NEWS
By Edward Gunts | August 6, 2009
Eager to see construction begin on a controversial "robotic" garage and apartment project planned for West Saratoga Street, the building's developer has agreed to let a mural be painted on two sides, and Baltimore's planning department has offered to help secure funding for it. Developer David Hillman of Southern Management Corp. in Vienna, Va., is working with the planning department and Baltimore's Office of Promotion and the Arts to select an artist to create the mural on the west and north sides of a 402-space, 80-foot-high garage that he wants to build at 18 W. Saratoga St. One possible subject of the mural is university and hospital founder Johns Hopkins, who owned a house that once stood where the garage would rise.
NEWS
By Edward Gunts | September 11, 2008
The shell of Baltimore's long-dormant Morris A. Mechanic Theatre would be partially preserved as part of a mixed-use complex containing a 30-story residential and hotel tower and commercial space, if its owners can obtain city approval and financing to carry out their latest plans. Renderings of the proposed development were filed with Baltimore's planning department this summer in preparation for a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. today by the Baltimore Planning Commission. The project is the latest of several hotel and residential towers proposed for construction in downtown Baltimore despite the uncertain real estate market.
NEWS
By Edward Gunts | August 4, 2008
Baltimore's Morris A. Mechanic Theatre has been closed for four years, but it's still a source of high drama for those curious about what will happen to the key downtown property. A year after Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation recommended that the dormant theater at 1 W. Baltimore St. be added to the city's landmark list as a way to protect it from demolition, the building's owners have come up with a redevelopment plan that would keep it standing, although not as a theater.
NEWS
By John Fritze | October 17, 2007
Otis Rolley III, who has served as Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's chief of staff since January, resigned from his powerful position and will help launch a nonprofit advocacy group focused on regional transportation, city officials said yesterday. Long considered a rising star in city government, Rolley submitted his resignation last week, according to a Dixon spokesman. His departure, which came as a surprise to many, represents one of the first major shakeups in the administration since Dixon won the primary election last month.
NEWS
By Doug Donovan | July 9, 2007
Donald D. Duncan, a longtime city planner who was an instrumental behind-the-scenes player in Inner Harbor renewal, died of brain cancer Tuesday at his home in Sedona, Ariz. He was 73. In 1967, he and two other graduate students at Cornell University had devised a master's thesis that concentrated on Baltimore, including a revitalization focus centered on the Inner Harbor. He was immediately hired by Baltimore's legendary Planning Director Larry Reich when he graduated with a master's degree in urban planning in 1967.
NEWS
By Andrew A. Green | August 31, 2006
The Board of Public Works rejected a proposal yesterday to move a small state agency from Baltimore to Prince George's County, a politically charged idea that pitted Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. against his frequent ally, Comptroller William Donald Schaefer. Dozens of elected officials and community activists from Prince George's crowded the ceremonial hearing room in the State House to plead for the relocation of the 110-person state Department of Planning, which they said would be a long-overdue recognition of the county's importance.
NEWS
By TIMOTHY B. WHEELER | August 11, 2006
The Ehrlich administration is moving ahead with plans to move the Maryland Department of Planning from its longtime state-owned offices in Baltimore to rented space in Prince George's County, despite being denied funding for the nearly $2 million relocation by the General Assembly. The Department of General Services has prepared a lease agreement effective July 1, 2007, for the planning agency to occupy new quarters in Largo, according to an internal document obtained by The Sun. The department "has been requested" to present the lease to the Board of Public Works for approval, says the document, which is dated Aug. 1. Henry Fawell, a spokesman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., said the administration is committed to the relocation to fulfill a four-year-old pledge.
NEWS
By JORGE VALENCIA | July 28, 2006
Residents of an Ellicott City neighborhood battling to force a developer to build fewer new homes on a disputed 3-acre lot lost a round at a Board of Appeals hearing this week. The members of the St. John's Manor community wanted the county to require developer Harmony Builders Inc. to devote nearly a third of the land to open space to retain forest, limiting the number of new homes that could be built. But the board sided with the planning department's decision to allow the developer to meet forest-conservation requirements by using other options, like planting trees elsewhere or paying the county a fee. Because of the Board of Appeals' unanimous decision Wednesday, the planning department can continue its strict interpretation of state and county regulations, which means the department may not demand more than the minimum requirement for open space from such a development, dubbed "infill."
NEWS
By JORGE VALENCIA | July 26, 2006
James Bieda had just moved into his Ellicott City home in October 2002 and was painting the walls with the help of neighbors when he got the notice in the mail. A local land developer had bought the house next door on 9010 Manordale Lane and the 3.04-acre lot that came with it. The developer's intention was to build four or five more houses on the property, a prospect that didn't please his St. John's Manor neighbors. "This development affects us," Bieda said recently, looking at the adjacent wooded property from his backyard.
NEWS
By TOM DUNKEL | April 2, 2006
In January, Greg Cantori and his wife, Renee, left their Pasadena home for five weeks and rented an apartment in Bogota, Colombia. It was a very different kind of vacation. The Cantoris were in the final stage of a rigorous adoption procedure, one that required them to take a figurative test drive with their prospective daughter. Things couldn't have gone better. Eleven-year-old Andrea proved to be the girl of their dreams. Surprisingly, Bogota also stole Greg's heart. "I felt like I was in Utopia," he says.