Trading buildings in Remington
Deal between Seawall and Baltimore Glass removes obstacle to Remington Row development
Seawall Development Corp. is trading buildings with Baltimore Glass Co., in a deal that will result in a reconfigured, scaledback version of the developer’s Remington Row mixed-use project.
The $51 million development calls for retail, apartments, underground parking and newly added office space for nonprofit groups in the 2700 and 2800 blocks of Remington Ave.
Remington Row is separate from 25th Street Station, another developer’s planned shopping center with a Wal-Mart at 25th and Howard streets.
The original plans for Remington Row called for redevelopment extending into the 2900 block of Remington Ave.
But Baltimore Glass, located in the 2700 block since 1975, posed a potential obstacle to the project, because owner Caleb Kelly and his wife, Maureen, said they wanted to stay put or move within the immediate area.
Now, Seawall is giving the Kellys one of the vacant buildings it originally planned to redevelop, an 8,000-square-foot warehouse in the 2900 block. Seawall will renovate the warehouse for Baltimore Glass and pay for the move.
Seawall will raze the current, 5,000square-foot Baltimore Glass building and redevelop the site as part of its plans for the 2700 block. The 2800 block will be redeveloped as a separate project, said Seawall partner Thibault Manekin.
Seawall is abandoning plans to redevelop the 2900 block as part of Remington Row.
“It was a relatively small project,” Manekin said.
Plans for the 2900 block were contingent on Seawall’s acquiring a small building that is now a Pizza Boli’s, but a contract on the property fell through, he said.
Seawall also owns a 20,000-square foot warehouse in the 2900 block and is considering long-range uses for that building, Manekin said.
“We’re exploring development options,” he said, adding that he is open to ideas from the community. “We’re in the listening stage.”
Manekin and Kelly said the deal is advantageous because it gives Baltimore Glass a larger, better-laid-out building and frees Seawall to develop the 2700 block, the costliest part of Remington Row, at $37 million.
Seawall was scheduled to present updated plans to area residents at a community meeting this morning.
Seawall’s plan for the 2700 block calls for tearing down underutilized and vacant properties, including several storage lots and an old church, to make way for a five-story, U-shaped building. Seawall now plans for the building to include 15,000 square feet of street-level retail, 30,000 square feet of second-floor office space for nonprofits, 108 apartments and about 200 parking spaces, mostly underground.
Manekin said he is excited about adding nonprofits to the mix, as Seawall has done for its previous redevelopment projects at Union Mill in Hampden and Miller’s Court, the old U.S. Census Building, in Remington.
Adding office tenants will enable Seawall to reduce its apartment rents to $1,000 to $1,600 a month for one- and two-bedroom apartments, down from $1,150 to $1,900 under the earlier plans.
Residents and community leaders have told Seawall officials at public meetings that they fear gentrification would price low- income residents out of the area.
In the 2800 block, Seawall’s original plan was to redevelop the Anderson body shop as 21,000 square feet of retail and 101 parking spaces, some inside the building. New plans call for 15,000 square feet of retail and 10,000 square feet of office space.
“That will be Phase II,” Manekin said, describing it as a $15 million project. “It’s a ways out.”
The reconfigured plan is more manageable, Manekin said.
“It’s not as heavy of a lift from Day One,” in terms of getting financing and the impact of construction on the community, he said.
Kelly said he is satisfied with the deal, which he described as a real estate exchange, and foresees moving Baltimore Glass by the end of the year.
“My building is being traded for the one we’re moving into,” he said.
Maureen Kelly’s grandfather William McKewin started the business at Pratt and Hanover streets downtown in 1928, and her father built up the business. The city forced Baltimore Glass to move through eminent domain in 1975 as part of the Inner Harbor redevelopment. The city found the building in Remington as the company’s new home.
Nearly 40 years later, Baltimore Glass has 10 employees and $1 million to $2 million in annual sales, the Kellys said. The company does glass and metal work ranging from shower doors and beveled mirrors to storefronts and glass for larger buildings.
Kelly said Manekin made him a good offer that will allow his mostly local employees to work in the same area.
“What was really important to us was to stay local,” Maureen Kelly said. “We wanted to stay a part of the community.”