One of the largest collections of property on Baltimore's Inner Harbor — the last four undeveloped parcels of the HarborView community — was put up for sale Monday.
CB Richard Ellis, or CBRE, a commercial real estate services firm, announced Monday that it has set Feb. 1 as the deadline for prospective buyers to express interest in acquiring or investing in one or more of the parcels at HarborView, the upscale community along Key Highway that Baltimore businessman Richard Swirnow and others have built over the past two decades.
CBRE is marketing the land on behalf of Swirnow's HarborView Properties Development Co. Mike Muldowney, an executive vice president of CBRE, said HarborView Properties also would consider offers from investors interested in becoming joint venture partners or equity partners in the project.
The offering includes the site of The Pinnacle, a 98-unit condominium tower whose design was approved by the city but was never built. Other properties in the offering include a half-acre site zoned for up to 250 residences, a 68,215-square-foot parcel zoned for up to 600 residences, and an 87,381-square-foot parcel for which the developers have sought rezoning that would permit up to 600 residences.
The four parcels are the last undeveloped sites within the original, 42-acre HarborView site created at the former Bethlehem Steel Corp. Key Highway shipyard. Five phases have been developed, with 578 residences plus boat slips, restaurants and office space.
Muldowney said HarborView is seeking to raise an amount "in the low to mid $20 million range" from all four parcels.
Swirnow could not be reached Monday. Frank Wise, vice president of HarborView Properties, said the timing of the offering was driven by Swirnow's investment partner in the project, Philadelphia-based Lubert-Adler, which invested in HarborView in 1998. Lubert-Adler's investment had a "fixed life," at the end of which it must liquidate its investment, Wise said, adding that CBRE's marketing plan provided for that exit. "It's not a distress sale at all," he said.
Wise said Swirnow would prefer to find another equity financing partner to replace Lubert-Adler and to continue leading the development team.
Muldowney and Wise said they thought many bidders might want to build market-rate rental housing rather than condominiums.