Downtown Development

Frank Guaragna comes to Annapolis not for crabs, but for cannelloni.His favorite place to eat at the harbor is Maria's Italian Ristorante, where he finds the home-cooked meals and friendly service worth the wait.The proprietor of Maria's, Maria Priola, greeted him and a dozen other regular customers with her usual smile Monday night. But in a different setting. The group was waiting in City Hall to testify on behalf of her expansion plans, not crowded around the bar waiting for a table.Ms.

Here we go again: City leaders want to invest more public dollars in the Inner Harbor ("Improving the city's 'playground,"' April 24). One would have thought had learned from the mistakes of the past. The Inner Harbor long has symbolized the wrong turn our city took in its economic development strategy. We have invested in high-profile projects that benefit a small segment of the population while neglecting ordinary residents and their neighborhoods. In 1970, before the Inner Harbor was redeveloped with enormous infusions of public money, 5.3 percent of Baltimore's housing units were vacant.

As their bus rumbled through housing projects and dilapidated schools and toward Harbor East — one of the crown jewels of Baltimore's revitalized waterfront — Zion Baptist Church Pastor Marshall Prentice asked his parishioners how they felt after hearing about the millions of tax breaks given to developers there. "I'm a teacher, and I'm really upset," said Linda Jones, 62, recalling the three-inch cockroaches that scurried through her school and the library that was shut down due to budget cuts.

John DeWolf III, the Howard Hughes Corp.'s senior vice president for development, is a tall man doing a big job from a large office in downtown Columbia. The floor-to-ceiling windows face Lake Kittamaqundi, and the conference table is covered with maps and plans for downtown development, a 30-year project to include new stores, homes, offices, hotels, transit lines, walking paths, renovations at Merriweather Post Pavilion — all in pursuit of James W. Rouse's original idea of a "real city.

The master developer of Columbia's Town Center aims to begin construction by early next year on a $100 million apartment and retail complex, the area's first new housing in a decade. The Metropolitan Downtown Columbia will be a six-story, 380-unit development that the Howard Hughes Corp. plans to build in a joint venture with Kettler of McLean, Va., and Orchard Development of Ellicott City, on land next to The Mall in Columbia. Rents are expected to range from $1,600 a month for a one-bedroom apartment to $2,800 for a three-bedroom unit — making them among the highest in the region.

If the 1960s and 1970s were decades when Baltimore grew as a business center, and the 1980s were years when it became a destination for tourists and conventioneers, then the 1990s will be "a decade in which we reinvent ourselves as a center of science and technology and higher education," the acting head of Baltimore's downtown development agency predicted yesterday.In one of his first public addresses since he was named acting head of Center City-Inner Harbor Development Inc., David M. Gillece said the effort to make downtown Baltimore a home for scientific and technological endeavors is a key part of a vision to guide downtown development over the coming decade.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke today announced the appointment of David Gillece, president of Baltimore Economic Development Corp., as acting president of Center City-Inner Harbor Development Inc. and asked him to explore merging the two quasi-public development agencies.The move comes after the resignation of long-time Center City head Albert M. Copp, who left the agency in September after receiving harsh criticism from City Council members and others for the agency's allegedly secretive operating style and poor handling of several downtown development projects.

Mayor Schmoke apparently intends to move quickly on the recommendations a city task force on downtown development, whose report earlier this year contained literally hundreds of suggestions for revamping downtown Baltimore's economy. Though the suspicion inevitably arises that election-year politics may have played a part in Schmoke's sudden enthusiasm for getting Baltimore moving again, the task force in fact came up with some good ideas that deserve prompt action.The main problem will be how to coordinate the myriad suggestions of the task force with a comprehensive big picture scenario and how to set priorities for getting the job done.

An 18-hole miniature golf course on Rash Field, a 28-passenger "trackless train," a tethered balloon, a zip line and a variety of other outdoor-related activities are among nine proposals that aim to enliven Baltimore's Inner Harbor shoreline. The Baltimore Development Corp., which oversees downtown development for the city, received the bids after it issued a request for proposals from groups interested in adding family-oriented attractions to the Inner Harbor in time for the 2012 summer tourist season.

