Imagine this. It’s several years in the future. You live in a newly completed residential tower in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and you need groceries. You take the elevator down from your 32nd-floor penthouse apartment, step outside to where the Harborplace pavilions once stood, and look around.
Where is your car?
MCB Real Estate — the firm that wants to raze the tourist destination’s struggling pavilions and reimagine Harborplace — proposes constructing two apartment buildings on Light Street along that waterfront that would include a total 900 units. MCB touts the walkability of its designs, but at a hearing Thursday, city planning commissioners pointed out a different issue: Some of these hypothetical residents might own cars.
“I think pedestrian access you’ve addressed extremely well,” said Doug McCoach, a commissioner and a former city director of planning. “Vehicular access, though, seems a little vague.”
McCoach said he would have liked to see underground parking considered for Harborplace, though he acknowledged there are plenty of other hurdles to clear first.
Before anything can move forward, city voters this November would need to approve a ballot question allowing housing at the Inner Harbor. Then, state and federal governments must pledge hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds. MCB also must line up financing and land anchor tenants for its office and retail space.
Whether — and when — the roughly $900 million plan gets built is still up in the air.
But at some point, commissioners said, the city and the development team will need to figure out where the cars go.
Part of the issue is that no one knows for sure what will happen to one of Baltimore’s most important intersections: Pratt and Light streets. While MCB has conducted its own traffic study, there has not been a formal study from the city, according to a staff report from the Department of Planning.
Director of Planning Chris Ryer said that might have to wait on the path of the Red Line, a planned east-west light rail line that has been revived by the administration of Gov. Wes Moore. MCB’s designs — which have been lauded by city and state officials — would decrease traffic lanes for cars while adding space for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit, which might include the Red Line.
Thursday’s meeting of the Baltimore Planning Commission was purely for review and public comments. There was no vote taken on the Harborplace plans. Overall, commissioners said MCB had responded well to criticism from both the public and a panel of architects.
A few dozen people attended the commission meeting, filling a room in the city’s administrative building. About 10 people, including representatives from the Baltimore Convention Center and the Greater Baltimore Committee, spoke in favor of the plans, framing the redevelopment as an opportunity to reignite interest in downtown Baltimore.
A handful of people spoke against the proposal, saying the city has been rushing to approve an expensive plan for taxpayers that might never pan out.
