The Baltimore development company that rehabilitated the dormant American Can Co. plant has turned its sights on renovating the abandoned Procter & Gamble Co. soap plant in Locust Point.
Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc.'s work on the Canton landmark resulted in significant retail space. It is studying converting the 26-acre waterfront site at 1422 Nicholson St. into primarily office space.
"In terms of the energy and the excitement level, we're thinking of it in terms of American Can, and in terms of the character we're hoping it will have -- but we're thinking at this point, and it's very early in the process -- that it will be just office space," said Bill Struever, the company's president.
The project might contain some retail space, such as an eating establishment and service stores for office tenants.
"We believe there's a real market for this type of project, one that the city doesn't have, and being on the water has proven to be magic," Struever said.
He said his company is lobbying the city and the state to commit themselves to work on a long-delayed extension of Key Highway, which would give the project direct access to Interstate 95.
Struever said his company is in the early stages of a study to determine whether converting the former P&G; plant to office space is feasible.
If it is, he said, he would like to have it ready for tenants by the end of this year.
Struever Bros. became involved in studying the site after architect Gerson P. Polun was unable to complete a deal to buy the plant.
Polun tried two years ago to bring a gigantic statue of Christopher Columbus to Baltimore.
Polun's GOW International Inc. contracted last fall to buy the property for about $7 million from A&E; International Ltd. of South Korea, which had attempted to use the plant to distill a liquor popular in Asia. A&E; bought the P&G; plant for the same amount three years ago.
The plant's 26 buildings contain 720,000 square feet of office and warehouse space, roughly equivalent to the combined space of the 35-story NationsBank Building and 30-story Blaustein Building downtown.
Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble constructed the buildings during the nearly 70 years it made Ivory, Dawn and Joy soaps at the plant.
P&G; closed the plant in 1995, eliminating more than 200 jobs. The site suffers from aging buildings, leaky roofs, minor environmental contamination and poor access.
Struever's experience could make it a good candidate to revive the P&G; plant. In Canton, Struever Bros. resuscitated the empty American Can plant, now home to a Bibelot's bookstore, the corporate headquarters of DAP Inc. and restaurants and shops. Its other notable work in Canton has involved turning a former tin can plant into the Tindeco Wharf apartments.
Struever Bros. also is completing a $10 million project to rehabilitate the four-story Bagby Furniture Building between Little Italy and Inner Harbor East into upscale office space for the advertising firm Eisner & Associates and Sylvan Learning Systems Inc.
As with American Can and many of its other projects, Struever Bros. hopes to offset some of the costs of renovating the P&G; plant through tax credits and the site's location in a city enterprise zone.
"We think there are some wonderful spaces that we can carve out of the delightful old manufacturing buildings," Struever said.
Pub Date: 3/20/99