State Center has been an austere throwback to postwar urban renewal, a collection of aging office buildings isolated from surrounding communities by a sea of asphalt parking lots.
But a $1.6 billion plan would transform the area into a hub of residential units and retail space alongside the existing state offices, and tie together Baltimore?s Metro and Light Rail lines.
“Remember when the skywalks were here,” Gov. Martin O?Malley asked a crowd of state workers Tuesday afternoon. “It?s like they were trying to keep human activity off the streets. We?re flipping that around.”
The plan is part of the state?s new direction toward transit-oriented, mixed-use development. The State Center proposal first arose under the Ehrlich administration, but was revamped by O?Malley as part of a larger set of projects, including those in Savage and Owings Mills.
Redevelopment of the 28-acre site includes 1.5 million square feet of commercial office space and 250,000 square feet of retail space. Of the 1,000 planned housing units, 20 percent to 30 percent will be work-force affordable housing, according to Caroline Moore of Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, developer of the project.
The state will donate the land, and Struever Bros. and two partners, Doracon Development and McCormack Baron Salazar, will finance construction. Moore said the yearlong design process will begin early next year, with primary construction completed by 2012.
Moore said two existing buildings at 1100 Eutaw St. and 300 West Preston St. would be converted if possible, but might be torn down. She said the largest building, at 301 West Preston St., was found during construction to be a world-class example of international-style architecture and would be retained, possibly as a residential complex.
The complex will provide offices for 3,500 state workers, nearly 5 percent of the state?s work force and the largest single concentration of employees, said Michael Gaines, assistant secretary for real estate with the state Department of General Services.
Local leaders hailed State Center?s revival and community involvement in planning.
“There are a lot of things that destroyed this neighborhood. Now community organizations have a voice in what will happen here,” state Sen. Verna Jones said.
