One of the last undeveloped sites near the Inner Harbor has been sold to a Nashville, Tenn.-based parking lot operator that eventually plans to build a complex which could include offices, shops and more parking.

Central Parking Corp. paid an undisclosed sum for the property on Light Street, near the Harbor Court Hotel, the Baltimore Convention Center and Camden Yards.

The site has long been considered for a hotel or mixed-use development, but is now used as a surface parking lot - and will remain one for the time being.

Rouse-Teachers Land Holdings Inc., an affiliate of the Columbia-based developer, sold the lot that once housed a McCormick & Co. spice plant.

It has been a lot for 250 cars since the McCormick building was razed in 1988. A Rouse spokeswoman confirmed the sale, but could offer no further details.

"We have no immediate plans, and it will remain a parking lot," Richard Jonardi, a spokesman for Central Parking, said yesterday. "We are always looking at areas of development and ways to partner with developers to do some kind of venue where Central Parking can retain management of the parking."

Jonardi said the company would seek to find a developer for the property, probably in a few years. The company, one of the world's largest operators with 3,900 lots and garages globally, often seeks opportunities to partake in development where more parking can be added.

The city and developers have had grander plans for the site than parking.

Rouse had considered constructing an office building on the property bounded by at Light and Conway streets in the early 1990s, before the recession. More recently Rouse had been seeking to sell the property.

Businessman and Orioles majority owner Peter G. Angelos negotiated a deal for the lot in 2000, possibly for a hotel, offices and shops. He decided not to go ahead with the project because of the economy, a spokesman said last year.

The city now wants some kind of mixed-use development on the site that takes advantage of the water views and proximity to hotels and other amenities, said Andrew Frank, executive vice president of the Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development arm.

"I don't think they bought the site to operate a surface parking lot," he said. "In three years, it could be the only site left undeveloped on the harbor."

He said Central Parking has not submitted any plans to the city.

The sale has not yet been recorded with the state, which assessed the property at $10.6 million.

Real estate sources have said that Rouse was asking twice that amount and that Angelos has been negotiating a sale price around $18 million.

Other real estate developers locally and out of town have bid on the site.