Commercial Committee
October 25, 2016
Minutes
In Attendance: See sign in Sheet attached
Stacy Smith was not able to make the meeting so Catherine Neely chaired the meeting. Catherine
opened the meeting at 7:08 PM, held in the University of Maryland Baltimore Community Engagement
Center.
Jon Bradley reported to on the Lord Baltimore. Still waiting for the State to respond to our request for
funds. He reported on a project in Pittsburg that renovated a like building and converted it into an
incubator.
Baltimore National Heritage Area has small capital funds available – reported by Raven from BDC.
Lou Packet reported on the Frederick Ave/Baltimore Ave – attempts are being made to meet with the
Major of the Salvation Army to see what their intent is for the future of their building. The City is
contemplating the demolition of the buildings in this block. Lou wants the Sub-Committee to talk to the
City about their intent to demolish the properties and to gain entrance to the property. Michael wazs
given the responsibility of lining up access to the properties.
Dan reported to that the City is moving quickly on demolishing certain buildings on W Baltimore Street.
The Committee needs to be vigilant. Hopefully we will have a Inspections Superintendent assigned to
the Partnership so we can have some control over where the inspectors spend their time. Eric Booker at
the City is working to hire this position.
Catherine reported on the new Main Street Sub Committee. The first task is to meet with BDC about
obtaining Main Street status. She also presented a number of possible sub-committee members to make
up the sub-committee. It included the four neighborhood associations, the merchants, property owners,
etc.
Bill Joyner reported on the local merchants’ access program sub-committee. There is a need for an
updated merchant list. Asia (student intern) and JR are beginning to collect information on the W
Baltimore Street corridor. Bill will connect with Asia.
There is a Korean student interning with CEC who will be responsible for translating all the documents
available at the CXEC into Korean.
Lou Packett suggested that we contact Lou Leper (spelling) about collecting and creating a depository of
data.
Michael gave the Director’s report which included:
A report on the pending zoning notice for 1015 W Baltimore.
Vacant properties in the 1100 block of W Baltimore Street- the owner has until the end of the
year to either pull a permit to demolish the properties or present a full development plan.
Trash Cans are on W Baltimore Street.
War Horse is daily sweeping the streets around the Market.
Bon Secour is cleaning out Tree pits on W Baltimore Street from Mount to Schroeder Street on
Saturday October 29 th .
The owner of 1 N Carey Street has applied for a permit to put a new roof on the building.
Michael gave an update on La Cite. They received a commitment letter from HUD for mortgage
insurance on Phase 1a. La Cite now has until February 16 th 2017 to close on their financing for phase 1a.
If they do not close the City states that under no event will there be another extension of the Land
Disposition Agreement.
There was brief discussion about meeting places. It was decided to look for a place on Pigtown Main
Street to hold the November meeting.
There being no additional new business and no old business The Chair closed the meeting at 9:05 PM.
