Developers of the $150 million Lexington Square project planned for Baltimore's west side cleared a second hurdle this week when the city's Urban Design and Architectural Review Panel gave schematic approval Thursday to architect Peter Fillat's designs for the development. The action came two days after Baltimore's preservation commission gave preliminary approval to the team's plans to preserve two walls of the former Read's drugstore at Howard and Lexington streets, the site of a 1955 civil rights sit-in, as part of the project.
Although the developers still need more approvals, the actions mean they can proceed with efforts to finalize plans for the project and start lining up tenants. The largest private development planned for Baltimore's west side, Lexington Square has been designed to contain 178,000 square feet of retail space, 300 apartments, a 120-room hotel and 725 parking spaces on the block bounded roughly by Lexington, Howard and Fayette streets and Park Avenue.