BALTIMORE | Projects: proposed, under construction or approved

[StevenW]

It will break ground this Summer.
It will be 26 stories and the condos will be 22 stories. Probably a little over or close to 300 ft. tall for the hotel and around 250 to 270 ft. tall for the condos I'm guessing.
Emporis doesn't know as much as it "thinks" it does. They are WAY behind on stats and there are a lot of mess-ups on their listing. Do yourself a favor and stick with ssp and ssc websites.

[StevenW]

Here is an older rendering from 3 years ago:

From what I heard the towers will both be taller AND the design has even changed for the BETTER! Should be an exciting project to keep an eye on!

[Ktulured55]

Originally Posted by StevenW

It will break ground this Summer.
It will be 26 stories and the condos will be 22 stories. Probably a little over or close to 300 ft. tall for the hotel and around 250 to 270 ft. tall for the condos I'm guessing.
Emporis doesn't know as much as it "thinks" it does. They are WAY behind on stats and there are a lot of mess-ups on their listing. Do yourself a favor and stick with ssp and ssc websites.

Nice, so it is 2 buildings!!! Since they are going to break ground this summer it would make sense that they have more structural information already released.... like HEIGHT for example!!!
Don't you all agree?

I hope the taller building is 300+ feet... that is really not asking for too much as that really isn't that tall.. but with that location literally 'right on' the harbor, they shouldn't have any trouble filling up all units and having a very successful hotel no matter how tall they build it.

Anyone have any pics of Water St.? That is currently the tallest building under construction in our city.

[StevenW]

Go here: www.414waterstreet.com

That should do the trick for you.

[Ktulured55]

sorrry, I didn't specify... I meant updated construction pics.... I didn't see any on the site. Thanks though, it's a nice site.

but I guess someone will have to take pics of it currently.....

[StevenW]

Go here: www.414waterstreet.com

That should do the trick for you.

[StevenW]

Water Tower construction update picture from wada guy over at ssc!



The Vue updated construction picture:



The Zenith:





How's that?

[quabex]

has there been any update on the guilford avenue project(s)? i know they originally said 60 floors, but as the location is quite downhill from the city center, they won't top out much higher than the schafer tower and tremont plaza. i'm hoping they'll go to 70 stories in order to make more of an impact on the skyline.

[BTinSF]

I looked at the site you posted for the Water St. building and noticed they are advertising gas service in all the units. Is this common in B-more these days? Out here in Quakesville, the building code says, "No way, Jose!" I live on just the 6th floor and don't have gas because it's a no-no in new highrises and even midrises (this building only goes to 13 floors). Interestingly, though, we have an outdoor pool on a deck that constitutes the roof of a 2-story pediment section of the building and it is heated with gas (we even do cogeneration).

[Ktulured55]

Originally Posted by StevenW

Water Tower construction update picture from wada guy over at ssc!



How's that?

Very nice pics!!!!

That is great!! Water St. is looking pretty big now, starting to really come over some of it's neighbors. And the Zenith is popping right up!

In the next few days or maybe next week i'm going to drive by there, def take a look at Water St. Tonight would be nice as it's the longest day of the year, but I can't tonight.

Great pics though, this thread needed those

[Ktulured55]

Anyone have any news on anything happening in our great city?

[StevenW]

Nothing new or really exciting yet.

How about this:

U.K. rock fest to come to Baltimore

Bruce Miller, The Examiner
Jul 6, 2006 5:00 AM (12 hrs ago)


BALTIMORE - The rumors are true — Virgin Mobile’s widely renowned British rock festival will be launching its first-ever United States concert in Baltimore this September.


But it’s not one of the city’s ultra-modern stadiums that will be hosting the concert. Instead, the festival will be held at the home of the Preakness, Pimlico Race Track, the historic racing facility located outside of downtown Baltimore.

According to Kathleen Reynolds, a Virgin Mobile spokeswoman, the concert will be held on Saturday, Sept. 23. She declined, however, to say which bands would be included in the day’s line-up, saying only that a formal announcement about the festival will be made July 10.

“The location is ideal as it’s easily accessible in the mid-Atlantic corridor for a number of fans coming from north and south,” said Reynolds. “Baltimore also provides accessibility to a number of universities and colleges in the surrounding area.

“Additionally, the city of Baltimore and its mayor have expressed the same kind of enthusiasm and commitment that Virgin Mobile has for presenting this festival in the U.S. for the first time.”

