Developer Chukuemeka “Chukes” Okoro received final approval on Tuesday for the design of a seven-story, 48-unit apartment building he plans to construct on the west side of downtown Baltimore, clearing the way for construction to begin next year.
Theatre 120 is the name of the project, which is planned for the northeast corner of Lexington Street and Park Avenue, part of the city’s Five & Dime Historic District. The estimated cost is about $10 million. Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP), voted 8 to 0, with one recusal, to approve the design by architect Peter Fillat of FILLAT+ Architecture.
During its review on Tuesday, the preservation panel saw a revised design that showed a brick-clad building containing six levels of apartments over street-level commercial space, and incorporating the facades of two buildings currently on the site. Metal panels are used to clad exteriors that are less visible from the street. City planner Caitlin Audette described the design as contemporary architecture that “reflects the current time and place” but is “compatible with the general community” in the historic district.
Theatre 120 will be constructed on parcels now occupied by three vacant buildings that Okoro, the founder of Okoro Development, acquired from the city earlier this year. CHAP previously had said it would allow demolition of a former windowless department store at 116-120 West Lexington Street but wanted the developer to preserve and incorporate the front facades of the buildings at 207 Park Avenue and 114 West Lexington Street, and that is what the final design does.
According to Ann Powell of Plan B, the owner’s representative, the developer plans to start construction on the project in the third or fourth quarter of 2025.
If this rendition preserves the facades of an old 5 & 10 sore or two, I am not seeing it.