Property

Haven't paid your city property taxes? Then you're on the city's list of owners whose properties could end up in tax sale this May, along with nearly 27,000 others who (as of last week) were behind on taxes, water bills or other city tabs. That's more than 10 percent of city properties, located in neighborhoods as varied as Poppleton and the Inner Harbor . If previous years are any judge, many owners will pay up quickly and avoid tax sale altogether. Here's an interactive map that shows where all the properties are. You can click on the dots for more details, including the address, who owns and how much the city says they owe. (Keep in mind that some may have paid already -- and at least one is an error .)

Nearly 27,000 city properties in March were in danger of going to tax sale, but ultimately about 10,600 had liens included in the auction Monday. Investors bought 6,545 of the lien certificates , which raised $20 million for the city, according to the Finance Department. It's not unusual for property owners to pay up in April, just before the annual spring tax sale. But one of the narrowest misses this year was a case in which the homeowner paid last month -- after she learned that the state had retroactively reduced a tax credit on her property -- and the city lost the check.

Albert Lord doesn't like to wait - not in business or on the golf course. The colorful chairman of student loan behemoth Sallie Mae, who's embroiled in a nasty fight over the failed sale of the company, has spent 40 years in the accounting and banking industries. He said that experience should have instilled in him a measure of patience, but it hasn't. Whether in traffic, at the office or on the links, Lord said, he just doesn't like to wait. He can't do much about the first two, but he's got a sure-fire solution for the last one: He's building his own, an 18-hole golf course on land he's acquired amid shuttered tobacco farms and grazing horses in southern Anne Arundel County.

Kristina Suson's home wasn't part of the city's tax sale Monday, but it was a close call. Baltimore places liens on properties for unpaid property taxes, water bills and other municipal debts, then puts the liens up for auction every spring — allowing investors to buy them and either collect or move to foreclose. The city auctioned liens on about 10,600 properties on Monday, finding buyers for 6,545 of them and raising $20 million. Suson ended up on this year's list, to her surprise, after the state retroactively reduced a property tax credit she'd received in 2009.

The former St. Mary's College in Howard County, once a seminary and retreat for priests of the Redemptorists order, went up in flames yesterday morning, in a blaze that state fire officials have labeled suspicious.County firefighters will let the five-story brick structure in Ilchester smolder out over the next few days, then have it demolished.Investigators with the state fire marshal's office are calling the blaze suspicious because the building has been vacant since the 1970s, according to Allen L. Ward, deputy chief state fire marshal.

Dear Mr. Azrael:My question concerns a deed on a property taken out by joint tenants in entireties.Subsequent to the execution of that deed there was a divorce, and the property is still held by both myself and my ex-spouse. I'm wondering if I need to change that joint tenants by entireties or does it change automatically. How would I deal with that?Karl Goslin Artemas, Pa. Dear Mr. Goslin:Couples who get divorced need to carefully consider the effect their divorce will have on real estate they acquired together while married.

The Baltimore Development Corp. announced Tuesday that it is seeking proposals from groups to redevelop city-owned property in the Broadway East neighborhood. Acting on behalf of the city, the development agency set Aug. 3 as the deadline for bids for a former Department of Transportation maintenance and warehouse facility bounded roughly by Oliver, Wolfe and Gay streets; Llewelyn Avenue; and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor tracks. Containing seven vacant structures and zoned for industrial use, the 3.5-acre site is close to the Johns Hopkins medical campus in East Baltimore.

When I read about an effort in the Baltimore City Council to obtain corporate sponsorship for city buildings and property, I could not resist making a list of possible new appellations and potential partnerships for our town. One of the first pieces of municipal property that came to mind was the Shot Tower. Perhaps I thought about it because I can see it from my desk, if I lean back in my chair as if I am taking a snooze (a posture I often assume in the late afternoon). From my vantage point, not much has been happening at the tower other than an American flag occasionally flying atop it (which was, at one point earlier this year, inexplicably replaced with a smiley-face flag)

St. Agnes Hospital said Friday that it has no plans to acquire the property of the neighboring Cardinal Gibbons School or to expand beyond its current footprint. The hospital's supposed interest in the Cardinal Gibbons property has been the subject of longstanding rumors that resurfaced this week when the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced that the high school for boys would close at the end of the school year. Cardinal Gibbons is the only high school among the 13 schools the archdiocese plans to shut down in June.

— Hundreds of industrial buildings in Maryland owned by the federal government — from warehouses at the Antietam National Battlefield to a machine shop in Curtis Bay — would be sold or demolished under a White House initiative to dispose of excess government property. In an effort to save billions of dollars annually in upkeep and energy costs on the often-vacant buildings, the Obama administration proposed last year ditching 14,000 properties the government no longer needs.

