Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration is taking a new approach to managing development of the 88-acre East Baltimore renewal area north of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
As of Sept. 1, the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) will supplant East Baltimore Development Inc. (EBDI) as the lead organization overseeing revitalization efforts in the district, known variously as Middle East, Eager Park and the EBDI project area.
The BDC’s board of directors voted on Tuesday to approve a plan by Scott that calls for BDC, the quasi-public agency in charge of economic development and downtown development for the city, to assume “operational management” of the 88-acre renewal district in East Baltimore starting next month.
The vote followed a meeting on Monday at which the EBDI board approved the plan.
The move reflects a desire by the Scott administration to combine EBDI’s experience working in East Baltimore with BDC’s citywide economic development capabilities, BDC board members were told on Tuesday. It also reflects a change in emphasis from creating a new community to sustaining what has been created and building on it, the board members were told.
Under the plan, EBDI will not disappear or merge with BDC. Instead, it will remain a fully independent Maryland 501 (c) (3) organization, with a reconstituted board and amended bylaws, and BDC staffers will operate EBDI’s day-to-day functions under a new “operational relationship” approved by both boards. In essence, EBDI will be a subsidiary of BDC, and a new “Operating Committee” led by BDC representatives and two community members will govern EBDI.
Created in 2002
EBDI was created in 2002 to oversee redevelopment efforts in the area immediately north and northwest of Hopkins’ East Baltimore hospital and medical campus. The land has been subdivided into 34 development parcels that can be offered and awarded to bidders who submit the “highest and best” proposals.
The initiative was modeled after bio parks adjacent to medical campuses in other regions, including Cambridge, Mass., and Princeton, New Jersey. One goal was to attract life sciences-oriented companies interested in working on ventures that would benefit by having a presence near Hopkins’ primary medical campus. Another goal was to nurture start-up companies that begin with incubator space close to Hopkins’ medical campus.
For many years EBDI had a private-sector partner with an extensive background in developing science and technology parks, Forest City Enterprises, and much of the area was marketed as The Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins. The area was later rebranded as Eager Park, but the name hasn’t entirely taken hold.
According to BDC board chair Calvin Young, 28 of the 34 development parcels are either developed, under construction or under contract – representing 82 percent of the available 88 acres. The total investment since 2002 has exceeded $1 billion. Key completed components of the renewal district include: two biotech buildings operated by EBDI; a laboratory building occupied by Maryland’s health department; a hotel, a charter school, new and rehabbed residences, including a tower for Hopkins graduate students, and a six-acre green space called Eager Park.
Current projects include Eager Landing, a 54-unit residential development in the 1700 block of E. Chase Street, and the Henrietta Lacks Building, a multidisciplinary hub for medical research under construction at Ashland and Rutland avenues.
Completing what EBDI began
Young, BDC president and CEO Otis Rolley III, and BDC Senior Vice President and Chief Real Estate Officer Jeremy Watson said there will be no change to EDBI’s mission, grants or obligations under the new arrangement, but the area will benefit by being managed by an organization that’s much larger than EBDI’s three-person staff.
Rolley noted that BDC already oversees two subsidiaries with their own boards – the Emerging Technology Center and Baltimore Made, previously known as Made in Baltimore.
BDC itself was formed from the consolidation of several earlier quasi-public organizations, including the Baltimore Economic Development Corp., Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management Inc. and Market Center Development Corp. Starting this fall, Rolley said, BDC is assuming management of the city’s Main Streets program, which has been run as a division of the Mayor’s Office.
The way this transition has been structured, “EBDI’s mission, community commitments and neighborhood focus remain central,” Watson told the BDC board.
“The city remains committed to completing the work EBDI began,” Watson said. “BDC’s infrastructure – including dedicated asset management support – is built out to carry this work well beyond what a three-person team can sustain, so nothing gets dropped as the portfolio matures and our much bigger team can support it.”
