Harborplace vote leaning towards residential development in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor
Early election results show Baltimore voters leaning toward approving a ballot question to allow residential buildings in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, though most ballots remain uncounted.
A 'yes' vote on would mean MCB Real Estate has cleared its greatest hurdle yet in the hometown firm's quest to redevelop Baltimore's most intriguing piece of real estate — and demolish the waterfront pavilions known as Harborplace.
With 107 of 295 precincts reporting, about 60% of voters supported the passage of Question F, a crucial step forward for MCB.
In place of the Light Street Pavilion, MCB wants to build two residential towers, stretching 32 and 25 stories high and containing as many as 900 units total. Those towers are part of a larger reimagining of the Inner Harbor, its streetscape, public space and waterfront promenade. One proposed structure, called "The Sail," would feature a curved roof with a park on top. The overall vision will cost an estimated $900 million, according to MCB, with about $400 million coming from taxpayers in a hypothetical mix of mainly state and federal funds that have yet to be fully secured.
The timeline of demolition and construction is unclear. MCB's co-founder, P. David Bramble, previously acknowledged that some of the development — particularly a proposed office building — will hinge on whether MCB can secure anchor tenants.
City officials have been eager to see improvements at Harborplace, which had fallen into disrepair and disuse under prior ownership. Despite uncertainties with MCB's plans, predevelopment legislation all but sailed through the Baltimore City Council earlier this year.
While many residents, business leaders and politicians rallied around MCB's proposal, others decried the plans. They formed the "Vote F-No" coalition, held public events and unsuccessfully challenged the legality of the ballot question.
MCB Real Estate ratcheted up its voter outreach campaign in recent weeks, putting $240,000 into a ballot issue committee, according to campaign finance documents. That group, Baltimore for a New Harborplace, is controlled by MCB employees and lobbyists and has spent nearly all of its money on advertising and paid canvassing.
Three former mayors — Kurt Schmoke, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Bernard C. "Jack" Young — weighed in via a joint press release last week, urging voters to say yes on Question F . Two days later, former Mayor Martin O'Malley offered his opinion on social, calling the plans to raze Harborplace " a terrible developer grab of public waterfront parkland ."
O'Malley's words encouraged at least one voter, Mary Braman, a photojournalist in South Baltimore. Braman said it came down to the wire for her, but she ultimately voted against Question F, motivated partly by O'Malley's last-minute rejection of the issue.
While Question F was ostensibly about whether residential buildings should be allowed at the Inner Harbor, it has become something much bigger this election season: a proxy question for how residents feel about the redevelopment plan overall. Bramble predicted as much in an interview earlier this year, saying the vote would be more like a public referendum on MCB's vision for Harborplace.
"Let the chips fall where they may," he said earlier this year.
Sisters Kendal McFadden, 24, and Kristina McFadden, 27, shared a high five after walking out of Johnston Square elementary in East Baltimore school on Tuesday evening. They said they both voted for Question F.
"I'm excited to see what they do with that land," Kristina McFadden said.
At the same polling place, Markita Jackson, 35, said she voted against Question F, about Harborplace, because it "wasn't community based" and didn't want to see the Inner Harbor further commercialized.
"There used to be a time where you could go to the harbor and just enjoy it," Jackson said.
Harborplace faced similar backlash and criticism when the waterfront pavilions were originally proposed nearly five decades ago. The Inner Harbor — once an industrial port — had largely been demolished and turned into parking and green space. In 1978, voters were asked whether the city should allow the commercialization of the harbor, paving the way for a festival marketplace to be developed by the Rouse Co.
The Baltimore Sun dubbed the ensuing political brawl the "year's hottest issue."
Harborplace won out, despite 46% of Baltimore voters casting ballots to keep the Inner Harbor free of commercialization . Two years later, Harborplace opened in a grand celebration that drew more than 100,000 people downtown.
