NEWS
By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan | December 23, 1999
The Annapolis administration plans to form two committees by next week to study the construction of a garage on a city-owned site on West Street, as part of a compromise to quell a controversy that has consumed the state capital in recent weeks.Jon Arason, director of the city's Planning and Zoning Department, said he is selecting representatives from downtown Annapolis' residential and business communities to serve on the nine- to 11-member committees. The city also has commissioned a separate study of the historic significance of five turn-of-the-century buildings at the site.
NEWS
BY A SUN STAFF WRITER | February 2, 1999
Annapolis officials are seeking name suggestions for the new traffic circle at West Street and Taylor Avenue.The city Department of Planning and Zoning wants proposals from residents and organizations accompanied by a written explanation of 200 words or less of why the name should be chosen.Only one suggestion is allowed per applicant or group, and the name and phone number of someone to contact should be included.The deadline for nominations is Monday, after which the Taylor/West Design Advisory Committee will hold a public hearing.
NEWS
By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan | April 5, 1999
An Irish developer is planning to break ground in June on a 124-room European-style hotel on West Street, a welcome development along a corridor Annapolis officials have been pushing for years.Ted Joyce, a real estate developer who moved to Annapolis two years ago from Kerry County, Ireland, plans to complete his four-story hotel at 176 West St., two blocks from the 214-room Loews Annapolis Hotel, by spring 2000."There's a market for it," Joyce said. A colleague "came to visit me and he wanted to be in the city center, and he couldn't get a room.
NEWS
By Matthew Mosk | June 16, 1999
Annapolis will build a 500-space garage on West Street in an effort to ease the parking crunch and spur downtown reinvestment, Mayor Dean L. Johnson announced yesterday.The city offered $1.1 million for a 37,000-square foot property that covers nearly a block, starting at the corner of West Street and Colonial Avenue. The deal is set to close tomorrow.City officials praised Cecil Claggett Knighton for shearing $625,000 off the property's appraised value in making the deal."By virtue of his philanthropic gesture, we are now in the position to move forward with plans to build a state-of-the-art parking garage on inner West Street," Johnson said in a statement.
NEWS
By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan | February 25, 1999
Dining at Ciao on West Street is sort of like meeting an intelligent, handsome and unbelievably wealthy man, then finding out that he steps on ants, lies compulsively or has some other horrendous flaw.The ambience is wonderful. With its windows in the style of an old English apothecary, warm, pastel walls and sturdy wood tables draped with table cloths so freshly pressed you can almost smell the steam, the 2-year-old restaurant feels like a secret hideaway from the hubbub of West Street.There is, however, a big negative to the place -- its food was merely above average and spotty in quality.
NEWS
By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan | April 5, 1999
An Irish developer is planning to break ground in June on a 124-room European-style hotel on West Street, a welcome development along a corridor Annapolis officials have been pushing for years.Ted Joyce, a real estate developer who moved to Annapolis two years ago from Kerry County, Ireland, plans to complete his four-story hotel at 176 West St., two blocks from the 214-room Loews Annapolis Hotel, by spring 2000."There's a market for it," Joyce said. A colleague "came to visit me and he wanted to be in the city center, and he couldn't get a room.
NEWS
By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan | October 24, 1999
An Annapolis developer is planning to build a 225-room hotel, theater, office buildings and apartments along West Street -- an area that city officials and residents have long hoped would become an economically vibrant hub in the state capital.City officials say they are thrilled with the preliminary design plans for the $101 million project that developer Jerome J. Parks submitted last week to the Annapolis Department of Planning and Zoning.The project -- named Park Place -- includes the hotel, with a European-style facade; two buildings with retail space on the first floor and 232,000 square feet of office space; a 950-seat auditorium; 208 condominiums and apartments; and a 1,400-space garage.
NEWS
By Douglas Lamborne | November 29, 1999
BEFORE THE Christmas fuss settles down, there will be two very public and popular holiday events in downtown Annapolis -- Midnight Madness on Dec. 9 and the Christmas Lights Parade two nights later.Midnight Madness, staged on Main Street, Maryland Avenue and inner West Street and in West Annapolis, has evolved over the years into an evening when residents try to see how many of their neighbors they can meet.It is not necessarily a big occasion for commerce, although it largely takes place in the shopping district -- and the merchants are as much neighbor as business owner.
NEWS
By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan | November 23, 1999
Preservationists, downtown residents and aldermen urged Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson last night to postpone today's scheduled demolition of four 100-year-old buildings along West Street until a public hearing can be held on the plan.Annapolis officials plan to tear down four buildings in the 100 block of West St. this morning to construct a temporary 89-space parking lot while a design is commissioned for a parking garage with retail and office space.City officials have publicly discussed building a parking garage on the 37,000-square-foot site since they purchased it in June, but Alderman Louise Hammond said residents and preservationists were not informed of the date the demolition would take place.
NEWS
By Norris West | December 19, 1999
NOT EVERY old building in Annapolis is historic.Some properties obviously do qualify. The Old Treasury Building on State Circle, built in the 1730s, is the oldest building in the state, according to the Historic Annapolis Foundation. The William Paca House on Prince George Street was built about 30 years later for a planter and governor who signed the Declaration of Independence.But five vacant houses in the 100 block of West St. aren't worthy of perpetual preservation just because they're old.Three of the century-old buildings are covered in vinyl siding -- yellow, lime green and olive.