Nearly two years after developer Dennis Richter received preliminary approval to construct an apartment building that would exceed the city’s height limit for the property, city officials say he may not need the waiver after all.

Eric Holcomb, director of Baltimore’s preservation commission, told members this month that Richter is now planning to reduce the height of the 10-story apartment building he proposed to construct in place of the Eddie’s of Mount Vernon grocery store and two other structures.

The third time was the charm for developer Howard Chambers, who finally received preliminary approval today to build apartments above four historic carriage houses he owns at 1012-1020 Morton St., in Mount Vernon.

Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation voted 8 to 1 today, with one abstention, to approve a $10 million plan to build 51 apartments on three levels above the carriage houses.

One year after Baltimore’s preservation commission rejected a proposal by developer Howard Chambers to build 65 apartments above a row of Mount Vernon carriage houses, the developer has come back to the panel seeking approval of a scaled-down version of his project.