Commercial projects with controversial pasts advance

Proposals in Baltimore include 2 apartments, plus an office building

Developers and architects presented new and revised designs Thursday to city officials for three commercial projects with controversial pasts in Baltimore.

The projects include apartments in Woodberry and Little Italy and an office building in Locust Point.

The new architect for the owner of the Clipper Road property in Woodberry, where two historic homes were controversially demolished without notice in May, presented a revised design for a proposed apartment building to the city’s Urban Design and Architecture Advisory Panel.

The Baltimore firm JP2 Architects showed plans for a five-story, 51-unit apartment building that would rise 54 feet on the narrow lot between Clipper Road and the Light Rail tracks. Members of the panel urged the architects to rethink their approach to one that better reflects the character, engagement level and history of the surrounding community.

Osbourne Anthony, an architect on the panel, said the current design “has a relatively anonymous identity.”

“It’s not playful enough,” Anthony said. The proposed apartment site has received intense scrutiny from neighbors, who waged a battle to save the two 19th-century stone homes in 2018. Their demolition a few months ago infuriated those who thought the issue had been settled. The previous architect and developer of the project quit after the demolition of the homes, which were part of the Woodberry Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

As a nod to the area’s history and the neighbors’ devotion to the demolished homes, JP2 Architects planned to use some of the old stone of the historic structures for the apartment’s exterior base. The previous developer, Chris Mfume of CLD Partners, planned to incorporate the facades of the two buildings into the apartment complex.

Cheryl O’Neill, a local architect who also sits on the panel, suggested incorporating even more stone into the design to better align the building with the original plans.

John Hutch, a principal at JP2 Architects who presented the plans at Thursday’s meeting, agreed to spend more time exploring the building’s design and facade possibilities.

In Little Italy, a developer has proposed a 30-unit apartment project on the site of the controversial former restaurant and nightclub Milan. The developer hopes the six-story building at 1000 Eastern Ave. is a welcomed addition for the close-knit community.

“We want the project to be something good for the city, good for us and good for the neighborhood,” said Sean Shahparast, a partner on the project, who declined to offer more specifics on costs or construction until the building gains city approvals.

He and architects from Arcon Design presented the project to the architectural review panel, which offered positive reviews.

The restaurant, Milan, which closed in 2014, ran afoul of the neighborhood when it began offering live entertainment. A judge for the District Court in Baltimore City agreed it violated its zoning by operating as a nightclub.

Shahparast has been seeking to replace the restaurant with apartments for at least three years. Community representatives in Little Italy did not respond to request for comment.

In Locust Point, an office building planned for a former industrial site on Key Highway could move ahead as soon as early next year. The proposed building across from the Domino Sugar plant raised alarm among residents of the rowhouses abutting the property who protested a nine-story tower shading their homes.

Goodier Properties, the project’s developer, presented a new design Thursday that incorporated changes negotiated with the community to the advisory panel. For example, the parking garage is just two stories and the office tower has several setbacks so neighbors with roof decks won’t have their views of the Baltimore harbor and the glowing Domino sign entirely obstructed.

Locust Point has seen significant development in recent years of apartments, shops and, to a lesser degree, offices, prompting concerns from neighbors worried about traffic and scale.

Goodier purchased the three industrial properties that form the L-shaped site between Woodall and Stevenson streets for $2.7 million in 2017. It initially proposed a mixed-use building with retail, offices and apartments but switched to just an office project after talks with neighbors.

Dan Goodier, a company principal, said he was talking to potential office tenants and hoped to sign some soon. They are likely to be smaller users than those at the nearby McHenry Row office, apartment and retail project, which is anchored by a Harris Teeter grocery store.

The Goodier building also will have retail space on the ground floor.