Downtown Partnership

Yet another downtown commercial building is being converted to apartments. The red-brick building at 300 Cathedral St., known as Odd Fellows Hall, is currently being refurbished by a Washington-based developer, Broadwater Capital LLC, the Downtown Partnership said in a statement Monday. The building will contain 59 market-rate apartments and will begin leasing next summer, the partnership said. It is situated between West Pleasant and West Saratoga streets. “There continues to be a significant demand for professionals to move closer to their work and 300 Cathedral's proximity to Baltimore's City Center, Mount Vernon and the Westside provides tenants a Class-A living space that is within walking distance to major businesses, the Inner Harbor, Medical Centers and local restaurants,”  said Ahmad Hajj, a principal with Broadwater Capital, in the partnership's statement . Broadwater purchased the 72,000 square foot building in September for $1.1 million, according to state tax records.

The Downtown Partnership and three municipal agencies scheduled a street fair and ribbon-cutting ceremony for 12: 30 p.m. today to celebrate improvements -- including colorful landscaping and new benches -- to the first block of Light Street.The Department of Public Works, Department of Planning and Baltimore Development Corp. and Downtown Partnership, which are sponsoring the fair, will make similar improvements throughout downtown.Pub Date: 9/24/98

Some dozen Baltimore restaurants will be adding soft-shell crab specials to their menus for Baltimore's fifth annual Soft-Shell Crab Celebration. The restaurant promotion, sponsored by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, will run May 24 through June 2. The participating restaurants include Alexander's Tavern , The Black Olive , Diamond Tavern, Grille 700 , J. Paul's , Kona Grill , Miss Shirley's , Pabu , The Oceanaire , Phillips Seafood , Regi's American Bistro , Roy's , Ryleigh's Oyster, Ten Ten , Townhouse Kitchen & Bar and Vino Rosina . On the eve of the 10-day celebration, Downtown Partnership and Vino Rosina will host a five-course soft-shell crab tasting featuring chef Jesse Sandlin's contemporary interpretations of classic recipes.

You'd think a receptionist's duties would be limited to answering phones and greeting clients.According to a safety seminar held yesterday by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc., it appears the job description also includes preventing office theft, soothing disgruntled employees and asking for detailed information from those calling in bomb threats."

A federal judge yesterday rejected a challenge against the Downtown Partnership in Baltimore, saying its "move-along" lTC policy does not violate the constitutional rights of panhandlers or the homeless.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued last year, saying the policy of police and Downtown Partnership security guards amounted to harassment. Baltimore and its Police Department settled the ACLU's claims with a promise to educate officers and allow the organization to monitor arrests.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake intends to introduce legislation to the Baltimore City Council that would provide a 15-year tax break to apartment developments in downtown. The mayor announced the news at the annual meeting of the Downtown Partnership on Oct. 4. “The Mayor's office, Finance Department and Downtown Partnership developed a targeted 15-year tax credit program for newly-constructed and conversion residential projects in downtown,” Rawlings-Blake told the crowd near the end of her speech.

At a forgettable, long-shuttered building on North Liberty Street that people hurry past without a second glance, LaTrice Whitaker will be selling cupcakes, playing jazz and pouring mugs of gourmet coffee. At a similarly empty building nearby, two local men will showcase furniture they craft by hand from salvaged wood. And if Sarah Doherty has her way, after sundown every night, the blank facade of 307 W. Baltimore St. will become a virtual movie screen as she projects video artworks onto its arched front windows.

Nearly 1,000 market-rate apartments would be added to downtown Baltimore in the next few years if three projects announced in recent days are completed. "It seems like it all came to fruition this week, but we've been working for a year, year and a half, to get to this point," said Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership, which launched a campaign in spring 2011 to encourage the conversion of underused downtown office buildings into residences. The newest plans include the renovation of one of Baltimore's most distinctive buildings, the conversion of a former department store warehouse and the overhaul of several buildings off a heavily trafficked city center corner.

Developers converting older office buildings into apartments or building new complexes could get a significant tax break under a measure the Baltimore City Council approved Monday. The legislation is aimed at addressing a glut of vacancies in office buildings downtown, encouraging new or converted apartments in six other neighborhoods, and drawing new residents to the city. The list of requirements to qualify for the tax break is short: The development must be in one of the seven areas, must be a project involving at least 50 apartment units, and must have an environmentally friendly certification.

Responding to growing demand for more apartments in downtown Baltimore, owners of the Tremont Plaza Hotel will start converting the all-suites property later this year into a mix of rental units and long-term guest suites, the hotel's developer said Monday. William C. Smith & Co. Inc. bought the St. Paul Place building in the early 1980s and transformed it from apartments and offices into a boutique hotel. But Smith has seen more demand for long-term stays and hopes to fill a niche for corporate assignments, said Carol Chatham, the company's vice president of marketing.