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Construction of an eight-story apartment building sheathed in contemporary metal with gallery space and a Milk & Honey market on the ground floor could start in Station North by the end of the year, said developer Ernst Valery.
The city's design panel got its first look Thursday at plans for the structure, proposed for the Lanvale Street parking lots behind Valery's Chesapeake Building.
The building, intended to rise over a portion of Lovegrove Street, is to contain 103 market-rate apartments, with roughly 30 parking spots in the back. The project is expected to cost about $20 million, including the purchase of the property, said Ernst Valery, of SA+A Development and Ernst Valery Investments Corp.
Plans for the building, by LSC Design, pick up on the patterned facades of newer, nearby buildings such as the John and Frances Angelos Law Center and MICA's Gateway dormitory. They sailed through the a preliminary approval Thursday, with Planning Director Thomas J. Stosur pronouncing himself "excited" about the possibilities.
The property would be one of the first new market rate developments erected in the burgeoning arts district in years. It is designed to appeal to young professionals working in Washington but lured to Baltimore for lower prices, Valery said.