The proposed State Center project and the East Baltimore biotech park development are two of the biggest taxpayer funded development projects in the history of Baltimore. Both projects are at different stages and both projects have vocal supporters and opponents.
The Maryland Daily Record has an excellent series about the East Baltimore biotech project that you can read here.
The State Center challengers released the following statement about their lawsuit today:
*[For immediate release] *
*City stakeholders launch additional court challenge to State Center plan*
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*Cites absence of competitive bidding on project’s $33-million garage*
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*“Just the latest example of the ill-advised nature of this project”*
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*New plaintiff joins lawsuit*
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Downtown Baltimore stakeholders challenging the heavily taxpayer-subsidized
$1.5-billion State Center project have added a new claim to their complaint
that questions the legality of building a $33-million parking garage, once
again without following Maryland’s competitive bidding laws.
The plaintiffs maintain the State’s latest move continues a pattern of
unlawfully awarding developers exclusive benefits, negotiating rights and
development opportunities.
“This is just another example of the ill-advised nature of this project,” says
Alan M. Rifkin, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, who are prominent downtown
Baltimore commercial property owners and operators. “Saddling taxpayers with
another $33 million in debt should never happen without due process.”
The parking garage for State Center was originally the developers’ funding
obligation. But in mid-December, the State’s Board of Public Works voted to
assume the funding, which Rifkin says should have triggered the need to
follow the State’s own procurement laws. Instead, Rifkin says, the BPW’s
move improperly permitted developers to select their own contractors and
architectural and engineering professionals through private processes.
The amended lawsuit also questions the State’s belated designation of the
State Center project as a Transit-oriented Development (“TOD”) after State
agencies already had entered into the Master Development Agreement (“MDA”),
the First Amendment to the Master Development Agreement and other material
documents with the developers.
“This failure to achieve proper TOD designation prior to executing key
agreements with the developers constitutes a fatal flaw in the documents,”
says Rifkin.
“The use of State funds, imprudent as it is, required the State to
competitively bid the design and construction of the garage. This was not
done.”
“Instead, Rifkin continues, “the State took on that enormous financial
obligation without ever following State procurement laws. They improperly
awarded developers the right to circumvent the State’s closed, sealed
competitive bidding laws.”
The plaintiff group is challenging the lawfulness of the entire project on
the grounds that it ignores or circumvents State procurement laws,
improperly diverts business from the downtown commercial district—with
devastating results—and amounts to a huge boondoggle for taxpayers and a
windfall for the developers.
The State Center undertaking is a mammoth, mixed-use construction and
leasing project a mile north of the city’s downtown business center.
According to Sage Policy Group economist Anirban Basu, “The proposed 2.1
million square feet of office space so close to the Central Business
District directly harms the CBD and the commercial property owners in that
area.
“Decisions on commercial leases are generally made months, if not years,
ahead of time. The mere existence of the proposed project has had, and will
have, a chilling effect on the downtown business district, which already
suffers from over 2 million square feet of commercial vacancies.
“There is no evidence that suggests the need for additional office supply in
Baltimore,” says the economist. “This project, if it proceeds, will
adversely impact the downtown business district for years to come.”
According to the amended complaint, State agencies have improperly granted
extraordinary public largesse to the developers. Without any competitive
bidding, the State agents have granted developers exclusive rights to build
on 21.8 acres of valuable land, along with long-term leases—without
traditional termination provisions—at rates nearly double those available in
the Central Business District. The State’s agents have also promised up to
$300 million in tax-exempt financing that lets the developers divert their
City property taxes to pay off their obligations.
The amended complaint also adds David and Dad’s, Inc., a popular lunch and
breakfast eatery on North Charles Street, as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, as
a result of State Center’s negative impact on downtown retailers.
David and Dad’s joins the original plaintiffs challenging the State Center
redevelopment: St. Paul Plaza Office Tower, LLC; Lexington Charles Limited
Partnership; 301 Charles Street, LLC; Park Charles Apartments Associates,
LLC; Park Charles Office Associates, LLC; 501 St. Paul Street, LLC; St. Paul
& Franklin, LLC; RoboPark, LLC; Charles Plaza, LLC; 39 W. Lexington, LLC;
Baltimore Condo 2-8, LLC; Fayette Garage, LLC; Charles Towers, LLC; The
Marlboro Classic, LP; and Redwood Square Apartments, LP.
The original lawsuit was filed December 17, 2010 in Baltimore City Circuit
Court.
*For further information, contact Alan Rifkin, 410-269-5066.*
Comments
This is exactly the kind of stuff Otis Rolley is advising against if you've seen his internet feed. The MO of the BDC/City/State wrt Baltimore is that if we build all these buildings, it will create growth--business and population. It rarely works that way and hasn't in this City. We need to attract people and business here, which will in turn trigger new physical growth.
Glad to see Basu on the sensible side here.
The whole process is corrupt follow the money trail to see who will profit. The city has nothing to say after the built that luxury tower call a hotel that has lost money since it was built and has never turned a profit.
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