Redevelopment

Let's say you are a governor and need your state legislature to renew a highly effective economic development program that has helped a single jurisdiction, albeit one with a high concentration of poverty, much more than the rest of your state. Would you: A. Patiently explain to lawmakers the program's benefits, the rare opportunity to match a proven strategy with a community in need, and expect them to do the right thing. B. Bribe them. If you chose A, you have probably just killed the Maryland Heritage Structure Rehabilitation Tax Credit, a program that provides developers with a financial incentive to renovate older buildings that has helped bring an enormous amount of economic revitalization to Baltimore.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it is awarding $400,000 to the Baltimore Development Corp. to evaluate potentially contaminated property in the city for cleanup and redevelopment. The BDC, the city's economic development agency, is to receive two grants of $200,000 each after Oct. 1 to assess sites for contamination with hazardous substances or specifically with petroleum products. Shawn M. Garvin, the EPA's Mid-Atlantic regional administrator, said the grant funding is intended to serve as a catalyst for urban revitalization.

As the president of the largest trade group of commercial contractors in Maryland, I want to add my voice of support to the State Center redevelopment project planned for Midtown Baltimore. Given the tumultuous couple of years the construction industry has endured (of course, as difficult as things have been, we recognize that Maryland has fared significantly better than the rest of the country), State Center represents a tremendous opportunity for local contractors. But moreover, State Center represents a substantial opportunity for the fortunes of Baltimore and surrounding regions, as this project taps into the heart of the city's untapped market potential.

A vacant building in a prime location at Annapolis City Dock is about to be sold. An investment group led by Mark Ordan, CEO of Sunrise Senior Living, has signed a deal to buy the former Fawcett Boat Supplies building at 110 Compromise St. The building sits in a key spot in downtown Annapolis and will figure into the city's plans to redevelop the City Dock area. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, and Ordan said it won't be final until the proposal passes a five-month study period "to make sure we have the support and cooperation of the city and the various constituents.

Howard school officials have told the County Council that the plan to redevelop central Columbia could leave them without good ways to deal with unexpected school crowding once the work is in progress. Meanwhile, the council received assurances of cooperation on the plan to renovate Merriweather Post Pavilion and integrate it with Symphony Woods. The County Council discussed both topics last week, along with the dispute over affordable housing and issues involving environmental improvements and open space.

We agree with the conclusion of The Sun's editorial about the Sustainable Communities Tax Credit of 2010 ("Rethinking redevelopment," Feb. 8) -- that the program has been a proven stimulus for economic development. However, its characterization of our motives in proposing changes to it was incorrect. When you have a program that has been successful for 14 years, you can: A. Rest on its laurels. B. Look for ways to improve it. The O'Malley administration chose B. In fact, the track record of the program as a catalyst for construction jobs and neighborhood revitalization was one reason for wanting it to be extended elsewhere -- to tightly defined places jointly identified by the state and local governments where growth should be channeled.

Peter Angelos has a long history of philanthropy and has amply demonstrated his love for Baltimore over the years. Why, then, is he standing in the way of the desperately needed redevelopment of the State Center project? Our community group, Midtown Matters, has the goal of making Baltimore a better place to live. Our current focus is on the State Center project. The working-class communities surrounding the proposed revitalization area have worked tirelessly, for more than five years and through hundreds of meetings, to make this project a reality.

The team picked to redevelop the 62-acre O'Donnell Heights public housing project in Southeast Baltimore has started construction after closing on $20 million in funding for the rental homes in phase one. The Michaels Development Co. and AHC Greater Baltimore, the master developers, said Thursday that Bozzuto Construction Co. will build 76 townhomes with funding secured in January. The largest piece was raised by selling federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Eventually, the approximately 300 units of low-rise public housing on site will be torn down, but that is still years out. Earlier phases of the redevelopment project will rise on vacant land.

Redevelopment and revitalization have emerged as key themes in the matchup between Democrat Vicki Almond and Republican Jon Herbst for the District 2 Baltimore County Council seat being vacated by Kevin Kamenetz, the Democratic nominee for county executive. To Almond, the strip malls dotted with vacant storefronts and clusters of gas stations and convenience stores in parts of the district indicate the need for comprehensive redevelopment plans, particularly for the Reisterstown Road corridor and downtown Pikesville.

