Development Team

The developer chosen more than a year ago to transform Fells Point's landmark Recreation Pier into a three-story, European-style boutique hotel plans to start construction this fall with a new partner. Baltimore developer J.J. Clarke Enterprises Inc. and a New Orleans partner, HRI Properties, were chosen in December 2004 to redevelop the pier at the foot of Broadway. But the $50 million project was delayed for several months after HRI dropped out and Clarke discovered worse-than-expected deterioration of the century-old pier.

Richard M. Ivey Worldwide vice president of research and development BD Diagnostics (a segment of Becton, Dickinson and Co.), Sparks Salary --$200,000 Age --49 Years on the job --23 How he got started --Ivey holds a bachelor's degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a master's from George Washington University. An engineer by training, Ivey first worked in the nuclear power industry and later for a large plastics manufacturing firm. He started at BD as a manufacturing engineer, then went on to work as a design engineer and in program management before going into management of research and development.

In proposing a redevelopment of the state office complex on Howard Street, the Ehrlich administration has correctly sized up the problem and potential of the 25-acre site. Its mass creates a visual and physical barrier, blocking access to nearby neighborhoods and isolating 3,500 state workers on an island of concrete and asphalt. With the announcement last week that the state has selected a development team for the site, the process to break down the barriers, real and perceived, can begin.

The Hippodrome Theatre's coming season can't be beat for showstoppers. Its playbill, featuring the best Broadway play and musical of 2005, reminds us how enticing this part of town is becoming. There's the theater, playing to impressive audiences. A big new Starbucks at the corner, 88 percent occupancy at the Centerpoint complex, a hip new Irish restaurant nearby, the renovation of the historic Abell building under way. Now if only the 400 block of W. Baltimore St. would clean up its act. The block remains a jumble of construction fencing, shuttered structures and a few businesses.

The Cordish Co.'s bid to renovate the city-owned Pier Six Concert Pavilion is a clever piece of packaging. It offers an experienced development team, the booking talents of the Rams Head Tavern and Infinity Broadcasting and the possibility of a more diverse venue with the participation of Baltimore's biggest, politically well-connected church, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal. That lineup won Cordish the nod on the city contract, but it provoked protests that the church's involvement was a political ploy to shut out minority contractors.

Baltimore development officials moved a step closer yesterday to seizing the long-vacant Chesapeake Restaurant to make way for a mixed-use urban renewal project at the gateway to the city's Charles North arts and entertainment district. The Board of Estimates' approval of a "quick take" condemnation of the North Charles Street property for $770,000 could lead to a lengthy dispute between the city and the current property owner. But city officials said any dispute would not delay redevelopment of the site, across from Pennsylvania Station and next to the thriving Charles Theater and a popular restaurant.

Three national builders, including Baltimore-based Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., are in the running to construct the city's proposed $290 million, publicly financed convention headquarters hotel. Baltimore development officials had asked for a new round of bids after Whiting-Turner, a former member of the hotel development team led by Robert L. Johnson, failed to meet the construction budget. Baltimore Development Corp. pre qualified five design-build firms, including Whiting-Turner, to bid on the 750-room hotel.

City development officials plan to seek competitive bids to build the proposed $290 million publicly financed convention headquarters hotel after construction estimates soared beyond projections. The Baltimore Development Corp. said yesterday it hopes to issue a request for proposals from builders as soon as next week. The city had been working with Baltimore-based Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. to build a city-owned, 750-room Hilton as part of a team led by Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television.

City development officials unveiled a more expansive plan yesterday for the linchpin of Baltimore's west-side redevelopment efforts, the cluster of key streets known as the "superblock." Though west-side revitalization efforts have stalled at times, developers charged with overhauling the superblock showed they're confident enough about the area's prospects to bump up the scale of their original plan for bringing stores and apartments to the once-vibrant commercial arteries of Lexington and Fayette streets.

Baltimore's historic Railway Express building, once targeted for conversion primarily to offices for an advertising firm, is now expected to become the newest residential development in Baltimore's Station North Arts and Entertainment District. Two years after Baltimore's housing department selected a local group to buy and recycle the former parcel post office at 1501 St. Paul St., developers have modified their renovation strategy to include less commercial space and more residences.