The developers of Harborplace want to engage with the community some more.
MCB Real Estate, the company that owns the 45-year-old Harborplace pavilions and wants to replace them with a $500 million mixed-use development, has set August 25 as the date for its next community engagement session.
The purpose is to update area residents on the status of their efforts to reimagine Harborplace and to introduce new short-term tenants who are occupying retail spaces there while MCB finalizes its long-term plans.
“As the team at MCB works hard to make the reimagination of Harborplace a reality, we are excited to continue to update you, the community, on our progress and invite you to stay engaged,” the developers said in a newsletter to people who have signed up to receive it.
“On August 25, we will host another community forum to share more about progress and answer questions.”
In 2023, MCB held a series of community engagement sessions to give residents a chance to say how they’d like to see the area at Pratt and Light streets redeveloped and launched a website, www.OurHarborplace.com, to serve as a clearinghouse for information about its project.
In October of 2023, MCB unveiled preliminary plans that called for the two-story pavilions to be replaced with a mixed-use development that contains two apartment towers, shops, restaurants, offices and open space.
In 2024, Baltimore’s Planning Commission and City Council approved zoning changes that removed height limits and allowed construction of residences and parking where Harborplace now stands, uses not previously permitted.
In November of 2024, city residents approved a ballot question that amended Baltimore’s City Charter to permit the development MCB proposed and gave the company control of more city-owned land than before, enabling the company to move ahead with its project.
A competing ballot question that would have blocked MCB’s plan was proposed by opponents of MCB’s project, but it never got on the ballot because the opponents didn’t collect enough signatures to get it put before voters.
The August 25 session is the first community forum about Harborplace that MCB has scheduled this year. It will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the second level of the Light Street Pavilion, 301 Light Street. MCB co-founder and managing partner P. David Bramble and other MCB executives will attend. To register, sign up at https://secure.everyaction.com/EdLQu1PGbUmsPKrRCnEw4Q2.
Besides getting an update on MCB’s progress, the newsletter said, participants will have a chance to learn about some of the current short-term tenants, including Waiting to Oxtail and Supano’s Steakhouse and Sports Bar.
Waiting to Oxtail, a dining spot that serves oxtail dishes and Caribbean-inspired comfort food, opened last month in the Light Street pavilion. Baltimore’s liquor board has scheduled a hearing for August 7 to consider a request to transfer a liquor license to Supano’s, which is taking over the former Hooters space on the first level of the Light Street pavilion.
On the same day, the liquor board will consider a request to grant a license for a branch of Angeli’s Pizzeria to open on the second level of the Light Street pavilion. It will be the fifth location for Angeli’s and its second in an MCB-controlled property.
MCB’s newsletter also noted that the city’s Site Plan Review Committee (SPRC) in June reviewed and commented on engineered drawings for the Inner Harbor Park and Promenade component of MCB’s development. It said the developer will file for permits this month – the first phase of the project to get that far along. STV of Owings Mills is the civil engineer behind the SPRC submission, which is here: 2025.07.16 SPRC Plans_Inner Harbor Parks and Promenade_R1 (1) – Adobe cloud storage.
