State Center?s redevelopment plans are focused on the need to “help pull adjacent neighborhoods together” in midtown Baltimore.
“The urban fabric of this area has changed quite dramatically over the last 100 years,” Matt D?Amico, principal of Baltimore-based Design Collective, told the city?s Urban Design and Architectural Review Panel during an introductory presentation Thursday of the State Center plan.
The $1.6 billion project comes with a master plan totaling 6 million square feet of development. The plan includes 1.3 million to 2 million square feet of office space, 180,000 to 250,000 square feet of retail space, 350,000 square feet of civic space and 520 mid-rise and 830 high-rise residential units. The residential units will be a mix of rental and for-sale properties at market-rate and affordable prices.
Three buildings in State Center ? the state buildings at 201 and 301 W. Preston St. and the 5th Regiment Armory ? would likely be maintained, and eight mixed-use buildings would be built in the complex, D?Amico said. The buildings at 1100 Eutaw St. and 300 West Preston St. would “probably be good candidates for demolition,” D?Amico said.
The plan would include retail outlets and restaurants on the ground level of office and residential buildings along Preston Street, to “create a really great Main Street” and connect the Metro Station in State Center to the Light Rail to the northeast, D?Amico said.
The goals of the project include providing ample pedestrian and bicycle paths, encouraging economic development in the area, maintaining the characteristics of the surrounding neighborhoods and maximizing transportation outlets such as the Metro, Light Rail and nearby Penn Station. Plans include enough parking garages for 5,600 spaces.
“We see this as an exciting opportunity for a public-private partnership to effect an important part of the city of Baltimore,” said Michael Gaines, assistant secretary in the state?s Department of General Services.
Designers and developers have had about 20 meetings with surrounding community groups to discuss the plan and its effects on the area.
“This is a monumental event for us,” said Caroline Moore, project manager for Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, lead developer on the project. “It?s taken us a year to get to this point.”
McCormack Baron Salazar and Doracon Development are also involved in the project?s development.
