Old Buildings Given New Uses
One developer is transforming two 19th century mills into offices, apartments and restaurants. Others are turning historic downtown buildings into amenity-laden apartments. It inspired us to host a new event: Reposition This: Unlocking Your Building’s True Value, at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace on Wednesday, Sept. 30, starting at 7:30am. In advance, we spoke to three of our panelists.
The $19M renovation of Whitehall Mill (rendering) is well underway and the 28 apartments will be ready for occupancy March '16, says Terra Nova Ventures LLC founder David Tufaro. It’ll also hold 15k SF of office space, a 6k SF restaurant and an 18k SF food market. David says he’s talking to prospective vendors for the market, expected to open spring ’16.
Mill No. 1 (pictured) in Woodberry has already been converted into 84 apartments and is 95% occupied, David says. The owners of Donna’s are opening the 200-seat Sicilian restaurant Cosima in late fall. There’s another restaurant spot open at the mill and about 12k SF of office space left to fill. Existing office tenants include Evergreen Health, digital agency Fastspot and startup Everseat.
In Mount Vernon, Ceremony Coffee Roasters (pictured) recently opened at 520 Park Ave, a former Hochschild Kohn warehouse. Developer The Time Group is also planning a food market that will open in October, development director Dominic Wiker says. The market will contain 13 vendors, including an olive oil company, craft beer, seafood, soups, charcuterie and an Asian market. The $30M redevelopment also included 171 apartments, which debuted last year.
Next to the Hochschild Kohn, The Time Group will begin construction Q1 '16 on a new 153-unit apartment building, 500 Park Ave. The $29M building will be ready by Q2 ’17.
In downtown Baltimore, Monument Realty is converting 225 N Calvert St to a 350-unit apartment building with a rooftop deck and pool, plus balconies in most of the units, SVP Josh Olsen says. He’s pictured with his wife on their honeymoon in Shanghai. Construction on the 625 SF one-bedrooms, renting for $1,500 per month, will begin by the end of the year and wrap up May ’17.
A 1970s era building, 225 N Calvert (rendering) doesn’t have the grand lobby and ornamentation of some other older downtown buildings, Josh says. But the advantage of that is the developer has more flexibility in the design. “We can put windows where we want,” Josh says. Monument also told architect Hord Coplan Macht to push the design as far as possible, using bright bold colors that stand out in a gray-and-glass-filled downtown.
You can hear these speakers and more discuss how they are converting historic buildings. Join us at Reposition This: Unlocking Your Building's True Value Sept. 30 at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel, starting at 7:30am. Register here.
