Commercial Real Estate : Development News

Remember when all it took to curry favor with the teacher was a shiny apple? That's so not going to cut it anymore.

Seawall Development Corporation is raising the bar for sweet teacher treatment to dizzying heights with the development of not one, but two commercial-residential spaces designed specifically for the needs and comfort of Baltimore's educators.

The story begins with Millers Court, the Remington/Charles Village space at W. 26th and N. Howard Streets that Seawall opened for occupancy last month. The original home of the H.F. Miller Can Company, the 86,000-square-foot, turn-of-the-century building was divided by Seawall, along with Marks, Thomas Architects and Contractor Hamel Builders (both of Baltimore), into 30,000 square feet of commercial office space and 40 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. The hook? The office space was marketed specifically to non-profits working in education, and the apartments to teachers, who receive discounts on rent.

It gets better. Seawall has recently initiated the purchase of a second building, Union Mill, that will follow the same pro-educator commercial-residential template. Completed in 1872 and located at Union and Buena Vista Avenues in Hampden, Union Mill is Maryland's largest stone mill and has been occupied over the years by Life Like Products, LLC and Life Foam, LLC. Seawall will team with the same architect and contractor to convert the 86,000 square foot building into 54 apartments for teachers and 36,000 square feet of commercial office space for non-profits (in all sectors).

Evan Morville, a partner at Seawall, says he shares a strong desire to help educators with his colleagues, Thibault Manekin and Donald Manekin, who was CEO of the Baltimore School System in the early 2000s.

"Each year there are 750 new teachers hired by Baltimore City, and about 50% are new to Baltimore," Evan explains. "The idea behind Millers Court and Union Mill is to be able to roll out the red carpet for these new teachers because they don't know the ideal place to live, and knowing their minimal salary, we wanted to create a place where they could come and feel welcome."

According to Morville, Seawall developed a special market research group with the help of Millers Court tenant Teach for America to determine the specific needs of teachers, and as a result included such amenities as an in-house photocopy center, a fitness center, a lounge and a courtyard. With their discount, educators can rent a one-bedroom apartment at Millers Court for $700-800 a month, a two-bedroom for $1,250, and a three-bedroom for $1,500. Projected rents at Union Mill are $875 for one bedroom and $1,475 for two.

The set-up for commercial space is novel, Morville notes, in that it enables non-profits, who might normally be spread out across the city, to share bathrooms, conference rooms and kitchens in order to reduce their overhead. Non-profits spend about $18 per-square-foot.

"We feel education is the greatest economic tool Baltimore has," Morville says. "The only way Baltimore can truly complete its renaissance is by having a school system that supports its ongoing residential and commercial development." And vice versa.

Source: Evan Morville, Seawall Development Corp.
Writer: Lucy Ament

When the doors of the "temporary" East Baltimore Community School (EBCS) open for the first time on Aug. 31, students in the brand-new, brightly colored classrooms will learn about reading, arithmetic, and how to keep a promise.

That's because the school itself is a promise, one that East Baltimore Development Inc. made to the residents of its 80-acre site six years ago when it undertook the largest redevelopment project in Baltimore's history. At the time, some 70 percent of the homes in the EBDI site lay vacant and, without the requisite student- and tax-base, the local Elmer G. Henderson School was closed. Remarkably, EBDI promised those residents who remained in the area not only a new school, but a temporary one while the permanent school was being built.

That temporary pre-K through 8th grade school, EBCS, is now a reality. According to EBDI Communications Director Sheila Young, EBCS is a "contract" rather than a "charter" school, which allows EBDI to reserve 70 percent of its enrollment spots for kids from the immediate neighborhood as well as the children of former residents who have been relocated because of development activities (EBDI will also provide free transportation). The single-story, modular building, located at the corner of Wolf and East Chase Street between, is comprised of several trailers that have been brought in and bolted together.

"On the outside it's utilitarian, but we're doing things to make the area inside and around the school more welcoming and nurturing to the children," Young says.

The trailers came painted in colors chosen by Principal Cathleen Miles, and boast colorful murals, whiteboards, storage areas, wet sinks -- even little cubbies and "a tiny potty" for the kindergartners. Philadelphia-based, multinational food services giant ARAMARK sent 150 volunteers to create an outdoor classroom with a stage, benches, and podium, Young says.

The 19,300 square-foot, $1.6 million school, which EBDI undertook with partners such as Johns Hopkins University, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the City of Baltimore, will open this year to roughly 140 kindergartners, first-graders and fifth-graders. Two new grades will be incorporated each subsequent year with the addition of new trailers to accommodate them. The school will be operational for at least three or four years until the permanent school is completed, which Young says requires first the acquisition and demolition of homes in a four-block area bordered to the south by Ashland Avenue, the east by Patterson Park Drive the north by the Amtrak lines and the West by Chester Street. A design for the permanent school will be selected later this year.

Source: Sheila Young, EBDI
Writer: Lucy Ament

The Baltimore Development Corporation has received two proposals for the development of a site in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District that includes the former Parkway Theater, a city cinema gem with a storied if erratic history. The three properties, 1820 North Charles Street, 1 West North Avenue and 3 West North Avenue (the former Parkway Theatre), were offered for development by the city in May.