Mike Gathagan, a spokesman with the Maryland Jockey Club, which oversees operations at Pimlico, also could not provide any details about the concert, saying he was only aware of the July 10 announcement.

While the Virgin festival is expected to be a major event for the city, some in the local entertainment industry were initially surprised by the company’s choice of venue.

Gregory Smith, president of the Camden Yards Sports and Entertainment Commission, an arm of the Maryland Stadium Authority, which is charged with bringing music and entertainment acts to the city’s stadiums, said his agency was not contacted by Virgin.

“I was disappointed at first,” said Smith. “But, it’s my understanding that they wanted everything all in one area and that’s what the infield at Pimlico offers.”

bmiller@baltimoreexaminer.com

Examiner

[quabex]

over the past few days, a parking garage that i drive past has been demolished. the garage was on guilford ave, just north of the block recently purchased by the rockville developer with 60 story plans the block that hammerjacks is/was on). i don't think the land the garage was on was part of his purchase, none the less, the garage came down for a reason. does anyone have any info on plans for this parcel?

[StevenW]

The 60-story man
Developer wants to build city’s tallest skyscraper — twice

By JEN DeGREGORIO
Daily Record Business Writer

Richard W. Naing has been quietly buying properties just north of Baltimore’s City Hall. He has plans to build two massive skyscrapers in the area.

Investors once afraid to dip so much as a toe into the Baltimore real estate market are now plunging in with millions of dollars, betting on a prosperous future for the city. Among them is Richard W. Naing, a Potomac resident who is taking Baltimore bullishness to new heights with a plot to build the city’s tallest skyscraper — not once but twice.

Naing, a longtime Washington broker and developer, decided in 2003 that the nation’s capital no longer offered the kind of groundbreaking opportunities he was seeking. “I decided to look for more projects in Washington, but the prices were all outrageous,” he said. “If you want a building permit in Washington, you almost have to go to church and pray.” He turned his sights 38 miles north to Baltimore. What caught his attention was a portfolio of eight Class B office buildings that then-owner Boxer Property had put on the selling block.

“When I walked into the Equitable building, I said, ‘How much is this?’” Naing recalled of the late 19th-century office building at 10 N. Calvert St. “It was peanuts compared to Washington. You couldn’t lease space for this price in Washington.” The realization that Baltimore offered a much lower price for entry into its real estate market — combined with amenities such as the Inner Harbor — sealed the deal for Naing. He sold the handful of buildings he still owned in Washington to free up cash for the Boxer properties.

Along with Rockville-based partner Bresler & Reiner Inc., Naing’s company RWN Development Inc. purchased the buildings in 2004. Knowing that Baltimore’s office vacancy rates hovered at about 18 percent for Class B space, the companies hired local architect Kann & Associates to figure out whether other uses would be more profitable for the buildings.

“We realized that a lot of the buildings had worn out their useful lives as for office,” Naing said. The floor plates of the buildings, many of them built in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, lent themselves to redevelopment for either residential or hotel uses, he said. Naing decided to put the buildings back on the market, pitching them as ideal conversion projects. He figured that even if they did not sell for what he was asking, he could begin converting the buildings himself. But that was not necessary. “We put them on the market and it worked like a charm,” Naing said.

By June of 2006, all but one of the former Boxer properties sold to new investors. RWN kept the Equitable building, occupying a space on the mezzanine level for its new headquarters office. Naing said he doubled his money on the sales. With the cash he earned, Naing was free to pursue his daydreams. He began buying up properties just north of City Hall in hopes of eventually building on their footprints.

He now has control of nearly two full city blocks just north of City Hall on which he plans to erect 60-story or taller mixed-use towers — heights that would dwarf Baltimore’s current tallest structure, the Legg Mason building. “In two to three years, Baltimore will be the perfect storm” for massive mixed-use residential buildings, Naing said.

As reasons behind his optimism, Naing cited the Base Realignment and Closure process that is transferring thousands of military-related jobs to Maryland, the completion of the University of Maryland biotech park in West Baltimore and new research investment at the Johns Hopkins University. “The demographics are perfect,” he said.

Can it be done?

If Naing had his way, his skyscrapers would incorporate all uses, with room for a hotel, condominiums, assisted living facilities, office and retail space. Naing predicts demand for all of it. While his confidence tickles Baltimore development leaders, the notion of not one but two 60-story towers downtown raises the eyebrows of even the city’s biggest cheerleaders.

