legg Mason moved from the building to Harbor East in 2009.

Towson University officials said yesterday that the school will not house students as part of a development planned for downtown Towson, pleasing residents who don't want a dormitory in the heart of the county seat. Alan Leberknight, interim vice president and chief financial officer of Towson University, said the decision to reject a bid by Heritage Properties and the Cordish Co. to build a 600-bed dormitory in Towson was based on how much debt the public university system would have had to carry and not on the community's opposition.

After overcoming a lawsuit, a late-night injunction and a partial loss of financing, Baltimore's long-delayed Marriott Residence Inn is to formally break ground today in the central business district, more than four years after the project was first proposed. The 15-story tower, planned for the southeast corner of Redwood and Light streets, will feature 188 units and be Baltimore's first hotel built for extended stays. "It's been a long time coming," said Kevin M. Urgo, senior vice president of Urgo Hotels, a Bethesda developer.

A long-delayed Marriott Residence Inn proposed in the central business district more than four years ago will get under way now that a lawsuit challenging its public subsidy has been dismissed, the developer said yesterday. The lawsuit, brought by a group of taxpayers and a hotel workers union in October, alleged the city broke its own rules in granting a $3.2 million, 10-year tax break called a PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, to support the project. City Circuit Judge Kaye A. Allison dismissed the suit yesterday.

A pair of local developers said yesterday that they plan to buy the air rights above a city garage downtown and build 320 luxury rental apartments. The proposal by Consolidated Equities Corp. of Lutherville is the largest of several projects that developers envision in the central business district. It would also be one of the few complexes that would be new construction, rather than a conversion of an older office building. Consolidated's principals are scheduled to present preliminary plans for Water Tower Apartments to the city's Design Advisory Panel today.

A Baltimore developer plans to begin Friday the process of turning a long-vacant Charles Street office building into apartments. Savannah Development Corp. plans to construct 36 apartments in the building at 300 N. Charles St., known mostly by the Kinko's copy store on its first floor. It is one of several apartment projects planned downtown, where the city has been promoting housing as a means to bring more people, and dollars, to the central business district after office hours. "It's a great location.

All too often, plans to revitalize urban areas end up gathering dust on book shelves because they are more dreams than sober assessments of the future.But a strategy for rejuvenating downtown Baltimore unveiled by the city's leading business organization yesterday is drawing praise from business leaders who say its pragmatism and lack of pie-in-the-sky visions will likely prove the key to its success.The Downtown Partnership's 36-page Central Business District Plan does not call for monorail trains skimming above Charles Street.

Citing a lack of attention to the city's traditionally defined and aging central business district, a group of commercial property owners, led by attorney Peter G. Angelos, has formed a coalition to protect and revitalize Charles Center and the surrounding area.The formation of the Central Business District Coalition of Baltimore Inc. comes 15 months before the expiration of the city's 4-decade-old urban renewal plan for Charles Center, a program that many analysts contend sparked Baltimore's original renaissance and set controls for construction and growth.

The first of several new buildings proposed for the city's central business district is about to break ground and become the first major office development in about a decade. The 15-story building, a top-tier, modern glass tower that will fit atop the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. substation on Pratt Street, could become the next headquarters for the utility or its parent company, Constellation Energy Group Inc., according to sources familiar with the deal. Willard Hackerman will lead the development group, which plans to break ground in the spring and open some offices by November 2002.

With the economy slowing, those who build, sell and lease real estate are expecting a solid but not a banner year in 2001. Few say the real estate market is overbuilt, as it was in the late 1980s. And, while many expect that the region will get more shops, offices and warehouses and perhaps even a major hotel, the onslaught of development and leasing may not be what it's been. "Everything seems to be OK. But how long will the recovery last? That's the question," said Charles Fitzgerald, a senior vice president in charge of real estate at Bank of America Corp.