In a report to be released tomorrow, the developer of Lexington Square (better known as “Superblock”) says that most of the facade of Read’s Drug Store on Baltimore’s Westside can be preserved, even though the building itself has badly deteriorated.
The Read’s building, site of a 1955 civil rights sit-in, has been the subject of controversy after the developer disclosed plans to demolish the building.
In a progress report prepared for tomorrow’s meeting of the Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP), Lexington Square Partners proposes to keep the exterior masonry and maintain or replicate the decorative design of the building’s upper floors.
The street-level floor will consist of “a contemporary yet compatible” design of large plate-glass windows “as opposed to recreating the original design” of smaller windows in a brick wall, the developer said.
The Read’s building is part of a long-stalled, $150-million development to feature national retailers, a high-rise apartment building, 725-space parking garage and a possible “boutique hotel” on a block bounded by Howard, Lexington and Fayette streets and Park Ave.
Extension Ends This Month
The Baltimore Board of Estimates has twice given Lexington Partners an extension to complete its plans. The most recent extension ends this month, resulting in a flurry of activity by the Baltimore Development Corp. (BDC) and the Mayor’s office to push the deal forward.
The developer’s engineering report says the interior floors of the city-owned building have partially collapsed due to water leakage from the roof, which has “failed” across 80 percent of its surface. Exposure to the elements has rotted much of the timber framing of the roof and floors, the report noted.
However, the steel flange beams supporting the timber floors are in satisfactory condition and the 12-inch brick exterior walls “appear to be in fair condition.” As a result, the building is “not in imminent danger of collapse,” the report concluded.
Tomorrow’s meeting on Read’s and other aspects of the Superblock project will be held by CHAP at 2 p.m. at the Baltimore City Planning Department, 417 E. Fayette St.
Separately, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has appointed a committee to make recommendations on an appropriate memorial for the 1955 sit-in.
The group’s recommendations are due to be submitted to the mayor’s office shortly.
The development group, consisting of four New York real estate families and a minority developer in Atlanta, were given exclusive rights to buy the property five years ago.
The project has been slowed by lawsuits filed by entities controlled by lawyer and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos.