Two copper-theft suspects arrested Tuesday on the Spring Grove Hospital Center campus in Catonsville have been charged with burglary, theft and destruction of property, according to Maryland State Police. Police have also recovered more than 130 pounds of copper pipe the pair had collected before their arrests, which state police said would be worth about $400 if sold as scrap. Charged were Dennis W. Dyer, 43, of the 8100 block of Mild Haven Road in Dundalk, and Matthew R. Blizzard, 29, who police believe lives in the Baltimore County men's homeless shelter off Wade Ave. on the psychiatric hospital's campus.

I would like to thank Councilman David Marks, the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations, the West Towson Community Association, Nancy Hafford and Scott Jenkins for their assistance in stopping the proposed increase in density at The Colony at Kenilworth. Aimco, the owners of The Colony, have consistently refused to maintain their property in a way that is conducive to comfortable living in Baltimore County. They have refused, until just recently, to communicate and cooperate with Towson University's Student Life organizations to help control their large student population.

The dormant liquor license has been reactivated at 924 North Charles Street, the former home of the Brass Elephant. The approval came at Thursday's meeting of the Baltimore City Liquor License Board. Within a few weeks, the property will reopen as The Museum, according to the board's president Stephan Fogelman. Faced with opposition from neighborhood groups, attempts to reactivate the license stalled in February, when Charles Street Restaurant, Inc., the holding company that operated the Brass Elephant, asked the liquor board for a postponement.  On the eve of the February hearing, however, the association sent its members an email listing concerns about the plans for the property, particularly the inclusion of live entertainment.

What the state doesn't know about your property could hit you in the tax bill. That's why it's a good idea to call the state Department of Assessments and Taxation and request your property " worksheet ," which gives details about the land and improvements that assessors use every three years to revalue your home or business property. Once you have it in hand, you can take a look and see if anything's amiss. A nonexistent building, say. That's what happened to one of Tom Kimmitt's clients.

A large chunk of waterfront property in Port Covington is set to go on the auction block in June after its previous owner, Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, defaulted on a multimillion-dollar mortgage. The now-defunct developer owed BB&T Bank more than $10.7 million for the roughly 10-acre parcel in South Baltimore off East Cromwell Street. A trustee-ordered sale is scheduled June 14. The foreclosure sale brings new hope to an area filled with weedy lots — an area where developers have struggled for decades to get a foothold.

Those who wish to lose weight - and with summer swim season around the corner that's probably most of us - know that there are two easy ways to sabotage one's diet and exercise program. The first is to try to do too much all at once and fail, and the other is to say it's all futile and just keep doing what we've been doing. So it's not terribly surprising that Baltimore's property tax reduction program approved last Monday by the City Council is receiving a similar reception from those who either believe the city can't afford it or claim it's just not enough.

The Baltimore County Planning Board voted unanimously Thursday to allow the former Solo Cup property in Owings Mills to be redeveloped as an office and retail hub called Foundry Row. The 385,000 square foot development is expected to be anchored by a Wegmans grocery store, a fitness chain, and a sporting goods store. There will also be restaurants, more retail stores and 40,000 square feet of office space. The re-development of the 52-acre property will cost $140 million, according to a Thursday statement from project developer Greenberg Gibbons.

Dear Mr. Azrael:Entity-wise, can a levy be placed on real property in a living trust name if a court order is directed at the trustee's personal name and not under his name as trustee? Can you cite the applicable Maryland rule? M. Baratta, BaltimoreDear Mr. Baratta:Many laypersons -- and even some lawyers -- are confused by terms such as "levy" or "lien" on real property.A "lien" means a charge or liability binding on property for the payment of a debt or legal obligation.Creditors usually prefer to have their debts secured by a "lien" on the debtor's property.

Regarding Arthur Hirsch 's thorough article ("Plans for old distillery stir controversy in Dundalk," May 3), I would submit some additional relevant information. First, the rezoning of the property as requested by developer John Vontran and the meetings that were conducted on his behalf by the Dundalk Renaissance Corp. raise concerns. One of those meetings was a private one held at the DRC. That meeting was announced in an e-mail to selected members of the community sent by Scott Holupka, a board member of the DRC and a member of the Baltimore County Planning Board.

The Baltimore County Planning Board voted unanimously Thursday to allow the former Solo Cup property in Owings Mills to be redeveloped as an office and retail hub called Foundry Row. The 385,000 square foot development is expected to be anchored by a Wegmans grocery store, a fitness chain, and a sporting goods store. There will also be restaurants, more retail stores and 40,000 square feet of office space. The re-development of the 52-acre property will cost $140 million, according to a Thursday statement from project developer Greenberg Gibbons.