Byrnes & Associates Inc. plans to acquire and refurbish the city-owned office building at 7 E. Redwood Street for continued use as office space, once it reaches an agreement with the city on a price and other sale terms.
The Baltimore-based company announced this week that it has been selected by the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) to acquire the 21-story building after responding to a request for proposals that the agency issued in 2023.
The sale needs approval from the city’s Board of Estimates before the 184,275-square-foot building can change hands. BDC Executive Vice President Kimberly Clark confirmed in an email message that her agency is “in negotiations with the respondent” but declined to comment further.
Opened in 1924 to serve as headquarters for the First National Bank in Baltimore, 7 E. Redwood Street is one of numerous Beaux Arts-style buildings that were constructed downtown following the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. Owned by the City of Baltimore since 2013, it’s 100 percent leased to 12 Baltimore City agencies.
The BDC issued its request for proposals on Nov. 1, 2023 and the deadline for submissions was Jan. 22, 2024. At a meeting last April, the BDC board voted to recommend that the city enter into exclusive negotiations with one bidder but did not say who the bidder was.
Company principals Brad and Kemp Byrnes have proposed to lease the building’s upper levels back to Baltimore City and turn its 6,500-square-foot banking hall at street level into a restaurant. It will be the fourth building that Byrnes & Associates has acquired on Redwood Street, along with 207, 225, and 233 E. Redwood St. The estimated cost of upgrading 7 E. Redwood St. is $20 million and Byrnes & Associates’ estimated investment in all four buildings is more than $50 million.
The proposed improvements to 7 E. Redwood involve addressing deferred maintenance issues and making the building more energy efficient and comfortable to work in. This includes replacing the roof; modernizing the elevators; upgrading mechanical, electrical, safety and security systems, and adding fitness, conference and event space. The work is expected to take 18 months to complete. An architect for the project has not yet been selected. The team is in talks with potential restaurateurs.
“Especially in the post-COVID era, building owners need to do everything possible to improve working conditions by establishing interior environments which promote health and wellness and, in turn, encourage employees to return to the traditional workplace,” Brad Byrnes said in a statement.
“Bringing more employees downtown also increases foot traffic on city streets, which helps restaurants and retailers and cultivates additional economic development activity,” he said. “These plans also align with our corporate goals of making our building assets more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly.”
As part of its redevelopment of 7 E. Redwood, Byrnes & Associates has proposed to create a “Historic Redwood Walk” to help revitalize Redwood Street from Charles to South streets, an area that’s part of the city’s Business and Government National Historic District. The developers say they want to make Historic Redwood Walk part of a longer “East-West Walk” from Port Discovery to CFG Bank Arena to the University of Maryland BioPark.
The developers also announced that Michael Gaines Sr. has joined Byrnes & Associates as Senior Vice President of Development & Commercial Leasing. Gaines was the Assistant Secretary for Real Estate for Maryland’s Department of General Services under Gov. Martin O’Malley, managing the state’s real estate portfolio of nearly 11 million square foot of office space. Before that, he was a Vice President and General Manager at The Rouse Company, where he managed and oversaw operations at Harborplace and the Gallery at Harborplace.
“We have made tremendous progress over the past four years to restore the past luster of this area with the injection of new businesses, restaurants and residents,” Brad Byrnes said, “but there is more work to be completed, and Byrnes & Associates is committed to help lead the charge.”
