NEWS
By Edward Gunts | August 18, 2009
One member of the development team served as the volunteer owner's rep for a $30 million expansion of Baltimore's School for the Arts. Two others recently turned the dilapidated Census Building on Howard Street into Miller's Court, a $20 million center with affordable housing for teachers and offices for local nonprofits. Now they've joined forces in an effort to save one of the most prominent landmarks in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District, the historic but dormant Parkway Theatre at 3-5 W. North Ave. Samuel Polakoff, managing director of Cormony Development and a member of the Board of Overseers at the School for the Arts, and Donald and Thibault Manekin of Seawall Development Corp.
NEWS
By John Fritze | December 1, 2007
Speaking for the first time since a city agency received a subpoena and the offices of a prominent Baltimore developer were raided, Mayor Sheila Dixon characterized the investigation by state prosecutors yesterday as a witch hunt. Dixon, who said she has done nothing wrong and who argued she did not know what the Maryland state prosecutor's office is looking into, said she is cooperating with investigators but believes the probe could be politically motivated. "What would help me is if you go to the state's [prosecutors]
NEWS
By Lorraine Mirabella | November 22, 2006
Baltimore officials are moving ahead to condemn property of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation as part of the major west side redevelopment project, while hoping to sign a final agreement by year's end with the New York developer chosen for the job. But local business leaders are exploring ways for the superblock project to move forward without a prolonged legal fight and to resolve the deepening rift between the city and one of its largest charities....
NEWS
By John Fritze | November 4, 2006
In a decision that could have broad implications for the public's right to inspect the workings of government, Maryland's highest court ruled yesterday that the agency overseeing Baltimore's economic development must open its meetings and its paperwork for public review. Writing that the Baltimore Development Corp. has previously been able "to cloak the business of the citizens of the city of Baltimore behind the veil of a supposedly private corporation," the Court of Appeals dismissed city arguments that the agency's closed-door meetings are legal and crucial to the agency's work.
NEWS
By Jill Rosen | October 11, 2006
With access to information about the city's largest property deals at stake, Maryland's highest court heard arguments yesterday on whether the Baltimore Development Corp.'s closed-door operations can persist. The city's economic development agency, which has always operated as a "quasi-public" organization, exempt from state open meetings and public information rules, insists the secrecy is lawful and critical to its work. But the west-side property owners challenging the agency's ways say that with a board chosen by the mayor, a budget funded almost entirely by the city, and responsibility for nearly every major Baltimore development project, the BDC should comply with sunshine laws like any other public body.
NEWS
By Lorraine Mirabella | February 9, 2005
City officials, armed with the power of condemnation, are moving to breathe new life into the former Chesapeake Restaurant and other long-vacant properties at the gateway to the Charles North neighborhood, part of the city's arts district near Penn Station and the Charles Theater. Baltimore Development Corp. said yesterday that it is seeking proposals from developers to transform the former landmark restaurant at 1701-1709 N. Charles St., a parking lot and two vacant townhouses around the corner on East Lanvale Street.
NEWS
By JAY HANCOCK | December 1, 2004
FIRST the government taxes you. Then it gives your money to somebody else and calls it economic development. Would it be too much to ask government to reveal what it's doing? Almost 15 years after the Soviet Union imploded from its own incompetence and secretiveness, central economic planning is alive in Maryland. There's Baltimore Development Corp., a $13 million public-private agency that orchestrates millions in annual tax incentives, property seizures and contract awards. There's the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, a $96 million, 300-employee agency that picks statewide business winners and reallocates capital accordingly.
NEWS
By Jamie Smith Hopkins | July 2, 2004
It should have been smooth sailing: The Baltimore Development Corp. wanted Hollander Ridge off its hands, and seven companies wanted to take it. But the city's quasi-public economic development agency has scrapped applications for the 51-acre former public housing project and issued a new request for proposals this week, potentially delaying its sale or lease by eight months because of a legal snag. The agency said it wasn't told by the city housing authority until recently that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires Baltimore to consider financial return above all else when selling or leasing the Pulaski Highway site.
NEWS
By June Arney | October 14, 2003
The city is racing toward decisions on who will build a new convention headquarters hotel, where it will be built and other important details, including the number of rooms and its impact on sightlines from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Sources familiar with the process say an advisory panel of business leaders clearly favored two potential developers over a third and that a key recommendation could go to Mayor Martin O'Malley as early as next week on who should build the project, which is estimated to cost more than $200 million - almost certainly with public financing.
NEWS
By Tom Pelton | September 21, 2000
Baltimore's development agency has received five proposals to build apartments and shops in the 400 block of N. Howard St. as part of the city's efforts to rejuvenate the west side of downtown. The Baltimore Development Corp. will evaluate the proposals over the next several weeks and recommend one to Mayor Martin O'Malley by the end of November, said Sharon Grinnell, chief operating officer for the city development agency. The large number of responses to the agency's June request for proposals in the area illustrates the strong interest in the city's project to rebuild the struggling west side of downtown, said M. J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the agency.