The city's Board of Estimates approved two deals Wednesday aimed at redeveloping portions of Pennsylvania Avenue in Druid Heights and Washington Boulevard in Pigtown, the Baltimore Development Corp. said. The BDC, the city's quasi-governmental economic development arm, said the development plans would bring mixed-use projects to what are now vacant and decaying stretches of two Main Street commercial corridors. The city is selling five properties, at 2101 through 2111 Pennsylvania Ave., for $13,000 to Sphinx Club Complex LLC, the BDC said.

Baltimore County has scheduled a series of public meetings and workshops on the potential redevelopment of parts of the U.S. Route 40 corridor in Middle River. The meetings will be held at Rosedale Baptist Church, located at 9202 Philadelphia Road. "Input from community residents, businesses, and property owners will help craft a long-term vision that could guide redevelopment over the next 25 years," county officials said in an announcement of the meetings. "Decisions about whether or when to redevelop property will be made by property owners.

A half-empty former shopping mall in Eldersburg will be remade as a Walmart-anchored plaza under plans announced Monday by owner Black Oak Associates. In a move long awaited by many in the community, the Owings Mills-based developer will spend $50 million to renovate Carrolltown Center into Eldersburg Commons, with new restaurants and home, fashion and beauty retailers. For a decade, Carrolltown Center has been a community sore spot. The interior of the small community mall was closed in 2005, and the property languished with a diminishing roster of tenants and an abandoned movie theater.

Saint Agnes Hospital and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation said Friday that they have raised $1.4 million to renovate the baseball field of the former Cardinal Gibbons School, preserving a site where Babe Ruth once played. The hospital, meanwhile, is firming up plans to add homes and offices around the field, on the campus of the Catholic school that closed in 2010. Saint Agnes plans to break ground on the baseball field within the next year, launching what officials have envisioned as Gibbons Commons, a mixed-use development on Caton Avenue, across the street from the hospital.

Redevelopment plans for Carrolltown Center will be unveiled at the next Town Hall meeting, hosted by Carroll County Commissioner Doug Howard. Dixon Harvey, of Black Oak Associates, will discuss plans and a timetable for the project at the meeting on Monday, April 22. "At long last, our community will see plans for the redevelopment of Carrolltowne Mall," Howard said in a press release. "This is an important milestone in our community and should be an exciting meeting. " The troubled shopping center at Liberty and Ridge roads has seen K-Mart and Sears anchor stores shuttered.

Baltimore's Lexington Market proudly calls itself the oldest continuously operating public market in the nation — and home to some of the best crab cakes in the world at its famed Faidley's Seafood cafe. Yet even a venerable landmark that's been in business since 1785 needs an occasional upgrade. That's why the announcement last week of plans for a $20 million to $25 million renovation of the market is welcome news for everyone who values its historical significance. But simply making cosmetic changes to the building's interior won't be enough to attract new vendors and customers to the site.

H&S Bakery is moving its Harbor East distribution center to an East Baltimore business park, freeing up prime real estate that the breadmaker-turned-developer has eyed for development for more than a decade. The facility, bounded by South Central Avenue and South Eden, Fleet and Aliceanna streets, lies on the edge of the fast-growing shopping, hotel and business district. Its future home, meanwhile, is a development that was once in bankruptcy and has struggled to attract tenants.

As a homeowner with property bordering the proposed Laurel Gardens redevelopment, I'm disappointed that the Laurel City Council chose to ignore the concerns of homeowners and residents of the complex Wednesday night, May 30. The council's decision to approve the redevelopment put the interests of Laurel Realty, with its owners' long-time connections to Laurel officials, above the interests of many area homeowners and tenants of Laurel Gardens....

When it was built a century ago, Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station was embraced as a new gateway to the city. The elaborate Beaux-Arts building announced Baltimore's significance to the nation and anticipated serving generations of travelers to come. Today, it remains an important passenger rail station, not only for Amtrak but for MARC commuter rail customers, most of whom are headed to and from the nation's capital. But its magnificent architecture suggests it's more historic than inviting.

Pimlico is home to some of the most exhilarating and important horse races in history. It annually hosts the Preakness, the second stop on the road to the Triple Crown and primary revenue-driver for its ownership group. As the Maryland Jockey Club charts its future, though, the immediate focus appears to be on its lesser-known track. In a preliminary capital improvement plan submitted to the state late last week and made public Tuesday, the Jockey Club outlined a plan to essentially rebuild Laurel Park as a mixed-use development featuring retail and a hotel surrounding the track.