Baltimore Development Corporation recommends that the city sell its office tower at 7 East Redwood Street

The Baltimore Development Corporation has received an acceptable offer for the city-owned office building at 7 E. Redwood St. and recommends that the city sell it.

At their quarterly board meeting on Thursday, the agency’s directors voted to recommend to Mayor Brandon Scott that the city move ahead with plans to sell the 21-story building, which is currently occupied by nearly a dozen city agencies.  

Acting on behalf of the city, the BDC issued a request for proposals for the building on Nov. 1, 2023, and set Jan. 22, 2024, as the deadline for responses. City officials said they wanted to test the market and see how much interest there might be from the private sector. They said the office building is a good candidate for conversion to apartments, given its central location, large windows offering sweeping views, ornate architectural details and other distinctive features.  

“This building isn’t only gorgeous – it’s a canvas for innovation in our thriving cityscape,” said BDC executive vice president Kimberly “Kim” Clark, when the building went on the market in November. “We are anticipating a ro bust response from the developer community.”

Les Conley, the BDC’s Director of Real Estate and Special Projects, on Thursday briefed the board members on the buildings’ history and what efforts the BDC has made to find a buyer. He said the 184,000-square-foot building dates from 1924, that it originally served as headquarters for First National Bank in Baltimore, and that the city acquired it from Legg Mason.

Conley said the BDC was seeking a buyer who would preserve the historic building and pay “the highest cash price.” He said the agency was also looking for a sale that would “generate real property taxes for the city” – an indication that it wanted the buyer to be a for-profit entity. He didn’t say how many bids were submitted, who they came from, what the bidders proposed to do with the building, how much was offered or what the BDC staff recommended.  

The board then voted to go into closed session to discuss the matter further. When the meeting was reopened less than half an hour later, the board voted to “accept the staff recommendation as it relates to 7 East Redwood Street,” still without saying in its open session what the staff recommended.

Clark explained later that the staff’s recommendation was “to sell the property.” She said both during and after the meeting that the BDC could not disclose more information because doing so might hinder the agency’s ability to negotiate with bidders and complete a sale.

“It would affect our ability to negotiate,” she said before the meeting went into closed session. “Any disclosure of anything in the responses would affect our ability to negotiate.”

Clark said BDC’s recommendation will be forwarded to City Hall for consideration by Mayor Brandon Scott. After the mayor accepts the BDC’s recommendation on a proposed real estate sale, the city typically awards an Exclusive Negotiating Privilege to the prospective buyer, giving both parties additional time to hammer out the details of a sale. If negotiations are successful, the city’s Board of Estimates will be asked to approve a sale during an open meeting, and that’s when terms of the sale become public. Clark said more information about the Redwood Street transaction likely will become available in about a month.