Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is exploring possible future uses for its Cathedral Street garage property in Midtown

Will a shuttered parking garage in the Mount Royal cultural district become Baltimore’s next big development opportunity?

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is exploring possible future uses for its Cathedral Street Garage property near the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Lyric Baltimore.

Whitney Clemmons Brown, director of communications for the BSO, said a non-profit organization called the Baltimore Symphony Endowment Trust owns the garage at 1311 Cathedral St. and closed it permanently in February.

She said the BSO believes the need for off-street parking can be addressed by other garages and parking lots in the cultural district, opening up the potential for the block-long property on Cathedral Street to be put to new use.

“The BSO has determined that there is preferred parking for BSO patrons and employees at neighboring venues including the Symphony Center Garage (1030 Park Ave.) and the Maryland Ave Garage (1205 Maryland Ave.), both of which provide newer construction and updated amenities,” she said in an email message.

“Built between 1982 and 1983, the Cathedral Street garage holds 275 car spaces,” she said. “There are no current plans to reopen the garage while the BSO explores future use of the site.”

Established in 2006, the Baltimore Symphony Endowment Trust is a separate 501(c)(3) organization that “holds the funds given to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to be invested in perpetuity, together with the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and the Cathedral Street garage,” according to the BSO’s website.

Endowed funds can be used to support a wide range of initiatives, programs and purposes, from “chairs” within the orchestra and guest artists to community and educational initiatives. “A robust endowment enables the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to be truly secure, nimble and innovative,” the website states.

Wave of redevelopment

The BSO’s decision to explore new uses makes the Cathedral Street property the latest of several prominent parcels in the Midtown-Belvedere area where redevelopment is underway or under consideration. Together, the changes have the potential to bring new life to Midtown and reshape the area as businesses and institutions adjust to a post-pandemic economy.

Other projects include:

Renovation and modernization of Baltimore’s Pennsylvania Station, starting with restoration of the 1911 terminal and construction of a new station on the north side of the train tracks. Adjacent parcels are targeted for offices, stores, restaurants and housing.

A $150 million plan by Zahlco and the University of Baltimore to replace the former U. S. Postal Service vehicle maintenance facility at Maryland Avenue and Oliver Street with a mixed-use development including 585 apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail space.

Redevelopment of the State Center property on the west side of Howard Street, after former Governor Larry Hogan agreed to turn state-owned land over to the city following the relocation of 3,000 state employees from aging office buildings there. The next step is preparation of a master plan to guide construction.

Smaller projects include:

Plans by owner Owen Lewis to sell the Odorite of Baltimore building and parking lot at 1111 Maryland Ave. after Odorite merged with Viking Chemical Company in Southwest Baltimore.

New tenants moving into existing buildings near the cultural district, including a restaurant and lounge called The Anonymous that replaced Red Emma’s at 1225 Cathedral St. and the ReLeaf cannabis dispensary at 1114 Cathedral St.

A new owner, Salil Choudhary, has emerged for 1301 N. Charles St., with plans for a renovation. The owners of Hotel Ulysses at 2 E. Read St. plan to turn the former Mount Vernon Stable & Saloon building at 909 N. Charles St. into an events venue for wedding receptions and other gatherings.

This week, Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association (MVBA) president Jack Danna announced that the organization is working with elected officials to secure a $250,000 ‘Community Legacy’ grant in partnership with Jubilee Baltimore to help fund a new grocery store to make up for the loss of Eddie’s of Mount Vernon, which closed at the end of June. A location has not been identified.

Aging garage

The BSO’s four-level garage opened the same year as the symphony hall one block away at 1212 Cathedral St. For more than 40 years, it has provided convenient parking for patrons attending concerts at the Meyerhoff and the Lyric and other events in the area. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it provided parking space for employees of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore at 101 W. Mount Royal Ave.

The open-air garage was built at a time when city planners were still approving standalone parking facilities, rather than pushing for garages to be ‘wrapped’ with apartments facing the street so the garage walls and openings wouldn’t be visible. It has no retail spaces at street level, as many newer garages do. It has sloping floors, which make it harder to adapt for new uses than garages with level floors connected by sloping ramps.

The property is 25,553 square feet in size, more than six-tenths of an acre. It’s bounded on three sides by Mace, Preston and Cathedral streets, and there is a surface parking lot between its north wall and Mount Royal Avenue. It has an assessed value of $3.072 million as of July 1.  

In state land records, the owner of the garage is listed as “Mayor & City Council” of Baltimore, in care of Cathedral Parking Inc., but that’s misleading, according to Tiffany James, communications manager for the Parking Authority of Baltimore City.

“The City loaned funds to the BSO to construct the garage,” James explained in an email message. “Until that loan is repaid, the state lists the “Mayor & City Council” as the ‘Owner.’ But it is actually the Baltimore Symphony Endowment Trust that owns it.”

Brown said the garage hasn’t been condemned by the city. She said the BSO made a deliberate decision to close the garage while its leaders consider the property’s future, knowing there are other garages in the immediate area.

Brown didn’t say who might be working with the BSO as it explores future uses for the property, or whether anyone has offered to buy it. She also didn’t have a timeline for when the BSO might make decisions about the property’s future. For now, she said, “the plans for the space are still being explored.” 

Strong redevelopment potential

In response to a report in Baltimore Fishbowl earlier this week about the closing of the garage, some commenters said they thought the loss of 275 parking spaces was a non-issue because there are other garages and parking lots available nearby.

Several posters said they thought the property was ripe for redevelopment because of its size and location in the cultural district and its proximity to the University of Baltimore and Maryland Institute College of Art campuses, Mount Vernon and Station North.

They noted that the cultural district is especially well served by mass transit, including buses, the state’s subway and light rail lines, and the MARC and Amtrak trains at Penn Station. They pointed to the proposed Zahlco project planned for Oliver Street and the Fitzgerald apartments at 1201 W. Mount Royal Ave. as examples of the sorts of mixed-use development that could take place on Cathedral Street.

“Redevelop the plot,” urged Brent Pertusio, a Madison Park resident. “Tons of parking around…I would bet they could unload that whole parcel with a nice payday.”

“Rather see houses being built than wide expanses of parking lot,” said a second commenter.

“Fortunately, this is one of the few areas of Baltimore actually accessible by mass transit,” said a third.

Danna, the MVBA president, said in a phone interview that he looks forward to hearing what the BSO decides to do. He said the BSO is one of the community’s most supportive stakeholders, always encouraging subscribers to patronize area restaurants and other businesses when they come to a concert.

“We know the BSO will work with the community stakeholders to ensure that whatever goes there will be a complement to the strength of Mount Vernon and its ability to continue to grow,” he said.  “I have no doubt. They are our strongest partner…The BSO would never do anything that would be detrimental to the community.”