Centerpoint, the highly publicized retail and residential project that is considered a key to reviving downtown Baltimore's west side, is back on track after the developer smoothed over late-summer glitches.
A new asbestos-removal firm has been hired to clean nine buildings that will be restored. Bank of America, the developer, fired the first company after a dispute, turning the site into a ghost town for weeks.
Behind the scenes, the bank has lined up $4 million in additional state and city funds to close a budget gap revealed in September. The project's cost has climbed to more than $78 million - a 42 percent increase since 1999 - and the bank is contributing $5 million more.
But this is it - the bank will not ask for any more public funds for Centerpoint, said Christopher B. LoPiano, senior vice president of its community development unit. "That will not happen," he said.
LoPiano pointed to recent signs of progress. Not only has asbestos work resumed, but crews were expected to start drilling 110-foot holes yesterday for the foundation of a 17-story apartment tower at Fayette and Howard streets.
"It's a major step forward for us," LoPiano said.
If the schedule holds, Centerpoint will be completed by September 2004, with 394 apartments, first-floor shops and restaurants, and an interior parking garage. It will fill nearly the entire square block bounded by Fayette, Howard, Baltimore and Eutaw streets.
Directly across Eutaw is the Hippodrome Theater, undergoing a $62 million overhaul to make it a 2,250-seat house for national tours of Broadway shows. City officials say neither project would happen without the other, and that both are vital to rejuvenating the depressed west side.
Centerpoint will add to the city's "sparkle," said David S. Iannucci, the state secretary of business and economic development, so much so that his agency is kicking in a $1 million grant, part of the $4 million package of new funds.
Centerpoint deserves the grant, he said, because the project will make it easier for the state to market Baltimore "as an exciting location for business."
In addition, LoPiano expects a state loan to rise from $1.5 million to $2 million. The loan program assists the conversion of antiquated office buildings.
The project also will receive $1.3 million from the Maryland Transit Administration, spokeswoman Suzanne Bond said, because the site is in a major transit corridor. The MTA had committed $300,000.
And the Baltimore Development Corp. is boosting its $1 million investment to $2.5 million over three years, said Sharon R. Grinnell, chief operating officer.
"It was critical for us to keep the project moving," she said.
In all, Centerpoint will tap $6.8 million from the state and city. That does not include about $9 million in state and federal historic tax credits, a break on city property taxes or the city's discounted sale of the block to the bank.
Nearly $63 million in private funds will go into Centerpoint, a joint venture between the bank and Harold A. Dawson Co. of Atlanta.
Centerpoint's cost has soared since 1999, when the bank estimated it at $55 million. One reason is that contractors submitted unexpectedly high bids. Most recently, contractors found more asbestos than expected, LoPiano said.
Lining up the money has not been the only challenge. As work on the Hippodrome progressed in the summer, Centerpoint hit a snag. Workers for the environmental contractor reportedly removed too much material from building facades. The bank dismissed Southern Environmental Cos. as a result.
The bank has since hired the Gilford Corp. of Baltimore, and last week 70 workers went back into buildings such as the former Paramount Hotel on Howard Street.
The drilling planned for yesterday will be done by a machine that will bore holes ranging from 85 to 110 feet deep. Concrete then will be poured.
These supports, called caissons, are needed because two subway tunnels lie 90 feet underground. Although the tunnels are not directly below the site, the tower's weight must not bear down within a certain radius of them.