NAACP Seeking Developers To Overhaul Its Baltimore HQ
The NAACP is looking for proposals from qualified developers to transform its former national headquarters property in northwest Baltimore.
The nation's oldest civil rights organization said Tuesday it is accepting proposals as part of its search for a partner to overhaul the Benjamin L. Hooks Building at 4805 Mount Hope Drive in a way that reflects its values, as part of its Centering Equity in the Sustainable Building Sector initiative.
"With this endeavor, the NAACP intends to take deliberate steps to assist small, local, and disadvantaged businesses and people to not just participate in larger opportunities but also build the capacity necessary to lead and manage them in the future," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson emphasized the NAACP's desire for the redevelopment to create "equitable access to meaningful opportunities." Those opportunities, he said, represent a "critical pathway" to ensure future development benefits and meet the needs of Baltimore's residents.
The property at Mount Hope Drive consists of a 43,454 SF building completed in 1955 sitting on 3 acres, and it is valued at about $3.8M, according to state property tax records.
The NAACP said it would consider joint venture partnerships or a long-term ground lease agreement with a developer, but isn't looking to sell the land underneath the building. The NAACP's goal in soliciting proposals is to select a project that maximizes the value of the land and achieves the property's highest use while helping the organization accomplish its mission.
NAACP officials didn't respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In early 2020, the national NAACP left its former headquarters building and relocated to about 20K SF at the Wells Fargo Tower in downtown Baltimore, the Baltimore Sun reported. The newspaper described that move as a "strategic reset" as part of a national expansion effort.
A few months later, Washington, D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a letter of intent to move the nation's oldest civil rights organization to an eventual redevelopment of the Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs on U Street in the District, the historic heart of the city's Black music and culture.
At the time, Johnson said the move would "fuel the reinvigoration" the organization embarked on three years before and help the NAACP better advocate for Black voices.
"Washington, DC, sits at the epicenter of change. This exceptional opportunity to bring our national headquarters to DC will allow us to be even more proactive in serving the Black community, and confronting the serious challenges facing the nation," Johnson said in a statement.
Following the news of the national NAACP's plan to depart for Washington, D.C., Baltimore leaders expressed disappointment in the organization's pending move.
"This is a huge loss for the city of Baltimore because it's the NAACP. It is one of our oldest historical organizations that has fought for civil rights," Karsonya Wise Whitehead, a professor at Loyola University Maryland, told WBAL-TV in 2020.
It is still unclear, however, when the NAACP will complete its move down I-95. Bowser's administration was forced to reissue its request for proposals last year for the Reeves Center after discovering sensitive communications infrastructure in the building would be more complicated to relocate than initially thought.
The District selected two finalists in January for the project — including a team with a commitment for a Dave Chapelle-backed comedy club — but a final development plan has yet to be approved. Longtime Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio, who was overseeing the RFP, resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal in March.
Savills Vice Chairman Ernie Jarvis, who is representing the NAACP in its relocation to D.C., declined to comment on the organization's plans.