One proposal, submitted by Cormony Development and Seawall Development Corp., both of Baltimore, calls for a single phase, mixed-use project in which The Parkway Theatre would be renovated to become a multi-faceted theatre hosting a variety of entertainment. The other two properties would be incorporated into the project through a mix of demolition, renovation and new construction. The proposal lists Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. as general contractor and Ziger/Snead and Cho Benn Holback + Associates as architects.

The competing proposal suggests restoring the Parkway Theater to its original conditions and architecture and razing 1 West North Avenue to allow for a two-floor plus mezzanine, three-story glass structure matching the current roofline and housing the Station North Steak House restaurant. 1820 North Charles Street would be renovated and converted to student housing. This proposal was submitted by Alexandria, Va.-based TK Services, Incand lists Brown Craig Turner as architect and Branko Maximilian Bijelic as general contractor.

Designed by Oliver B. Wright, The Parkway Theatre was patterned in the Louis XIV style after the West End Theatre near Leicester Square in London and envisioned as a Vaudeville performance house with about 1100 seats. It was acquired and remodeled in 1926 by the Loews organization and later, in 1952, acquired and closed by the Morris Mechanic organization. It reopened in 1956 as the Five West Art Theatre and remained under that operation until the mid-1970s, when it again closed. It was reopened in the early 1990s in an attempt to make commercial office space in the rear orchestra level, but it closed and has remained vacant since 1998.

Source: Baltimore Development Corp.
Writer: Lucy Ament

The Baltimore Development Corp. (BDC) hopes to spur commercial interest in five contiguous properties in the city's Pigtown neighborhood left orphaned after the original developer had to abandon its plans for the properties early this year.

BDC is seeking proposals from qualified developers "for a high-quality, mixed-use development that enhances and anchors the Pigtown/Washington Village Business District and achieves a positive impact for the city," most notably through the creation of jobs, increased tax revenues, community stabilization and opportunities for business run by minorities and women. The agency is looking specifically for proposals to create restaurants and cafes, coffee shops, small scale grocery stores, bookstores, bakeries, family video stores, pharmacies, upscale convenience stores, florists, ice cream shops, hardware stores, art-related stores, camera shops, lodging facilities, yoga studios, and art galleries.

The five properties concerned are 925 Washington Boulevard (a former two-story tavern of approximately 1,656 square feet); 927 Washington Boulevard (an approximately 1,438 square foot, two-story residential structure); and 929, 931, and 937 Washington Boulevard (a site comprised of three adjoining lots totaling roughly 4,525 square feet and a three-level building shell). BDC says it will give priority to projects that "preserve the historic fabric of the community" and involve rehabbing to the greatest extent possible.

The properties were first offered by BDC in 2006, however the developer selected, Historic Pigtown Development LLC, told the agency in January that it could not afford to proceed.

The agency would not comment on the number or nature of the proposals it has received until Nov. 1, when it will issue a press release, says the BDC's Mica Fetz.

Source: Mica Fetz, Baltimore Development Corp.
Writer: Lucy Ament

There's a new java pusher on the streets, supplying coffee lovers in Fells Point with their daily latte dose. And while a good cup of joe in a friendly, familiar environment is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, when it's combined with the chocolatey goodness of freshly made fudge, then the line fiends looking to get their fix will likely stretch out the door.

That's the golden combo Jeff Harwood, a veteran javahouse developer and owner of the newly opened Java Roo, Kickin' Coffee and Fells Fabulous Homemade Fudge, is banking on. The one-month old Broadway coffeehouse offers 19 flavors of fudge made fresh daily, a wide array of specialty coffees, fudge-based mocha drinks, and pure fruit smoothies. The coffeeshop also carries Harwood's  motley crew of "Coffee Critters" characters: Java Roo, Mocha Monkey, Latte Lion, Wired Whiskers, Caffeine Coyote and Chai Cheetah on tee-shirts, coffee mugs, and other merchandise. Harwood, who's lived in the area since 2002, introduced the characters four years ago at Coffee Fest in Seattle, where they snagged the title of "best new product of show."

An aeronautical space expert by day, Harwood has owned coffeehouses in Florida and Virginia over the past 15 years owned. But he's decided to focus all his resources on the Fells Point location, largely to make it a unique and beloved neighborhood haunt. He chose the deep, narrow building with old fashioned tin ceilings at 726 S. Broadway after hearing grumblings from Fells Point residents that there weren't enough coffee shops in the neighborhood -- and not enough alternatives for those with a sweet tooth.

Harwood unabashedly declares his confection as "the best fudge you'll ever have." Among the dizzying selection are Heath Bar, mint, amaretto, coconut, Butterfinger, chewy praline, peanut butter chocolate, and raspberry vanilla swirl. Also available are sports-themed flavors in gift boxes, including chocolate-grape-raspberry swirl for Ravens fans and chocolate-orange swirl for Orioles devotees.

Source: Jeff Harwood, Java Roo
Writer: Lucy Ament