Peter Angelos has filed suit against the Superblock project, saying the city used strongarm tactics to win approvals.

Photo by: topnews.net.nz

West Baltimore’s “Superblock” project has morphed from a spat with preservationists into a high-stakes fight between City Hall and one of Baltimore’s most prominent businessmen.

In one corner is the Board of Estimates, which yesterday morning granted a six-month extension to the developers behind the $250-million retail and housing project.

In the opposite corner is 120 West Fayette Street LLLP, an entity controlled by Peter G. Angelos, whose lawsuit against the Mayor and City Council, Baltimore Development Corp., Lexington Square Partners and Maryland Historical Trust was heard yesterday afternoon by a city judge.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who has made Superblock one of her top economic priorities, says she wants to get the long-delayed project started to create jobs and spark renewal on the downtown’s troubled west side.

Currently the site is owned by the city, which evicted commercial tenants and relocated the Greyhound bus station. The result: a derelict stretch of empty buildings along Lexington, Howard and Fayette streets in what was once the heart of retail Baltimore.

Lawyers for Angelos, owner of the Baltimore Orioles and a downtown real estate owner, say the project has been tainted by political intrigue and improper concessions to the developer.

This isn’t the first time Angelos has been at loggerheads with City Hall. He’s been an outspoken critic of the State Center project supported by Rawlings-Blake and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Curve Ball from Angelos

Until recently, the major objection to the project was the planned demolition of historic buildings by the developers, led by New York real estate moguls Lloyd Goldman and Isaac Chera and Atlanta developer Dawson Co.

A compromise brokered by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake would retain part of the facade of the former Read’s Drug Store, site of a civil rights boycott, whose slated destruction drew the ire of preservationists and some civil rights activists.

The city Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) approved in May the conceptual treatment of the ex-Read’s store and also decided against giving landmark status to other buildings on the site.

That seemed to give the project fresh momentum.

But Angelos threw a curve ball by filing a lawsuit against a December 2010 decision by Rodney Little, executive director of the Maryland Historical Trust, approving the project.

A spokesperson for the developers describes a scale model of the Superblock project before CHAP commissioners in May. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

Yesterday, Judge John P. Miller, of the Baltimore Circuit Court, heard arguments by the city calling for dismissal of the suit. Underscoring the stakes involved, Deputy Mayor Kaliope Parthemos attended part of the hearing.

City Solicitor George Nilson told the judge that the suit was intended to derail and frustrate a project that was of vital importance to the city. “They want the court to rewind the clock [and] rewrite the contract,” deputy city solicitor David Ralph added.

A lawyer for the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) said the Angelos group had no legal standing to intervene in the agency’s or its director’s actions.

In response, M. Albert Figinski, a lawyer for Angelos, said that Rodney Little acted in ultra vires (beyond the scope of his power) to approve plans by Lexington Square Partners without the knowledge or consent of the agency’s board of trustees. Angelos did not personally appear at the hearing.

Strongarm Tactics Alleged

Figinski accused M.J. “Jay” Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp., of conspiring with other officials to force approval from Little.

“This suit arises now because Mr. Brodie, for Baltimore City, maneuvered to [gain] bogus approval for development of the Superblock that spurn[ed] statutorily and contractually mandated objectives of preservation in favor of the developer’s ‘non-negotiable business model.’ ”

Figinski accused Lexington Square Partners of wanting to raze most of the site, in violation of a 2001 agreement between the city and MHT, in order to build “big-box” retail stores and an apartment tower that violates the city’s height restrictions. Their latest plan remains “heavy on demolition and light on preservation,” he said, asking the judge to turn the clock back to before Rodney Little wrote the letter greenlighting the project.

A lawyer for Lexington Square Partners, Charles S. Hirsch, responded that any delays by the court could jeopardize the chances of getting the project completed.

He and Nilson said the Angelos group was trying to manufacture a dispute that did not exist between MHT and Lexington Square Partners.

After the hour-long hearing, Judge Miller said he would move as quickly as possible to decide whether to dismiss the suit or allow it to proceed to the discovery stage.

Separately, Lexington Square Partners pledged in a letter submitted to the Board of Estimates yesterday that they would use the six-month extension of their exclusive rights to develop the Superblock site to prepare architectural plans and secure letters of intent from prospective tenants.

Detailed plans for the site are still vague. The developers told CHAP that they were looking to build around 185,000 square feet of retail space, a 260-unit apartment tower, a 725-car parking garage and possibly a boutique hotel.

The group, which the city selected 6½ years ago and entered into an exclusive agreement in January 2007, has changed the proposed mix of retail and housing units several times, as well as its projected cost.

Actual construction would not likely take place until a year from now. It might take another three years to complete the project.

And that’s only if the Angelos lawsuit fails to get the court’s OK to proceed.