Put action on GGP plan for Columbia on hold As I read the newspapers about the General Growth Properties plan for downtown Columbia development and the reactions of Howard County government officials and Columbia Association officials to that plan, I feel like I must be living in a parallel universe. Hasn't anyone noticed that the entire world financial picture has changed? We are now in a recession that is worse than anything that has happened since the Great Depression. Stock markets and banks around the world are in a critical situation, and GGP's stock has fallen from $51 to less than $1 a share within the last year.

The master developer of Columbia's Town Center aims to begin construction by early next year on a $100 million apartment and retail complex, the area's first new housing in a decade. The Metropolitan Downtown Columbia will be a six-story, 380-unit development that the Howard Hughes Corp. plans to build in a joint venture with Kettler of McLean, Va., and Orchard Development of Ellicott City, on land next to The Mall in Columbia. Rents are expected to range from $1,600 a month for a one-bedroom apartment to $2,800 for a three-bedroom unit — making them among the highest in the region.

As one who was told, by name, to "shut up and listen" by a fellow resident at the recent pre-submission meeting concerning GGP's plans for the mall, I feel compelled to comment on three portions of your article, "Mall plans draw tepid response" (Jan. 19). One: You claim that residents were "unconvinced at first that (GGP's) hands were tied" in terms of sharing more information about their plans. Actually, we continue to be unconvinced. Contrary to GGP's assertion, the county's development approval process clearly allows them to share whatever additional information they want to share about their plans.

As their bus rumbled through housing projects and dilapidated schools and toward Harbor East — one of the crown jewels of Baltimore's revitalized waterfront — Zion Baptist Church Pastor Marshall Prentice asked his parishioners how they felt after hearing about the millions of tax breaks given to developers there. "I'm a teacher, and I'm really upset," said Linda Jones, 62, recalling the three-inch cockroaches that scurried through her school and the library that was shut down due to budget cuts.

An 18-hole miniature golf course on Rash Field, a 28-passenger "trackless train," a tethered balloon, a zip line and a variety of other outdoor-related activities are among nine proposals that aim to enliven Baltimore's Inner Harbor shoreline. The Baltimore Development Corp., which oversees downtown development for the city, received the bids after it issued a request for proposals from groups interested in adding family-oriented attractions to the Inner Harbor in time for the 2012 summer tourist season.

Two office buildings in downtown Baltimore, both of which had been undergoing conversion to hotels, are scheduled to be sold at back-to-back foreclosure auctions next month. According to the website for Alex Cooper auctioneers, which is handling both sales, the first involves the former Keyser Building at 201-207 E. Redwood St., a 10-story structure that was being renovated to reopen as a 130-room Hotel Indigo. It will be offered for sale at an auction on the premises at 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 12. The Hotel Indigo was expected to open by early fall of 2009, but the work was never completed.

Recession requires sacrifice from officials [Re: "Small raise proposed for officials," Howard County edition, Nov. 22] This is an example of how some people won't tighten their belt until personally affected. The proposed raises are admittedly minuscule and will make little difference, if any, in take home pay - and it was extremely generous of these officials to recently donate portions of their salary to charity and back to the county. But this is exactly the point: We are in a severe recession with high unemployment of our citizens and this requires sacrifice on the part of those still employed and able to CONTROL government expenses.

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley refers to his time in office as "the turn-around years." By his account, the bedrock of the city's "comeback" is improved public safety. But the measure of a better Baltimore shouldn't be pegged to one factor. Many things make a city great - or contribute to its decline. A safer city may well influence home sales, community reinvestment and downtown development. But is a reduction in violent crime what led to fewer lead-poisoned children in Baltimore, more downtown jobs and a drop in teen mothers?

WESTMINSTER -- Spiffing up historic Sykesville wasn't enough to attract tourists and shoppers, Town Manager James Schumacher said."It's like we're all dressed up and no place to go," he told a group of 15 business owners, town officials and others who gathered Thursday to discuss downtown development."

CAMBRIDGE -- When Brett Summers first came to this quiet Eastern Shore town a decade ago, he was thinking vacation - a weekend place to keep a boat and escape from the pressures of living on Capitol Hill and the grueling chase for his next sales commission. But eventually, Cambridge became home to Summers and his family of five. And these days, he's not just living here - he's investing millions of dollars in the struggling downtown business district. The 44-year-old real estate entrepreneur - along with several partners -- has spent more than $4 million to buy four buildings, turning the long-vacant structures into light-filled storefronts with loft-style apartments upstairs.