The Baltimore Development Corp. reaffirmed support Thursday for the State Center project, planned since 2005 but cast off track by lawsuits and shaky political backing.
The BDC board voted unanimously to ratify an agreement the board approved in 2010, which set tax payment at $2.50 per square foot for 515,000-square feet of state offices. The state-owned land is currently exempt from taxes, but if the project were to move forward, development firm Ekistics LLC would have a ground lease for the parcels, making them subject to taxation.
The agreement, which must be approved by the city's Board of Estimates to go into effect, would bring in $1.7 million in new tax revenue for the city, said BDC staffer Dan Taylor.
"We concluded it was a classic [payment in lieu of taxes] that was very, very good for the city," said Deborah Hunt Devan, who heads the BDC's project committee. "Nothing has really changed. The climate is different, the costs are different but what the city gets back from it hasn't changed."
The BDC move comes as the future of the 28-acre redevelopment is in doubt. The state's top court ruled last year that a 2010 lawsuit over the bidding process was filed too late, clearing the way for the project. But in the intervening time, support eroded. Last year, legislative analysts and a Senate Committee raised concerns the project would push the state over its self-imposed debt limits.
This month, the state's Board of Public Works postponed a vote on reducing the size of the parking garage to keep it within the roughly $28 million budget, leaving the decision to the new administration.
New Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, has been noncommittal about the project, conceived under the administration of GOP Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and supported both by former Governor Martin O'Malley and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
Ekistics LLC CEO Caroline Moore said her team has not yet met with the new administration and doesn't know what will happen.
"We've been sitting ducks and what I've learned being a sitting duck is that anyone can sue for any reason and anyone can change an agreement if you're the state of Maryland," she said after a presentation to the board. "It's going to be messy because there's been an enormous investment made and we have signed agreements ... that would be difficult for the state just to say we want to void all of that -- but I think the state is contemplating saying we want to void all that."
Earlier in the meeting, Moore said: "All I can say is, we're not going away."
The BDC plans to present the agreement to the city's Board of Estimates in a few weeks, spokeswoman Joann Logan said.
The project's approvals allow for 2,000 residential units, 250,000 square feet of retail and 2 million square feet of offices, including 1 million square feet for the state. The goal is to about replace the current State Center complex, which houses 16 agencies and was developed in the 1950 and '60s.
The $215 million first phase includes a state-owned parking garage, possible residences and offices for the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene and Department of Information Technology. The 300,000-square-foot Armory could also eventually be redeveloped as a grocery store, Moore said.
nsherman@baltsun.com