Baltimore’s Remington neighborhood would get its first full-service grocery store if the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) accepts a developer’s proposal to build one on city-owned land.
Seawall Development submitted a proposal earlier this year to build a commercial center anchored by a grocery store on the current site of the Sisson Street Sanitation Yard and Citizen Drop-Off Center at 2840-2842 Sisson Street, a 5.6-acre property also known as the Northwest Citizen’s Convenience Center or “The Dump.”
Seawall was responding to a request for proposals issued on January 12 by the development corporation, which set February 9 as the deadline for bids.
A representative of the BDC did not immediately answer questions about how many proposals the agency received, who they came from, what they called for, or when a developer might be named.
The RFP contained a clause requiring that the “selected” bidder agree that “it will not solicit press coverage or answer unsolicited questions about its development program from print, radio, television, social media or electronic media until it has secured an Exclusive Negotiating Privilege with the BDC.”
Thibault Manekin, a co-founder of Seawall, outlined his company’s proposal during a meeting with members of the Greater Remington Improvement Association’s land use committee before proposals for Sisson Street were due in February. As part of his presentation, he asked for a letter of support from the GRIA to include with his package to the BDC.
“The real priority on that site is to put a grocery store” in, he said. “That’s something that we’ve been pushing really hard on. We’ve had a number of conversations with local, national groups and can’t really start in earnest until awarded that site.”
Manekin said Seawall wants to recycle an existing structure at the south end of the long and narrow site, the Mill Valley/Baltimore Whiskey Company building near the intersection of Sisson and 28th streets, as part of its development.
“We’d like to keep the Mill Valley building,” he said. “We think that building’s rad. It adds to the fabric…of the community. We’re going to try to save as much of these cool, historic buildings as we can.”
Manekin did not name a proposed operator for the grocery store. He said he would be amenable to keeping the current “IMU” or “Industrial-Mixed Use” zoning for the Mill Valley building — a category that allows both light industrial and commercial uses, including maker spaces.
“Some combination of keeping the existing building, creating some cool outdoor space and a grocery store is what we’re thinking at this point,” he told the committee. “It’ll change 100 times between now and when the project gets going but we’ll be excited to start talking in detail with you all if awarded the project.”
The IMU zoning designation for the Mill Valley building “works for what we’re hearing would be cool for the area,” he said.
The drop-off center occupies most of the land on the west side of Sisson Street between 28th and 29th streets, with the Jones Falls Expressway as the western boundary. For years it has been a convenient location for city residents to bring bulk trash items.
Six months before the BDC issued its request for proposals for Sisson Street, the city’s Department of Real Estate issued a separate request for proposals from property owners with land where the city could move the Sisson Street drop-off center. That earlier request was sent out in partnership with the city’s Department of Public Works and the Mayor’s Office of Infrastructure Development, with an August 11, 2023 deadline. Comptroller’s Office spokesman Geoff Shannon said in an email message today that he has no update on the status of that solicitation.
Second proposal from Seawall
Founded in 2006 by Manekin and his father Donald, Seawall has been responsible for a number of development projects in Remington, including R House; Remington Row; Union Collective; Miller’s Court and Union Mill. It’s currently working on plans for a mixed-use development that’s tentatively called Sisson East and would be built in the area bounded roughly by Sisson Street on the west, 28th Street on the south, Hampden Avenue on the east and 29th street on the north.
At present, the grocery stores closest to Remington are the branches of Giant Food at 1020 W. 41st Street; MOM’s Organic Market at 711 W. 40th Street; Safeway at 2401 N. Charles Street; and Streets Market at 3117 St. Paul Street.
This is the second time that Seawall has submitted a proposal to redevelop the drop-off center property.
Manekin said at the GRIA committee meeting that Seawall made an unsolicited offer to acquire the parcel in 2018 and replace the drop-off center with a mixed-use development. The city subsequently sought competing bids but did not award the property to a developer.
“We felt that there could be a better entrance into the neighborhood of Remington,” Manekin said about the first offer. “It would be hard to convince any community to have a transfer station or a Dump as the first thing you see when you drive into a community, so we started the process. They issued an RFP back then. It got caught up in [former mayor] Catherine Pugh going to jail and then [former mayor Bernard C.] Jack Young didn’t focus on it at all.”
The BDC’s 2024 request for proposals is “why it’s coming back up now,” he said.
Seeking industrial land
In their search for land where they might move the Sisson Street drop-off center, city officials have stated they don’t want the new location to be in a residential area.
“The criteria has been really clear, that it will not get moved into another community,” Manekin said. “If it gets moved, it would get moved to an industrial site. There are a few that I believe that the city is working on. I don’t know that a decision has been made yet. We’re also trying to push that along because that needs to coincide with the awarding of the RFP at some point, hopefully sometime soon. But I’m sure the city will be transparent in their thinking.”
Manekin said it’s possible that the city might close the Sisson Street drop-off center and consolidate its operations with other locations that have capacity to receive bulk trash. “I know they are looking at a few different options,” he said at the February meeting.
After Manekin’s presentation, the land use committee voted unanimously to ask the full GRIA board to write a letter of support for Seawall’s proposal.
Baltimore’s zoning board has scheduled a hearing for May 7 to consider a request to approve plans for Seawall’s Sisson East project. Before it can begin construction, Seawall needs conditional use approval from the zoning board to allow additional building heights and other variances. Seawall is working on that project with Blank Slate, a minority-owned development company headed by Alex Aaron.
The City of Baltimore would be smart to fully back this proposal as this is one cool historic building – in addition the City should think about daylighting the adjacent buried Stony Run stream & to make this site area both a retail and ecological urban destination. The City should look to its own mothballed studies for the Jones Falls River Valley for some past visioning.
The City of Baltimore should find a way to connect pedestrians from the Stony Run river valley across or under (or whatever) 83/JFX and connect into the Druid Hill Park area adjacent to the existing reservoir. Maybe even create a wildlife corridor bridge or tunnel as part the vision.
The Big Jump, while well meaning, is a pretty horrible pedestrian experience and a pretty ugly environment.
Baltimore can still think big and it obviously needs inspiration and outside funding from a bevy of grant writers and funders whom are inspired to take the green urban infrastructure of the city to the next level.
This would also be the only grocery store within reasonable walking distance for the majority of the Reservoir Hill neighborhood which would mean it could have a significant impact on two neighborhoods.
Conversely, I will miss the convenience of “The Dump” serving the urban core of the city, conveniently near an exit of the JFX. If this plan goes through, I hope “The Dump” is relocated to another convenient, easily accessible location. As a senior citizen, I don’t want to have to haul my dead TVs to the outskirts of the city every 3-4 years when they break due to planned obsolescence.