Construction is expected to start soon on Guardian House, a 62-unit apartment project with a fifth of its units reserved at reduced rents for “Baltimore City First Responders.”
The city of Baltimore had a settlement last week to convey property at 17-23 Gay St. and 10 S. Frederick St. to the development team selected to complete the project, according to Kim Clark, executive vice president of the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC).
“Hopefully you will start seeing some action over there soon,” Clark said in an email message Tuesday.
The buildings, near Power Plant Live! on Market Place, were previously occupied by the Baltimore International College, which lost its accreditation in 2011. The parking lot on Frederick Street was used by the police department.
BDC sought developers in 2017 and received six bids. In 2019, it chose a proposal from an affiliate of Landmark Partners called LRP Guardian House LLC to redevelop the properties.
Headed by Jon Pannoni and George Watson, Landmark Partners is the developer of City House Charles, an eight-story office and retail building under construction behind the shell of the former Grand Central nightclub at 1001-1103 N. Charles St. in Mount Vernon. Landmark also owns the City House co-working space at 6 E. Eager St.
In their bid, the developers proposed to set aside one fifth of the apartments for “Baltimore City First Responders” – men and women officers of the Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore Fire Department, who make 80 percent or less of the median income in the area. SM+P is the architect for the project, which also will contain 6,000 square feet of retail space.
