MCB Real Estate, the owner of Harborplace, has added the Station North Arts District to the list of Baltimore communities where it’s investing in real estate.
The company has acquired a former bank at the southwest corner of North and Maryland avenues. Working with the Central Baltimore Partnership (CBP), MCB intends to demolish the building starting next month and redevelop the site. Its initial plans call for the land to become the area’s new Ynot Lot, replacing an outdoor events venue at the northwest corner of Charles Street and North Avenue.
The building that MCB acquired, at 101 W. North Ave., opened in 1961 as a branch of Maryland National Bank. From 1995 to 2015, it housed the Korean-American Grocers & Licensed Beverage Association of Maryland and was known as the KAGRO Building.
In 2015, it was also the setting for “Bubble Over Green,” an art exhibit featuring work by California artist Victoria Fu and organized by The Contemporary, a roving museum. Since then it has been vacant, boarded up and perennially covered in graffiti.
According to state land records, the KAGRO Building was acquired in 2022 by 101 W North LLC, an affiliate of MCB Real Estate. Earlier this month, a “Public Notice of Demolition” sign appeared on the building’s North Avenue side, stating that demolition will begin around Feb. 1 and is expected to continue until the end of March. Potts & Callahan Inc. is the lead contractor.
MCB managing partner P. David Bramble confirmed that MCB is the building owner and plans to redevelop the site. He and MCB Senior Marketing Director Kristen J. Durkin said it is part of a portfolio of properties that MCB has acquired in Station North.
MCB hasn’t disclosed its long-range plans for the site. According to Durkin and CBP executive director Ellen Janes, the short-term plan is for the site to be graded and prepared for use as a flexible outdoor events space to replace the Ynot Lot.
Since it was created in 2014, the 6,000-square-foot Ynot Lot has been used as a venue for a variety of Station North events, from parties associated with the Maryland Film Festival to a beer garden during Artscape 2023 to a hub for social justice movements. In a typical year, it was the setting for more than 100 events. But its owner decided not to renew CBP’s lease for the property, creating a need for another events space in Station North.
Janes said her organization would like to use the land at 101 West North Avenue as a replacement for the Ynot Lot for several years, while MCB firms up plans for long-range redevelopment of the property.
Janes said she expects the long-range use for the North Avenue parcel will be apartments, and it’s important to the CBP that commercial space is created at ground level to help activate the streetscape. She said MCB and CBP are sharing the costs of the demolition and creation of the event space.
“In the short term, it will be the new Ynot Lot,” she said. “It’s an exciting development. People really miss the Ynot Lot and we have a lot of interest in it. With Mobtown [Ballroom and Café] coming across the street and the Parkway [Theatre] coming back online, it’s a good use.”
Mid-century Modern
Designed by Smith & Veale, the KAGRO Building was one of the first examples of Modern architecture on North Avenue. According to Baltimore Heritage, it was also one of the city’s first commercial structures with a precast concrete frame. After KAGRO moved out following the Freddie Gray riots in 2015, its mostly-blank walls made it an inviting target for graffiti artists.
Janes noted that MCB painted over the graffiti just before Artscape last year so the building wouldn’t be an eyesore during the festival — an act she called a generous contribution — but graffiti reappeared on it within days.
Located next to the Fred Lazarus IV Center of the Maryland Institute College of Art, the KAGRO property is about one fifth of an acre in size.
In 2019, INPHL Development of Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, floated plans to buy the bank and construct a five-story, 52-unit apartment building in its place, with 1,640 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
INPHL hired Alexander Design Studio to be its architect and filed plans with Baltimore’s zoning board. Its project would have been one of the first market-rate housing developments to rise on North Avenue in years.
According to associates, the developer was aiming to provide apartments for students at the Maryland Institute College of Art and others who wanted to live in the arts district. But MICA’s student body didn’t grow the way the developer hoped and INPHL never moved ahead with its project. The MCB affiliate acquired it for $1.075 million in June of 2022, and its assessed value is $790,567 as of July 1, 2024, according to state land records.
Growing list of developers
With its acquisition, MCB joins a growing list of developers investing in Station North and Midtown, including Dennis Richter; John Renner; Cross Street Partners; Beatty Development; Zahlco and Reimagine Development Partners.
In addition to its venture in Station North, MCB has projects in Reservoir Hill/Madison Park North; Reservoir Hill/Druid Park Lake Drive; Charles Village; Bayview; Northwood; Clipper Mill; the 4500 block of Harford Road and downtown Baltimore.
MCB’s largest local project is the $500 million mixed-use redevelopment of Harborplace, which needs approval from city voters before construction can begin.
Bramble and others are scheduled to appear at an information session about Harborplace at the Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St., on Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The Baltimore City Council’s Economic and Community Development Committee will hold a public hearing on three council bills related to the Harborplace redevelopment plan on Feb. 13 at 2 p.m. at City Hall.
Baltimore’s housing department has approved a demolition permit for 101 W. North Ave. and it’s ready to be issued as soon as payment is made, according to Chief of Strategic Communications Tammy Hawley.
Such a cool building, I’ve always thought. A shame it’s not being creatively re-used.