A developer seeking to build market rate apartments on two city-owned sites on West Mulberry Street has agreed to pay the city $500,000 — about half the appraised value.
GMP Development Enterprises, LLC has proposed to build 63 apartments, 7,150 square feet of ground floor retail and 30 parking spaces at 410 and 422 West Mulberry Street, just over one block north of Lexington Market. The company is led by Amsale Geletu, president of PMS Parking Inc., which operates a parking lot on one of the sites and has contracts with the city's parking authority.
GMP was one of two firms to approach the Baltimore Development Corp. early in 2014 about the developing the lots. It was one of three companies to submit proposals after the BDC opened the properties for bids.
Attorney N. Scott Phillips, the resident agent for GMP, declined to comment Tuesday on the $500,000 price, which was disclosed on Wednesday's agenda for the Board of Estimates.
"Our objective is to build housing and to make it attractive for people to come into the city to live, work and play," Phillips said.
The two sites, comprising about 19,500 square feet, are valued together at about $1.1 million for taxation purposes according to state records. An appraisal last year estimated their value at roughly $934,000, BDC officials said last year after the board voted in a closed session to start negotiations with GMP.
In September, BDC officials said the GMP proposal offered the best overall project, taking into account chances of completion, projected revenues and effects on the area, which city officials want to see revitalized. They closed the September meeting in order to avoid public discussion of the other bids.
"We look at the end game," said Kimberly A. Clark, the BDC's executive vice president, on Tuesday. "The city returns on the end game more than make up for the difference between the appraised value and the sales price."