Developers look to build next Inner Harbor

11.12.2004

The Daily Record, Vol. 116, Num 034

Just south of M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, is a waterfront area developers want to turn into the next Inner Harbor, complete with a $100 million Sea World-like tourist attraction and half-a-million-dollar homes.
Sounds preposterous, doesn’t it? To begin with, there can’t possibly be any undeveloped waterfront left in downtown Baltimore City. If there is, it must be completely undesirable if developers haven’t moved on it yet. Probably nothing more than a couple of established dreamers foolishly trying to duplicate one of the most successful urban renewal efforts in U.S History. No way.

You may be right. But first, you might want to suspend disbelief long enough to hear who is planning what for where. After all, it was just a generation ago that the Inner Harbor was widely considered a pipedream.

The Middle Branch is an “L” –shaped finger of the Patapsco River. The top of the “L” comes within blocks of M&T Bank Stadium. The eastern and northern shores are made up of Federal Hill and South Baltimore. The neighborhoods of Cherry Hill and Westport stand on the western and southern shores. The Hanover Street Bridge connects the two sides.
The Middle Branch area has two distinct identities. With a pristine park and glassy water, it’s an ecological dream. With a number of hulking, empty warehouse buildings, it’s also something of an industrial wasteland.

To be sure, its and unlikely spot for major development. But where there is water, there is possibility and amid the industrial scars lies potential for the Middle Branch.

“The Middle Branch represents as much potential as the Inner Harbor, but it engages the waterfront much different way, one that’s more ecological-based,” said Andrew B. Frank, executive vice president of the Baltimore Development Corp., a quasi-public economic development agency. “It’s the answer to the Inner Harbor’s hard edges and commercialism.”
Just three miles north, the Inner Harbor –a crown jewel that redefined Baltimore’s downtown and made it a regional tourist destination –is abuzz with shoppers, office workers and traffic. There is little in the way of green space among the paved piers and skyscrapers.

The Middle Branch area is rough by comparison. Some of the streets are barely paved and the park, despite being painstakingly manicured, is underused by nearly every standard.

Its recent past has been stained with factory closings and layoffs. Just last year the Carr-Lowrey glassmaking plant closed, putting 250 people out of work.

New Vision
Although its past is deeply rooted in industry, the new life envisioned for Middle Branch is one of luxury housing and retailing.

In a vivid example of the faith developers have in the area, the Carr-Lowrey factory was acquired by a group led by the Henrietta Corp. The company has not revealed plans for the site. City officials said it is awaiting planning guidelines for the area that will be released in two weeks. But Henrietta is known for turning old Baltimore buildings into upscale housing.

“He’s a responsible developer waiting to see what direction we want to go in,” Otis Rolley, the city’s planning director, said of Henrietta’s owner, Pat Turner. “I’m looking forward to his final ideas in terms of development. I’m sure he’ll be seeking some zoning changes.”
Turner could not be reached for comment.

Just south of the factory, the development team of Consolidated Investment Management Group and RHL Development intends to build Water View Overlook, a 65-unit luxury condominium building and 40 townhomes on 10 acres of land overlooking the water. The homes are expected to start in the $300,00s, with the top end units going for closer to $500,000. The development is scheduled to open next year.

While the vision for the area is still evolving, housing appears to have taken the lead as the driving force.

“The area reminds me of Minneapolis, where they have these really terrific lakes within the city with neighborhoods built right up around them,” Fran said. “You can walk right up to the edge and those lakes provide all kinds of recreational opportunities from walking paths and outdoor concerts to fishing and boating.”

Using the area’s nature is not a new idea. As far back as 1990, the Urban Design Committee of the city’s chapter of the American Institute of Architects suggested using the shore as a family oriented recreational area.

Although Middle Branch Park received major upgrades, the vision for the area was never realized.

Major Force
But this time around. The plan potentially has a driving institutional force behind it. The National Aquarium in Baltimore is negotiating with city officials to acquire roughly 20 acres in the area where it hopes to build a $100 million expansion.

“It will be very important Middle Branch,” said Randall Griffin, chairman of the aquarium’s board of directors. “Not just the moving but the expansion.”

The first phase is a $35 million relocation of the aquarium’s animal care facility, currently located in a Fells Point warehouse. The aquarium’s lease expires for that site in 2008 and a move to the Middle Branch is contingent on the city’s ability relocate the maintenance garage it operates there.

The city has received $300,000 in federal funding to relocate the garage, but Frank said the details are still being worked out.
“There are dozens of things that have to happen as part of the due diligence,” he said. “But it’s exciting and the potential motivated us both to take the leap.”
The 50,000-square-foot animal care facility is just a small part of an estimated 300,000-square-foot aquarium campus that would increase the organization’s educational component and potentially create a ticketed tourist attraction.
“We’ll end up with very significant education component, an exhibit school… and increase in the research component,” Griffin said. “There is the potential for a hotel on the site where people can come and stay and get a degree or be there for a week.”
While the build-out for the 20-acre site is years away, its impact on the Middle Branch area cannot be overstated, Frank said.

“This particular project has greatest transformational ability,” he said. “It sets the stage for the city’s evolving vision for Middle Branch.”

The aquarium’s plans –including the adaptive reuse of a maintenance garage and the construction of an environmentally friendly educational facility –fit with the city’s ecological approach for the Middle Branch.

“We see it as an ideal place to really advance green development. Our plan will be environmentally sensitive while also pushing density,” said Rolley, the planning director.
The exact vision will be more apparent when the city releases its planning report for the area Nov. 26, but Rolley said it will balance development and conservation.

“We think it’s a jewel with Middle Branch Park,” Rolley said. “We want a lot of people at the site, but we want it in a little more environmentally respectful way than the Inner Harbor.”

“We want a lot of people at the site, but we want it in a little more environmentally respectful way than the inner harbor.” – Otis Rolley