Baltimore City Council sends Harborplace redevelopment plans to mayor’s desk, public vote

The City Council cut through red tape Monday evening to push the redevelopment of Baltimore’s Harborplace closer to fruition.

The council passed a trio of bills,14-1, requested by MCB Development to alter regulations in order to turn the public park around the Inner Harbor into apartments, retail and parking spots. Councilman Ryan Dorsey, who represents a chunk of Northeast Baltimore, offered the lone opposition.

The bills amended zoning law and the city’s urban renewal plan, which now require Mayor Brandon Scott’s approval, as well as the city charter, which will require voter approval in November. Scott has been an active supporter of the plan, hosting several town halls with MCB Development CEO David Bramble.

All three bills were introduced by City Councilman Eric Costello, who represents downtown and the Inner Harbor, Oct. 30 at the request of MCB Development. The city charter currently dedicates the Inner Harbor as a public park, and the proposed amendment will ask voters to change the charter to allow residential development and parking.

The zoning bill establishes a standard that development will be “pedestrian-oriented and mixed-use” and accommodates the view of the harbor while the amendments to the urban renewal plan sets parameters for the development — between 2 million and 4 million square feet of gross building area, between 3,000 and 4,500 parking spaces and a maximum of 250 housing units per acre.

If approved, the changes passed Monday would enable MCB Development to demolish the twin 43-year-old waterfront shopping and dining pavilions. The plan calls for replacing them with four taller, mixed-use buildings, including a conjoined tower with around 900 apartments, several smaller buildings, a large new park, a two-tier promenade and realigned roadways.

The project has already received a recommendation from the city Planning Commission and the council’s Economic and Community Development Committee.

There was no discussion ahead of Monday’s vote, but the high-profile project has drawn scrutiny for its proposed density, its removal of height limits and the inclusion of hundreds of apartments on the site. At public hearings last month, Baltimoreans urged members to avoid a plan that they believe would privatize the public Inner Harbor shoreline.

Dorsey said last month that the city needs a complete plan in place for the redevelopment of Harborplace before special zoning provisions should be made, citing how city finance officials said there is currently no plan in place to assist with funding the project and officials with the Department of Transportation said they had not yet studied traffic in the area. The three bills passed Monday were all first introduced Oct. 30.

MCB’s proposal involves about $500 million of private investment and would need an estimated $400 million in public funds — about $300 million for parks and public spaces and $100 million for roadwork — the developer has said.

The company struck a deal to acquire the mostly vacant pavilions out of receivership in April 2022. The pavilions have lost tenants and fallen into disrepair over the past decade, with many attributing the problems to what they saw as mismanagement by the previous, New York-based owner.