Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional polling data, and clarifies that the Victoria Research poll was not commissioned by MCB Real Estate.
MCB Real Estate’s $500 million proposal for redeveloping Harborplace has garnered mixed reactions from Baltimore City residents.
A non-scientific poll conducted this month on Facebook asked residents “Do you support rezoning of Inner Harbor Park from dedicated public park space to permit multi-family residential development?”
That poll showed respondents were largely opposed to changing zoning in the area. The results: Yes, 54 votes or 18.75 percent; No, 227 votes or 78.82 percent; Not sure, 5 votes or 1.74 percent, and No Opinion, 2 votes or .694 percent.
But MCB Real Estate, the developer behind the Harborplace proposal, says another poll shows residents support their plans to redevelop the properties along the Inner Harbor waterfront.
MCB plans to demolish the two Harborplace pavilions at Pratt and Light streets and construct two high-rise apartment buildings containing about 900 residences in all, as well as offices, shops, restaurants and expanded parkland, including a two-tier waterfront promenade.
In a poll conducted by Victoria Research, which included surveying of various statewide issues, residents were presented with the following statement: “The revitalization of HarborPlace and investment in the Ravens and Orioles stadiums is important to Baltimore City’s economic success.”
A majority of Baltimore Democratic voters agreed with the statement, including 57% who said they strongly agreed and 26% who said they partly agreed. Only 9% said they disagreed.
Victoria Research surveyed a statewide sample of 813 likely 2024 voters, including a Baltimore sample of 502 likely 2024 Democratic voters. Respondents completed the poll online, after they were sent a text invitation.
All text invitations and online surveys were completed between Nov. 9 and Nov. 14, 2024.
In Baltimore, 502 individuals completed the survey, 200 partially completed the survey, and 25 were disqualified based on screening questions (such as confirming the respondent is age 18 or older, and a likely Baltimore voter). The poll has a margin or error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. It was commissioned by firms Blended Public Affairs and Perry White Ross and Jacobson (PWRJ), not by MCB Real Estate.
The poll on Facebook was created by a member of the Harborplace Forum Facebook page, which was launched this month by a group of Baltimore residents not affiliated with the development team, to share information about plans for the redevelopment of the Harborplace property. The 3.2-acre parcel is owned by the city and considered part of a 33-acre stretch of public parkland that rings Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. But it’s leased to MCB for certain types of commercial development, including shops and restaurants.
According to a statement from one of its administrators, the Harborplace Forum page was started by “a group of Federal Hill neighbors who want to keep residents informed whether pro or con of the Harborplace development process.” It has 360 members.
Because it would be constructed on city-owned land, MCB’s development cannot proceed without approval from city voters. On Oct. 30, City Council member Eric Costello and Council President Nick Mosby introduced legislation that would authorize a public referendum in November 2024, asking voters if they support the project. Specifically, voters would be asked if they approve a City Charter amendment increasing the amount of land the developer controls, from 3.2 acres to 4.5 acres.
Before it can move ahead with its project. MCB also needs approval from City Council to change zoning to permit residences on the Harborplace parcel, a use not currently allowed, and it needs the city to waive current height limits on the land, so it can construct towers rising 25 and 32 stories.
According to Teporah Bilezikian, a local entrepreneur and musician who is active on the Harborplace Forum Facebook page and posted the poll on the Baltimore City Voters page, the results indicate how residents are likely to vote in 2024.
They show that the majority of respondents “do not want these bills to go through,” she said in a video posted on the Harborplace Forum page, which reported the results of the poll. “They don’t want high rises on our public parkland. And they don’t want this rezoned for anything except our public park. This is our sky and this is our land. It belongs to us, and let’s keep it that way.”
MCB refutes that claim, saying the Victoria Research poll shows residents largely support their plans for the space.
The Baltimore City Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 2 p.m. Thursday to consider the three Harborplace-related council bills that were introduced in October, numbers 23-0444, 23-0446 and 23-0448. The in-person-only meeting will be held on the eighth floor of the Benton Building at 417 E. Fayette St. It’s a continuation of a hearing that started on Nov. 30, and citizens will be allowed to testify. City council members are expected to hold hearings on the three bills early next year.
Reporting on a facebook poll that you acknowledge is non-scientific in the title should be beneath the Baltimore Fishbowl’s standards. Why don’t you actually perform a real survey of likely voters and report on something that’s actually informative.
Will you also report that the admins of the Harborplace Forum Facebook Group posted a similar poll within the first 48 hours of the group being created that had results closer to 50% support, 50% oppose and then started deleting responses and removing pro-Harborplace people from the group? Will you be talking about that?
I genuinely don’t understand why this is such a contentious development for so many people. For me, personally, I love almost every part of this proposal. I would only like to see a guarantee that retail spaxe would be reserved for a pharmacy for downtown residents to utilize (something that seems to be needed for both existing residents and residents of the new proposed towers).
The project will increase green space, public space, retail space, and residential space. The increased density will serve as an economic driver for so many local businesses – both existing and those to come – and this isn’t even mentioning the traffic calming proposals that harbor real potential to change shift the entire Pratt Street corridor toward walkability or public transit oriented options.
I realize there are concerns over residential unit pricing, but those aside, I genuinely don’t understand why this project had faced so much backlash.
I’ve lived in the city for 9 years now and with few exceptions, I want to see growth in the city whenever possible.
I just can’t understand all the backlash.
I spoke to an employee of MCB Real estate in the spring. He told me that there would be three focus groups to gather information from a broad section of Baltimore residents to determine what residents want in the Inner Harbor. But, residents of my zip code, 21210, he said, would not be included in the focus groups.
Wording matters in surveys. The fact that a majority of respondents to the Victoria Research poll thinks the success of Harborplace is important cannot be translated in meaning a majority support the specific plans proposed by MCB.