After multiple conflicting reports, today’s Baltimore Sun has an article revealing that the SAM’s club in Port Covington is indeed being relocated to Glen Burnie, but the Wal-Mart is staying.  Which sucks, because the Wal-Mart is a real dump, but the SAM’s Club is pretty nice.

Basically the article states that the retail stores were premature, and need more residential in the area to support them.

“Clearly the area will go through a transition, and it hasn’t gotten there yet,” Spector said.  “Residential is very important down there,” Spector added. “Right now there is not residential there and retail obviously requires residential bodies.”

Rumors have been circulating for years about the future fate of the Wal-Mart and SAMS club in South Baltimore’s Port Covington area.  The latest rumors have indicated that the two stores will be closing as early as January 08 and that the retailers are replacing them with a SAMS in Glen Burnie and a Wal-Mart in Southwest Baltimore. 

The development of these two big box stores on waterfront property has been controversial form the beginning.  And it seems that the SAMS club does well but the Wal-Mart has never lived up to expectations.  A entire retail complex was originally planned and promised for the site - but years later the two super stores sit alone among unfinished parking lots.

A March 2007 Baltimore Business Journal article covered the subject in detail.

The spaces have remained blank nearly five years since a Connecticut developer opened the city’s first Wal-Mart in a once empty rail yard. And, by all indications, it seems the spaces will remain blank in the foreseeable future. The reason: Its original developer said it had no interest in staying at Port Covington for the long haul and its new owners have no immediate plans to develop the site.

Kodiak Properties LLC and Finmarc Management Inc. of Bethesda purchased the site that houses the Port Covington Shopping Center in early 2005.

However the new owners have stated that they have no immediate plans to develop the land.  Apparently they want to wait it out until market conditions are better - not sure when that would be.  There have been all kinds of retail and residential uses discussed for the area, but it seems that none of these have gained enough traction.  This article talked about one such plan.

The waterfront property with easy adjacent access to 95 seems too valuable and has too much potential to remain undeveloped - it’s just a question of what and when it will be redeveloped.  One bright spot of news for the area is the Port Covington Maritime Center, which is where Tidewater Yacht Services moved to from its former location on Key Highway next to Domino Sugar.

This PDF shows the proposed site plan for the former Chesapeake Paperboard site in Locust Point.  The plan originally started out in this same type of Main Street concept, but later morphed into one central over sized structure. Both the city and community special committee objected the revised plan.  Luckily developer Mark Sapperstein came back with a third concept (shown here) that was much more in line with the Main Street concept he originally sold to the community.  I’m sure the plan has changed since this was created back in October 06, but it’s the latest version that I have seen.

The last word was still that the developer had planned to have the grocer Harris Teeter as the anchor store.  UPDATE - The Baltimore Business Journal posted that the new plans have one approval from UDARP.

Yesterday’s Baltimore Business Journal published an article about how the Chesapeake Paperboard site (The Shoppes at Fort) plans have been delayed.  Developer Mark Sapperstein is building a mixed use project on the 9-acre property.  The project’s master plan was already approved by a Locust Point Civic Association and the city.  However, the more detailed architecture plans did not meet the Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel (UDARP) requirements.  Aesthetic changes such as brick color and changes to the parking garage were requested.

Sapperstein wants to optimistically break ground this Fall, but this might delay the start.  The $80 million dollar project which includes 250 high-end apartments, and 110,000 feet of retail space is scheduled to be completed by spring 2010.  I’m surprised it will take that long. 

This photo shows satellite view of the site - outlined in red - and the surrounding streets.  This shot was taken before the demolition of the former plant beagn over a year ago.  The firehouse sits just above the property and to the right is the Phillips Seafood plant.

UPDATE - The Baltimore Business Journal posted that the new plans have one approval from UDARP.

The article in Monday’s Baltimore Sun talked about Baltimore’s plans to hopefully turn Pratt Street - the main artery through downtown - into a more vibrant and pedestrian friendly area.  Progress has already started with the recent additions of retailers Best Buy, P.F. Changs, Panera, etc. 

Will Baltimore’s Pratt Street ever be the equivalent of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue or New York’s Fifth Avenue, or perhaps even the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris?

These sorts of questions were raised at a recent presentation by architects hired to make suggestions about their vision for Pratt Street.  Ahh the short answer, no.  At this point there is just too much ground level office space along Pratt.  But why not strive for something better. Baltimore may not make it all the way there, but the more progress the better. 

