Mum might be the word - but pictures presented to a city panel are a different story.

Artwork presented yesterday to the Baltimore Planning Commission depicted a large sign bearing the Harris Teeter name prominently atop an old water tower at the McHenry Row mixed-use project under way in Locust Point.

The imminent arrival of the upscale grocer has been rumored as anchor tenant for the complex of apartments, office buildings and shops at the former Chesapeake Paperboard site on Fort Avenue. But the developer has remained tight-lipped.

Even yesterday, when signs for the North Carolina chain appeared as part of a signage package presented to the commission, a representative of developer Mark Sapperstein would confirm nothing. When a commissioner asked about the unfamiliar chain, Sapperstein's attorney, Stanley Fine, answered, "With regard to the grocer, that has not been announced yet."

"Well, it has now," Commission Chairman Peter Auchincloss said.

"Maybe by you," Fine responded, but "the grocer and the developer haven't announced it."

A spokeswoman for Harris Teeter Inc., which has a store in Darnestown, in Montgomery County, and is building a store in Columbia, could not be reached late yesterday.

In past interviews, the spokeswoman, Jennifer Pannetta, has said the grocer is actively looking for sites in the Baltimore area. But she has said she could not comment on McHenry Row as a possible site because "we don't have a fully executed lease."

In an interview after the commission hearing, Sapperstein finally broke his silence.

"We are close to having a deal with Harris Teeter," he said. "It is not signed yet, but we are close to having a deal."

The 59,375-square-foot, brick-facade store would include two levels, including upper-level seating that overlooks an extensive prepared-foods section, he said. Sapperstein said the chain is known for making its own ice cream, having an in-house pastry chef and sushi and pizza bars.

"It is as urban as it gets," he said.

After hearing during yesterday's meeting that the Locust Point community likes the signage, the commission gave it a thumbs up.

lorraine.mirabella@balt sun.com