This week, developer Mark Sapperstein outlined plans to build 119 gorgeous townhouses at Locust Point if they can get zoning approval from the city.
At a meeting of the Locust Point Civic Association (LPCA) held at the Columbus Banquet Hall Knights on Wednesday, Sapperstein said he assumes home prices will be “Six and Sevens.”
If the average home price is $600,000, the construction of 119 homes will add $71.4 million worth of property to the city’s tax roll. If the average price is $700,000, the buildout totals $83.3 million. If the average price is $799,000, the potential buildout would be over $95 million.
The site is extended to the west of Hovelt Street and south of Key Highway, a seven-acre parcel located in the 1400 block of Beeson Street. It currently occupies a 138,198 square feet of warehouse/showroom adjacent to the former Under Armour headquarters on Hull Street.
Under Armour opened its office last year when it moved to its previous new global headquarters in the Baltimore Peninsula in Port Covington. Sapperstein’s projects do not include property owned by Under Armour, Waterfront Promenade, or large parking lots on railroad tracks running through the area.
The Beason Street parcel, known as Cheer Properties, was sold by an entity connected to C. William Struever, Principal of Cross Street Partners. This is one of two main compartments of locust points that are expected to change their hand. The other is a 14-acre commercial zone property still owned by Under Armour, including the historic building originally occupied by Procter & Gamble, now known as Tide Point.
Currently, Beason Street parcels are partially zoned for light industrial use in warehouses/showrooms, with 530 garages not constructed with up to 64 garages. That zoning is dominated by a planned unit development (PUD) designation that also manages what could occupy the previous Under Armour campus. PUDs are a detailed and protective layer of zoning restrictions that span the underlying zoning of cities.
Over 150 people attended the meeting and learned about Sapperstein’s plans. They hope that Sapperstein will get 7 acre parcels for housing developments, and that the city will change zoning to remove industrial use and increase the number of homes allowed in real estate. They were told they wanted community support in zoning changes.
Other locust points projects
Sapperstein, the principal of 28 Walker Development, has completed other Locust Point projects over nearly 20 years, including the mixed use development at Mchenry Row off Fort Avenue and a townhouse community known as Banner Row. He is also a land developer behind the lock landing, converting the former lock incider industrial property into an 800-unit residential community in the Port Covington/Baltimore Peninsula area, and is one of the city’s new popular material. It is also the 40ten Boston office building on Boston Street. structure. In 2022, he received the Honorable Lifetime Achievement Award from the Baltimore Branch of the Urban Land Research Institute.
Sapperstein said he is a land developer and will destroy the warehouse and prepare the land so that home builders can come in and build homes on top of it. “I don’t build my own house,” he explained. “I’m a home builder’s land developer,” and decides the price.
Sapperstein said the warehouse at 1450 Beason St was about 20 years old and was last occupied by Under Armour. He said the seven-acre site has landmark designations and there is no structure that needs to be preserved. The bridge that connects the warehouse to the previous Under Armour Complex, located on the south side of Key Highway, needs to come down, he added.
“Energy-efficient house”
The home builder is not named after the project and the proposed home rendering is not shown. Sapperstein presented a spare site plan to show how roads and homes fit into the surrounding street grid, but he warned that the exact layout could change.
The home under construction at Locke Landing is a 16-foot-wide and 20-foot-wide mixture. Sapperstein said the minimum width of the new development home is 20 feet wide and could be 24 feet wide. “All of these things will be in their 20s,” he said. The house is three stories tall and has probably the latest energy saving features, he added. “That would be a question for builders,” he said when asked about certain features. “I think in today’s world, everyone wants the same thing. It’s an energy efficient home.”
For over an hour, Sapperstein answered questions from the audience about the amount of green space on the site. Parking regulations. The need for traffic control and streetlights. Stormwater management; acceptable building height; local train intersections and other issues.
He currently plans to offer 389 parking spaces, including two car garages with all 119 homes and 151 “ground parking spaces” in paved areas on the street or outside the home. He said he is asking them to do so. He said the main entrance to the community is probably from the main highway side, not from Fort Avenue, and he suggests that the new street is two-way, not one way. .
Elementary and middle school students living in their new homes attend Francis Scott Key Elementary School/Secondary School (FSK) on Fort Avenue if they attend public school. City Council Zachary Blanchard says forecasts by the city’s public schools department will increase the FSK registration of around 20 students a year with the development of 119 units. He said.
Civic Debate
Apart from one unruly woman in the front row, the audience paid tribute to the questions and comments, and the debate was civic. Several residents say they are familiar with Locust Points, which Sapperstein has previously worked with the community, and say they think he is preferred over developers who have not previously worked in the area. Ta.
Sapperstein said he thinks this is one of the simple projects he has recently worked on, as it is relatively simple, and the land is not contaminated and requires expensive repairs. “I’ve already done a lot of tests here – they allowed me to put it in the property – and that’s really no problem,” he said.
One issue raised by residents is parking by non-resident commuters who take water taxis from Locust Point to Fels Point or Canton and leave their cars parked nearby. One resident warns that if parking is not restricted or no other parking is provided, commuters are likely to use parking spaces that are not allocated in the Sapperstein development. I did. LPCA president Molly Miller pointed out that residents have not accepted parking in the past.
One of the next steps is to determine the best way to rezone the land and prepare legal documents that need to be approved by the Baltimore Planning Department and possibly the City Council. Miller and Sapperstein say one way to rezone the property is to remove the seven-acre cheer parcel from the large PUD zoning district and change the underlying zoning to allow the proposed development I did. Another said it would be to rezone only the areas within the PUD that apply to Beason Street Warehouse, leaving the rest of the PUD intact. The third involves abolishing the entire PUD layer of restrictions.
Miller said Sapperstein’s ultimate goal is to change the seven-acre zoning from residential and light industrial use to residential use only, with either of that approach triggering a public hearing and locust-point residents It said it would be to give you an additional opportunity to comment on.
Community Associations have already formed a “Tide Point Taskforce” to address issues related to moving Locust Points moving into the area and Under Armour away from new owners or tenants. Sapperstein said he would like to have city council laws related to drafts, referrals and parcels he hears by July. If the zoning changes were approved by then, he said the ground could break down in the third or fourth quarter of 2025 due to the new home.
No votes were held at this week’s meeting. This was held for informational purposes. Miller said the LPCA will schedule follow-up sessions to discuss project and community concerns. She said there are “5,000 people in Locust Point” who could be affected by the changes brought about by the new development, and promised that “there will be additional meetings to talk about this.” Sapperstein has committed to continuing his work with the community and meeting with him as the planning efforts continue.