One of the interesting proposals would be to change the traffic pattern from 1 way to 2 way.  The logistics of making this happen sound like a nightmare.  I assume the would need to do the same with Lombard Street in order to balance the loss of lanes heading west to east.  Pratt Street is maxed out during rush hour, I can’t imagine what the construction would do to Baltimore’s downtown rush hour.

One worthwhile proposal would be to do away with the fountain area sitting between Pratt, Light Street South, and Light Street North.  The area really is a waste of space.  It basically serves as a place for people to stand while waiting to cross the street, a place for the homeless to congregate, and a place for city workers to try and keep kids out of the fountains.  So I guess it’s serving a purpose, but certainly could be put to better use.

This photo from the Baltimore Sun shows one of the presented Pratt Street visions.  What happened to the Verizon building? It’s missing - I guess part of their vision included knocking down that building and putting up a billboard type structure.  Or maybe that’s what is replaing the fountain area, it’s hard to tell.

I recently posted on the large tax break that Baltimore’s Harbor East project is receiving - in part to keep Legg Mason as a tenant in the new office tower.  Today Baltimore Business Journal posted another story on the subject, revealing some interesting details about Legg Mason’s deal.  For one - Legg Mason’s new building will include a 1,200 spot underground parking garage.  Which had to be a great selling point for moving from their current downtown location.  Legg Mason’s current parking garage sits under the building at 100 Light Street - but only contains a couple hundred spots.  I know this because I worked at Legg for three years - and wasn’t allowed to park there - except on rare occasions (i.e. the weekends).  There were vice presidents that didn’t even have parking spots.  2nd - the article revealed that Legg’s lease has been signed for 15 years.  A great selling point for brining additional business into Harbor East.

Everywhere you look in Baltimore development is in progress.  The view from our rooftop deck in Locust Point is no different.  There is new construction literally in every direction.

These two shots show the new Ruppert homes in Locust Point under construction.  The development is slated for close to 80 homes.  Silo Point is under construction in the background.

This first photo shows the Silo Point project well under way.  After years of negotiating, stalling, planning, environmental remediation, and demolition - progress is finally visible from a distance.  The 2nd photo shows a pretty common sight around Baltimore these days - the addition of a third story on Woodall street. 

This photo shows one of the last remains of the Chesapeake Paperboard Company in Locust Point.  Construction will soon begin on the “Shoppes at Fort” - a huge mixed use development to include high-end apartments, office, and retail.

These two photos look across the the harbor towards Fells Point and Harbor East.  The large piece of undeveloped land along the waterfront is the former Allied Chemical property.  Development has not been allowed on this land for close to 30 years because the ground was(is) so polluted.  However, this will soon be the site of much more development - the 27 mixed use Harbor Point.

In a month or so I will post again to show the progress at these various sites.

An article last week in the Baltimore Business Journal said that performance apparel maker Under Armour had signed a deal to not only stay at Tide Point through 2012, but also to expand their current space.  This is a great sign for the waterfront Tide Point complex, and Baltimore business in general.  It would not have been surprising to see Under Armour pack up and move out of the city to expand in a cheaper area.  They currently employ 610 at their headquarters.  I’m not sure how they plan to expand at Tide Point - because the 400,000 square foot complex already seems to be 100% rented.

One thing that may have helped make Under Armour’s decision easier, is the soon to be completed, and long overdue, access “loop” road.  The road will connect Tide Point directly to Key Highway.  This puts employees 2 minutes away from 95 and allows them to avoid the bottlenecks that currently occur in Locust Point.

Today officials announced H&S Properties - the land developer that owns much of the Harbor East property to be developed - would receive $33 million in tax breaks.  The deal is intended to help the Harbor East development keep the Legg Mason headquarters in Baltimore City.  Legg Mason recently announced it would be moving from its current location downtown at 100 light street.

Tax breaks seem to make sense when trying to spur economic development in under-served or “unpopular” areas.  However this hardly seems to be the case for Harbor East.  The project is already a success, with a number of new restaurants, office space, and hotels - including the to be developed Four Seasons.  Not to mention Legg Mason already announced they would be moving to the new tower in Harbor East.  Was the Legg Mason move contingent on these tax breaks?  In any case it makes you wonder, rich getting richer?  Maybe H&S can kick in some of that tax break money to pay my annual ground rent…

Full story on Baltimore Sun

It seems that the name “The shoppes at Fort” or “The Shops at Fort” is being thrown around for the new commercial, business, and residential development at the site of the former Chesapeake Paperboard company.  The property sits basically on the corner of Fort Avenue and Woodall street in Locust Point.  The property is behind the Fort Ave. firehouse, and will also have future access via Key Highway.

to be continued….