Five hundred town houses are coming to Baltimore Peninsula as part of a mixed-use real estate project proposed by developer Mark Sapperstein.
Another 122 town houses are coming to Locust Point as part of a residential community proposed by the same developer for property there.
Both projects cleared key hurdles on Thursday, when Baltimore’s Planning Commission approved City Council legislation needed before they can move ahead.
Sapperstein, a principal of 28 Walker, disclosed this week that he has a contract to acquire approximately 90 acres in Baltimore Peninsula, the south Baltimore community formerly known as Port Covington, and plans to build residences and commercial space.
The seller is Bank OZK of Little Rock, Arkansas. Part of the property under contract is land that once held the printing plant and newsroom of The Baltimore Sun. A purchase price for the land has not been disclosed.
Sapperstein is the land developer behind Locke Landing, an 809-unit town house, condominium and apartment community on the former Locke Insulators campus just south of the Baltimore Peninsula property.
His firm has completed numerous other projects in south Baltimore over the past two decades, including the McHenry Row mixed-use development off Fort Avenue and a town house community called Banner Row. In 2022, Sapperstein received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Baltimore chapter of the Urban Land Institute.
‘I think you’ll be very surprised and pleased‘
On Thursday, Sapperstein attended a meeting of Baltimore’s Planning Commission, which approved a City Council bill that would rezone the 90 acres in Baltimore Peninsula that he has under contract to make his mostly-residential project possible.
Sapperstein said after the meeting that his plans call for the construction of 500 town houses plus commercial space. DRB Homesis the home builder and Kimley-Horn is the land planner. Sale prices for the homes have not been disclosed, but if the average sale price there is $600,000, the construction of 500 dwellings would add real estate worth $300 million to the city’s tax rolls.
“I think you’ll be very surprised and pleased with what we’re going to do,” Sapperstein told the commissioners during the meeting.
The properties are part of a 235-acre portfolio that was assembled by a group led by businessman Kevin Plank and others. After completing initial phases of its project, that team turned undeveloped properties over to its lender, Bank OZK, which sought a buyer.
The properties approved for rezoning by the Planning Commission are 100 E. Cromwell St., 200 E. Cromwell St., 300 E. Cromwell St., and parcels identified as Block 1053, Lot 009A and Block 1053, Lot 001E. The rezoning bill, No. 26-0263, now goes to the council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee for a hearing and then to the full council for a final vote.
Locust Point houses
The Planning Commission on Thursday also approved a council bill that would make possible the residential development that Sapperstein plans in Locust Point.
That bill, No. 26-0244, would amend a city document known as the Development Plan of the Under Armour Headquarters Planned Unit Development to permit construction of residences on a seven-acre parcel currently occupied by the Cheers Building and surface parking in the 1400 block of Beason Street, west of Haubert Street and south of Key Highway Extended.
Sapperstein outlined plans to build 119 town houses on the Cheers parcel during a 2025 meeting of the Locust Point Civic Association, but he changed course when leaders of Christo Rey Jesuit High School on S. Chester Street expressed interest in moving there. After the high school leaders decided not to relocate to Locust Point, he went back to his housing plan.
Sapperstein’s current plan for the Cheers site calls for construction of 122 town houses and a small park. He said on Thursday that the houses would be 20 feet wide, with DRB Homes as the homebuilder and Kimley-Horn as the land planner. Like the Baltimore Peninsula legislation, Bill 26-0244 now goes to the council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee for a hearing and then to the full council for a final vote.
Sappenstein indicated in 2025 that home prices in the Locust Point development would be in the $600,000- to $700,000-range. If the average sale price there is $600,000, the construction of 122 dwellings would add real estate worth $73.2 million to the city’s tax rolls. He said on Thursday that he doesn’t have a name yet for either community.
