Planning for the redevelopment of Baltimore’s State Center office complex is moving ahead, with a community meeting scheduled for Wednesday night to give area residents a chance to learn about the effort and say what they’d like to see built in place of the aging 1960s-era office buildings that are there now.
But one state-owned building that was a key feature of an earlier redevelopment plan is not expected to change, at least immediately, as part of the latest effort to reimagine State Center.
The Fifth Regiment Armory, a fortress-like structure that dates from 1901, had been targeted for conversion to a commercial anchor for a $1.5 billion mixed-use community proposed by a previous development team, led by a group called Ekistics LLC.
Preliminary plans called for a Harris Teeter grocery store, a home goods store and potentially other retailers to be created within the shell of the existing armory at 219 29th Division Street, near the intersection of Howard Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Residents of Bolton Hill, Mount Vernon and other nearby communities were looking forward to having an upscale grocery store close to their homes.
But according to a site plan on Baltimore City’s website showing the area that is being studied for redevelopment now, the Fifth Regiment Armory is no longer one of the properties targeted for transfer to the city for redevelopment.
The site plan identifies six parcels that state officials agreed in 2021 to transfer to the city for redevelopment, ranging from 1.5 acres to 6.8 acres. They’re the same parcels that were awarded to Ekistics more than a decade ago in a transaction that was cancelled several years later.
But the plan leaves out the armory and the triangular parking lot to the north of it. That’s the major difference between the tract offered for development a decade ago and the land targeted for redevelopment now.
Previous project canceled
Planning for the redevelopment of State Center began under former Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr., whose administration selected Ekistics as the lead developer. The Ekistics project never materialized because former Gov. Larry Hogan and others on the state’s Board of Public Works cancelled it in 2016, after attorney Peter Angelos challenged the project in court. Their action ended more than a decade of planning aimed at rejuvenating that part of the city.
In April 2021, Hogan announced plans to allocate $50 million to relocate more than 3,000 office workers from aging buildings in State Center to downtown office space, to help the central business district recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hogan’s plan also called for land at State Center to be transferred to the city for redevelopment once the state employees are relocated. This year the city hired Gensler, an international design firm, to conduct a six-month study to help guide redevelopment of the area after the state employees have moved out.
Remaining an armory
Why was the armory left out of the current redevelopment plan? According to Baltimore planning director Chris Ryer, the Hogan administration decided to retain control of the building for continued use as an armory. It’s the only building in the State Center footprint that it opted to retain.
Designed by Wyatt and Nolting and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the armory occupies 1.2 acres and is under the jurisdiction of the Maryland Military Department. Besides serving as a base for the Maryland National Guard, it houses the Maryland Museum of Military History, which collects artifacts and offers programming related to Maryland’s militias. A prime gathering spot long before the opening of the Baltimore Convention Center or the 1960s-era Civic Center, now the CFG Bank Arena, the armory was the site of the 1912 Democratic National Convention and other large events.
Even without the armory, the land targeted for redevelopment is one of the largest such tracts in the city — more than 18 acres in all. Located northwest of downtown Baltimore with a key intersection at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Eutaw Street, it’s surrounded by Bolton Hill; Madison Park; Upton; Mount Vernon; Seton Hill and McCulloh Homes, and it’s served by both the light rail and Metro Subway lines operated by the state.
The land hasn’t been transferred to the city. The state is still relocating employees from 12 agencies to new locations in the central business district, a process that’s expected to continue into 2025, and the change in land ownership isn’t expected to take place until all of the employees have moved out.
Planning effort underway
The planning effort got underway after Baltimore’s Board of Estimates in January approved a $396,550 contract with Gensler to conduct a “marketing and conceptual predevelopment study” of the area, from January 1 to June 30 of 2024.
According to city planners, the goal is not to come up with a shovel-ready plan that’s ready to put out for construction bids, but to “create a vision for the vacated site as a Transit Oriented Development and an anchor for this critical part of Baltimore, based on current and projected market conditions.”
In addition, “the consultant will create a conceptual and aspirational predevelopment plan, taking into consideration assets in the immediate vicinity and factors such as economic development initiatives underway or planned’ within a three- to five-year horizon.
According to the Request for Proposals (RFP) issued to identify a consultant for the market study, city planners also want the selected designer to explore “the possible future development” of McCulloh Homes, a public housing community with 552 residences adjacent to State Center. “A successful redevelopment of McCulloh Homes would include replacing McCulloh Homes residential units with mixed-income housing within a to-be-defined catchment area,” the RFP states.
While the state is not expected to transfer the armory to the city, the RFP states that “the consultants should also consider the potential repurposing of the existing Fifth Regiment Armory facility…in a manner that supports the overall project and community.”
Highest and best uses
Baltimore’s Planning Department is the client for the market study. City planners are expected to use Gensler’s recommendations to help decide the highest and best uses for the land, including what buildings to retain and recycle, if any; what buildings to replace; what uses to bring in; how streets might be realigned; and how development might be phased. The city may also use Gensler’s work to draft one or more RFPs that could be issued to identify private developers for the land.
Until the land is transferred to the city, the state continues to maintain the buildings and land around them. Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed capital budget for fiscal 2025 calls for $5 million to support “planning and demolition” related to the redevelopment of State Center.
The community meeting, called the State Center Market Study Open House, will be held Wednesday, Feb. 28, at the Kappa Youth and Community Center, 1207 Eutaw Place, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The meeting is free and open to the public.
