Members of two Little Italy organizations have extra time to say whether they’d like to see the parking lot at 301 S. President St. rezoned to permit construction of an apartment tower.
Last month, the Little Italy Neighborhood Association (LINA) and The Original Little Italy Community Organization (TOLICO) began polling their members to see if they support a developer’s proposal to build a 24-story apartment tower where the parking lot is. The poll was originally scheduled to close on Oct. 1 but has now been extended to Oct. 8, to give community members more time to vote.
The President Street property is zoned C-5-DE, which allows construction of a building up to 125 feet in height, or about 12 stories. A development group led by Lou Madigan wants the City Council to pass legislation that would make the parcel part of a C-5-DC zoning district, a category that puts no height limit on new construction.
The developer unveiled plans in 2023 to construct a 32-story, 276-unit apartment tower on the site and sought a zoning change to make construction possible, but Baltimore’s City Council never passed legislation to rezone the property. At the time, Zeke Cohen represented Little Italy, but he has since become City Council President.
LINA president Lisa Regnante told organization members in September that the developer still wants to rezone the property to put it in the unlimited height category. She told LINA members that he now wants to construct a building that would rise about 24 stories, the same height as the Avalon 555 President apartment building one block south.
Regnante said the vote was requested by first-term City Councilman Jermaine Jones, who now represents Little Italy. She said that Jones, as the area’s new representative, has been asked to introduce legislation to change zoning for the President Street parcel but wants to know what the community thinks about the project before he makes a decision and has asked the Little Italy organizations to poll their members.
In 2023 and 2024, before Jones was elected, the Little Italy rezoning proposal drew opposition from community members who said a 32-story apartment building would be out of scale for the mostly low-rise community. They warned that it would cast shadows on the rowhouses to the east, have a “wind tunnel effect,” and lead to traffic and parking problems in the area. Proponents said a 32-story building would add to the city’s tax base and help the local economy by bringing in more residents who would support the shops, restaurants and other businesses in Little Italy.
Madigan’s high-rise proposal was the subject of two separate votes in 2023 – one by LINA members, who voted 32 to 20 to oppose a zoning change, and one by TOLICO members, who voted 18 to 0 to support a change. This time, the two organizations are taking one vote.
Paper ballots for the current poll are available at Café Gia’s at 410 S. High St., Sweet Louie’s Salon at 245 Albemarle St., and the front desk of the Scarlett Place condominiums at 250 S. President St. More information about the poll is available by contacting Regnante at president@BaltimoreLINA.org.
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