Mark Deering, a broker with MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services LLC, wondered whether Baltimore could handle such a copious infusion of space. “Would it be good to see on the skyline?” Deering asked. “In my opinion, yes, it would be delightful.” But, he countered, “Is there demand right now for a million square feet of office space in downtown Baltimore? The answer is no.”

“The question is, Will all the waterfront projects that should be built be built, and what is the demand beyond that?” he wondered. “He’s probably fishing and wishing.” Otis Rolley III, director of the city’s Department of Planning, said he is rooting for Naing’s plans. But, “I’ll admit that the plans are extremely ambitious,” Rolley told The Daily Record in an interview last month.

Rolley also wondered whether Naing, who isn’t a known player in Baltimore real estate, has the capital or wherewithal to accomplish two larger-than-life projects. But according to Naing’s former colleague, Leo McDermott, a broker in the Washington office of real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, Naing is a savvy businessman with impressive foresight.

“If you talk to anyone who invests in commercial real estate in Washington, they know about Richard Naing,” McDermott said. Among Naing’s signature projects was 2401 Pennsylvania Ave., one of Washington’s upscale residential addresses. The Washington Post wrote a rave review of the project, thanking RWN, in a 1991 article. “Powerful in form, elegant in detail … it is a cohesive architectural statement that celebrates vivid contrasts,” the article said of the project. Naing also used historic tax credits to restore buildings when such a practice was not nearly as popular as it is today.

Anxious buyer

Naing’s passion has always been real estate, he said. A degree in engineering from Carnegie Mellon University left him unsatisfied, as did a brief stint in law school. During his decades-long career as a developer, Naing has either owned or developed about 50 properties, he said. He’s cashed in most of the chips he earned during that career and is placing them on the table for Baltimore.

McDermott concedes that Naing’s new Baltimore plans are grand. “But he’s always had good instincts and he’s very good with numbers, and I think that’s probably what is behind his ambitious goals here is that the numbers work,” McDermott said. “He’s got a track record that precedes him that shows if anyone is capable of building those towers, he certainly is,” McDermott said. “By the time that he gets his approvals and architectural work completed … that may be an ideal time to develop an ambitious project.”

“What I saw was interesting. To me it was intriguing,” Rolley said of Naing’s preliminary plans for the towers. “I was excited about the potential of really activating that area of downtown.” The area north of City Hall lacks the noisy street life of the Inner Harbor and central business district. However, being situated just blocks from those locations gives the area a good shot at becoming livelier.

The months ahead will reveal more detailed plans from Naing, but what is certain is that the developer does not plan on leaving Baltimore anytime soon. “I think there are still a lot of opportunities left in Baltimore,” Naing said. “I’m anxious to buy more.”

[quabex]

no no... the 2 60s are on the block of hammer jacks, and the block of sonor. the block in question is one block north of hammerjacks. any info?

btw... i went out for a little sunset boat ride last night...i could count 12 construction cranes from the water!!!!!

[StevenW]

Well, it could be the the NEW garage that they are going to build for the new Mercy Tower going up nearby. That's the only other thing I think it might be.

[Ktulured55]

That is a nice article (Naing). Sounds like we will further reach the sky even more in the future

Wish I could go out on a boat on the harbor


Steven, what is up with 10 Inner Harbor? Are they further perfecting it? I'm still waiting for this huge announcement. I would say they will not break ground until at least May 2007 on this.

[StevenW]

Originally Posted by Ktulured55

That is a nice article (Naing). Sounds like we will further reach the sky even more in the future

Wish I could go out on a boat on the harbor


Steven, what is up with 10 Inner Harbor? Are they further perfecting it? I'm still waiting for this huge announcement. I would say they will not break ground until at least May 2007 on this.

Latest news on 10 IH is that official announcement on "who" the hotelier will be and more up-to-date info is set for this September. HOWEVER, construction will not start till October of 2007. September should be a nice pleasant bit of news for us. Can't wait.

[StevenW]

Here's a picture taken by wada guy over at ssc. It's clearly showing Water Tower rising.

[sdeclue]

Just a little bit of news for everyone. I usually keep to posting on the other skyscraper board but I do glance over here to see if anyone has additional info.

Someone on the other site who is in the construction business says the 2 60 story towers will end up being 30-40 stories. Also said 300 E Pratt will most likely be 35 stories and that the Cordish Tower won't break ground till early to mid 2007.