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Though City Council just approved key steps on the path to revitalizing Baltimore’s prized downtown waterfront, it will be years before the nearly $1 billion vision is complete.
MCB Real Estate and head developer P. David Bramble plan to revamp the promenades and park spaces, demolishing Harborplace’s decades-old pavilions and replacing them with commercial buildings, the curved rooftop park building known as “the sail” and two high-rise residential towers.
But to realize that expensive — and controversial — vision, the developer must navigate a political and bureaucratic labyrinth.
Since Bramble unveiled his plan at the end of October, proposed changes to land-use requirements around the harbor have worked their way through a planning commission review and City Council. The city has allowed MCB a three-year, rent-free runway for pre-development work. Colin Tarbert, president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation, said it would optimistically take another three years to get through permitting, financing, construction and a ribbon-cutting on the first building, an event he predicted could come near the end of the decade.
The three bills to amend land-use requirements on the waterfront cleared the council Monday, 14-1, with Councilman Ryan Dorsey casting the only votes against the package.
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Here’s what comes next:
- Mayor Brandon Scott’s desk (spring 2024): With City Council’s near-unanimous approval, the enabling legislation for the redevelopment goes to the mayor’s desk, where all three bills amending land-use requirements on the waterfront are expected to get his signature.
- Certify ballot language (Aug. 2): One of the three bills approved by City Council, proposed changes to the city charter, also requires approval in a citywide referendum. The city must submit ballot language to the Maryland State Board of Elections by early August.
- Voters approve city charter changes (Nov. 5): Perhaps the biggest test for Harborplace will come in the general election, when Baltimore voters will be asked to approve the City Council’s proposed changes to the charter, which would allow residential towers in the waterfront park. Without citywide approval, the project as proposed is dead in the water. But odds of making it through look good, given the track record of Baltimore voters for approving ballot measures.
- Design reviews: The design review process for MCB’s Harborplace proposal got underway in November, when its renderings took a licking before the Urban Design & Architecture Advisory Panel. The developer’s high-level vision, known as its “master plan,” will get one more meeting in front of the architectural advisory panel before requiring approval from the city planning commission — a step that could happen before the November general election. More granular designs of MCB’s individual building proposals will go through a similar review before the design panel and require their own, separate approvals from the Planning Commission, according to a Department of Planning presentation. Such detailed designs can be expensive, said Daniel Taylor, managing director of business and neighborhood development with the Baltimore Development Corporation, and MCB likely wouldn’t move forward with this step until after the November referendum.
- Many, many construction permits: The number of permits necessary for such a massive development project will be large, covering everything from underground foundation work to later phases of construction, Taylor said. Many city agencies, including the housing, public works and planning departments, would have a stake in the permitting process. Taylor noted that the bulk of this phase would be securing individual permits for each of the five new buildings.
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- Historic preservation and sustainability reviews: Folded into this wide-ranging permitting process, the Harborplace plans will go through reviews by the city Office of Sustainability — ensuring compliance with certain landscape and floodplain requirements — as well as historic preservation assessments, which could impose other requirements on the development, according to the Department of Planning presentation.
- Approval for public space and roadway changes: Running in parallel with the permitting process for building construction, MCB will also need authorization to redevelop the public spaces, such as the promenades, park areas and bordering roadways. This would likely be covered in what’s known as a “developer’s agreement” — or possibly multiple agreements. Encompassed in this process are reviews by a wide range of city agencies, while anything touching the water is subject to review by the Maryland Department of the Environment. The city Department of Transportation will review a traffic analysis submitted by the developer outlining the consequences of proposed lane reduction along busy Pratt and Light streets.
- Ground lease amendments: Moving forward with MCB Real Estate’s designs will require changes to the Harborplace ground lease, the document dating to 1979 that outlines the city’s ownership of the waterfront property. Baltimore’s Board of Estimates approved amendments to the lease in April 2023 granting MCB three years rent-free to provide breathing room for pre-development work. Another round of changes will be needed before the mayor-controlled spending board — likely after the November referendum.
- Fundraising $900 million: MCB has estimated it will need $500 million in private financing along with $400 million in a combination of state and federal dollars to rehab the public spaces of the waterfront. Developers typically fundraise as they pursue permits, and some kinds of public funding could subject the project to additional bureaucratic reviews, Tarbert and Taylor said.
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Adam Willis covers city government for The Banner, including the impacts of the large COVID-19 stimulus package that Baltimore received from the federal government.
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