Harborplace developer mum on demolition schedule

There’s one thing clear about the demolition of Harborplace: No one seems to know when it will happen.

MCB Real Estate applied for construction permits this summer that listed a proposed start date of Oct. 15, even as the Baltimore-based developer had yet to secure the hundreds of millions of dollars in financing needed for its redevelopment plans.

But vendors at the waterfront pavilions in downtown Baltimore said they’ve heard different timelines — or nothing at all.

“We have no clue what’s going on,” said Anil Singh, 69, who has worked at Cigare by Tobacco Etc. since 2010. “No one knows anything.”

Wendy Moscat Soto, 29, the store manager at Matriarch Coffee, said the cafe had been planning to move in October, but that’s been pushed back a few months or so.

“The owners of the building told us they don’t have a set date,” Moscat Soto said of the start of demolition.

Baltimore Fishbowl first reported that tenants at the green-roofed pavilions have been told they can stay put until at least January.

Asked about the demolition timeline, MCB spokeswoman Alexandra Hughes declined to comment.

MCB Managing Partner P. David Bramble unveiled the redevelopment plans at an October 2023 news conference, flanked by Mayor Brandon Scott, Gov. Wes Moore and many local leaders. The developer had performed extensive outreach throughout the design process, outreach that continued during the run-up to a successful ballot initiative in 2024.

Now, two years later, there are no events listed on the project’s community engagement calendar.

On its website, OurHarborplace.com, MCB said it “will continue to update the public on progress and anticipated schedules.”

The website still maintains that construction is “anticipated to being before the end of 2026,” starting with changes to the nearby intersections.

The website also directs residents to a Baltimore Department of Transportation website that lists active projects for updates on the changes to the intersection of Pratt and Light streets. No such project is currently listed on the site.

Crepe Lena, located on the second floor of the Pratt Street Pavilion, is one of just a handful of remaining businesses at Harborplace. Owner Yassir Abdalla, 47, said the last official update he received was a year ago. He was told that Harborplace would shut down by the end of summer 2026, but now the summer is over — and he’s still open.

Abdalla said he’s only heard “rumors” about when Harborplace could shut down.

Idris Coleman, 50, sells clothing under his streetwear brand Motion on the first floor. He said he’s going to stay at Harborplace as long as he can, adding that “management’s been pretty good.”

On multiple occasions, Coleman said, executives from MCB have stopped by and checked on his store, even buying some clothes. Still, like the other vendors, he had not heard of an official closing date.

MCB will have to demolish the pavilions and conduct significant site work to make way for its proposed redevelopment. The plan includes two residential towers, commercial buildings, park space, a rebuild of the Inner Harbor promenade and a reconfiguration of the surrounding streetscape.

It was originally pitched as a roughly $900 million project, with $400 million coming from the government for public spaces and $500 million in private financing.

It could soon be much easier for the developer to secure financing, thanks to a newly created tax break. This spring, state lawmakers passed a law allowing the city to waive almost all property taxes for up to 25 years on new developments downtown.

Applications for the Downtown RISE PILOT program (PILOT meaning “Payment In Lieu Of Taxes”) opened on July 29. One month later, the board of the Baltimore Development Corp. gave preliminary approval to a tax break for the redevelopment of Harborplace.

Details of the proposed tax break — including how much it could be worth — are unclear. The tax break needs final approval from Board of Estimates, a spending board controlled by the mayor.

“We don’t go through City Council. That’s where we get the speed,” Jeremy Watson, the chief real estate officer of the Baltimore Development Corp., said during a July presentation. “City councils are great, but sometimes we get some logjams. This gives us an opportunity to look at and apply PILOTs without that step.”

Earlier this month, Baltimore developer David Tufaro filed an application with the Maryland Historical Trust, a state agency, to place the pavilions on its list of historic properties. The pavilions opened in 1980. The application highlighted their role in popularizing the “festival marketplace,” a style of heavily curated retail space that boomed in popularity following the opening of Harborplace.

If granted, inclusion on the list “does not create legal restrictions on the use or dispensation of that property,” according to the agency’s website. And at 46 years old, Harborplace does not meet the 50-year threshold for a historical landmark designation by the city or federal government, though exceptions can be made for especially significant buildings.

“There’s nothing special or iconic about these buildings,” Bramble said in a 2024 interview. “They’re all over the place.”