The University of Maryland, Baltimore, is trying to create a $300 million “college town” near the heart of its downtown campus, featuring high-rise residential buildings, an outdoor recreation area and maybe even a pub.
The plan, outlined in public documents, is fairly simple: The university will provide the land and kick in about $36 million. In return, a private developer will finance, own and operate the project, which is expected to cost another $263 million.
The University System of Maryland Board of Regents plans to vote on the proposal Friday. An agenda for the meeting says that UMB selected Wexford Science & Technology to develop the site following a competitive bid process.
Wexford developed the nearby UM BioPark, where it is now headquartered. Spokespersons for Wexford and UMB declined to comment ahead of Friday’s vote. The proposal was first reported by the Baltimore Business Journal.
According to the plan, construction would be completed in two phases: a North Quad along Lexington Street and a South Quad along Fayette Street. Groundbreaking would start next year, and both quads would be open by 2030. Together, the high-rise residential buildings would offer roughly 600 units — available broadly, not just for students — and about 25,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.
Under the agreement with Wexford, UMB would commit to leasing those retail spaces for 20 years, a $16.4 million commitment, but the university thinks it can sublease them for $11.4 million — meaning an estimated cost of just $5 million. And Wexford would have a 99-year ground lease on the footprint.
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The development proposal comes less than a year after the public university laid off staff and reduced salaries for employees. The university faced a fiscal year budget reduction of about $33.8 million amid state and federal cuts.
The layoffs affected 30 full-time staff, while an additional 30 vacant positions were eliminated. The salary reductions, which university officials described as modest, impacted approximately 1,000 university employees.
In a meeting with the University System of Maryland Board of Regents at the time, Bruce Jarrell, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, called the cuts a “clear and present danger.”
The university also declined to provide merit increases to faculty and staff, 4,000 of whom receive a “significant portion of their salary” from research grants.
According to its submission to the board of regents, the college town proposal fits with the long-term plans of UMB and its commitment to downtown Baltimore as an anchor institution.
Today, the proposed North Quad and South Quad sites are mostly parking lots. Hope Lodge, which provides temporary housing for cancer patients, is expected to move across the street to a space previously occupied by the Ronald McDonald House, according to Alex Likowski, assistant vice president of communications at UMB.
Part of UMB’s Pharmacy Learning Center would be turned into a gathering space, possibly featuring a pub and an outdoor entertainment venue, according to the development plan. Next to that would be a recreation and sports area. One rendering shows basketball courts, a sports field and courts for pickleball or tennis.
Wexford would also renovate and oversee Pascault Row, which would sit between the two quads. Built in 1819, these eight structures compromise some of Baltimore’s oldest existing rowhouses, and were built by Louis Pascault. The wealthy Frenchman fled to Baltimore from Haiti after enslaved people on the island revolted and overthrew the French regime, according to Baltimore Heritage.
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