The battle over Baltimore's plans to renovate downtown's west side spilled into City Council chambers yesterday as shop owners set to lose their properties made a last plea to be spared.
The Urban and Government Affairs Committee conducted the final public hearing on the $350 million project yesterday. The panel is expected to recommend approval of the 18-block renewal project within two weeks.
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said he would sign the legislation into law.
One hundred and twenty-seven properties will be condemned for the redevelopment plan -- the largest since the Inner Harbor renewal project -- that will link Charles Center, Inner Harbor and University of Maryland, Baltimore. The project will coincide with a $53 million renovation of the Hippodrome Theater at 12 N. Eutaw St.
The Baltimore Development Corp., the city's nonprofit economic development arm, is hoping to offer large downtown parcels to lure developers to create 2,600 apartments and street-level shops. The strip, three blocks wide and six blocks long, is bounded by Baltimore, Saratoga, Eutaw and Paca streets.
Merchants who will be displaced by the project pleaded with council members yesterday, saying that turning their properties over to developers is unfair.
Young Kim Robinson, owner of the Beauty Mart at Eutaw and Baltimore streets, wept as she recounted her 15 years downtown.
"I shouldn't be at this place begging you to let me stay," said Robinson, 41. "Let us be part of the plan, please."
Baltimore Heritage and Preservation Maryland, historic preservation groups, are asking that the region be declared a historic district to save buildings that are close to 200 years old.
Baltimore Development Corp. President M. J. "Jay" Brodie said the city will try to save as many viable historic properties as possible. Plan proponents, including the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, are encouraging displaced property owners to buy or rent new shops in the district.
"Anybody who expresses an interest in coming back, we will go to the last mile to work with them," Brodie said.
The Maryland Senate's Budget and Taxation Committee will hear a bill this afternoon that would give the Maryland Stadium Authority power to condemn buildings adjacent to the Hippodrome theater.
Michael Schuett, a trustee for the former banks at 14 and 20 N. Eutaw that planners hope to use as a theater lobby, objects to the legislation. Schuett, who operates The Baltimore Grand banquet halls there, calls the bill premature because final funding for the Hippodrome project has not been approved by the legislature.
Pub Date: 3/17/99