This Week's Baltimore Deal Sheet
Developer Chicago Trend cleared a crucial hurdle in its plans to spend up to $40M overhauling the 237K SF Edmondson Village shopping center in West Baltimore.
The developer has acquired the requisite signatures to amend restrictive covenants on the property that date back to 1945, the Baltimore Banner reports. Chicago Trend purchased the downtrodden shopping center — once symbolic of Baltimore's post-World War II prosperity — this spring for $17M.
A spokesperson for Trend said via email it took two years to overturn the covenants that included various restrictions ranging from signage to multifamily allowance.
Additionally, the Black-owned developer successfully pushed to toss out unenforceable covenants stipulating that “any Negro or person of Negro extraction” could not own Edmondson Village.
Trend specializes in rejuvenating distressed retail centers in urban areas. The firm secures community support for projects by providing co-ownership opportunities to residents near its shopping centers.
SALES
A retail and office asset that once served as the headquarters for Howard Bank was sold to a local investor for $8M, the Baltimore Business Journal reports. Investor Jeremy Landsman purchased 3301 Boston St. in Canton late last month from a partnership that includes the First National Bank of Pennsylvania.
LEASES
Easy Charm has inked a lease for roughly 26K SF at 1300 Bayard St. in Baltimore's Pigtown neighborhood to house its custom manufacturing operations, Gov. Wes Moore's administration said late last week. Easy Charm creates, owns and operates ventures that the company said turn "science to revenue." The new facility will support 30 new ventures expected to create 115 new jobs in the next four years.
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Maryland-based Verbal Beginnings LLC has signed a lease with St. John Properties Inc. for 17K SF at the 61-acre Arcadia Business Park in Frederick. The firm, which delivers applied behavior analysis therapy to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, plans to open this fall at 4714 Arcadia Drive, a single-story flex/R&D space.
FINANCING
Baltimore's iconic Harborplace retail pavilions reported a sharp drop in appraised value in its August remittance, Morningstar Credit reports. Previously appraised at $108M, the pavilions were valued at $46.5M in the June appraisal. However, Morningstar said the decline in value predated the involvement of MCB Real Estate, which became the property's owner this summer and plans a substantial redevelopment.
DEVELOPMENT
The Frederick Planning Commission got its first glimpse this week of the proposed master plan for the massive Brickworks development downtown, the Frederick News-Post reports. The hearing was the first of two required for the redevelopment proposal that calls for building more than 1,200 residential units and 130K SF of retail along East Street.
