A quick summary of what’s now at stake for Baltimore’s most cherished, publicly owned waterfront real estate:

MCB Real Estate acquired the world-famous, Rouse-built Harborplace pavilions near Light and Pratt streets in December 2022 by action of the Baltimore City Circuit Court after a decades-long decline occasioned by neglect by absentee private landlords.

MCB assumed a roughly $70 million debt repayment obligation to UBS-Barclays Commercial Mortgage Trust, but, according to statements, paid just $3 million to settle.

Under its current ground lease agreement with the Brandon Scott administration, all MCB rent payments for the pavilions were abated from April 2023 to April 2026, and MCB was held harmless from all defaults.

A highly secretive vote by the Baltimore Development Corporation last month granted a PILOT absolving MCB of up to 95% of their real estate property taxes for as long as 25 years.

A 2022 appraisal of the property by Cushman & Wakefield valued it at $45.8 million. The motion to sell presented to the court listed Harborplace’s liquidation value at $27.5 million.

A revised ground lease between MCB and the city is expected to be negotiated by BDC and submitted to Mayor Brandon Scott and the Board of Estimates for action soon.

Rather than continuing the cash giveaway to a politically connected developer, which relies on taxpayers to foot at least 45% of the estimated costs, there are many reasons why the mayor, Board of Estimates and City Council should demonstrate real leadership and assist in the exit or redirection of MCB’s grandiose and currently unfunded proposal.

Five Compelling Reasons

1. Constitutionality – Recent actions amending the City Charter, the Urban Renewal Plan and building-height limitations at Harborplace are unconstitutional.

New court challenges will likely set the project and MCB’s timeline back indefinitely.

2. Years of Delay – Even in the best of circumstances, MCB will need many years to raise the public and private capital required to build what it proposes.

Currently, 40,000 downtown residents and millions of disappointed visitors have suffered from the mismanagement of Harborplace by General Growth Properties (2004-2012), Ashkenazy Acquisition (2012-2019), IVL (a court-appointed receiver 2019-2023) and MCB (2023-2026).

Two decades of decline can be reversed more quickly with sound new management of the existing structures than with massive demolition and new construction in the heart of the city.

3. Baltimore Excellence – The Harborplace pavilions and amphitheater are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and are the centerpiece of the Congressionally designated Baltimore National Heritage Area.

A city-led buyout of MCB’s interest would cost significantly less than the $400 million the developer expects from taxpayers.

They created – and can be again – a new, exuberant waterfront marketplace that inspired and served as templates for a new type of public gathering place applied globally and cemented the belief that Baltimore could be a competitive visitor destination.

4. A Feasible Alternative – A city-led buyout of MCB’s interest would cost significantly less than the $400 million the developer expects from taxpayers.

The Mayor and City Council should lead rather than follow efforts to secure a future for this signature asset in the best interest of citizens. Among many future possibilities are engaging a proven private operator, a governmental entity like the Maryland Stadium Authority or the not-for-profit Baltimore Public Markets Corporation.

Unlike the costly, wasteful, exclusive luxury apartment and retail project MCB envisions, Baltimore needs a sustainable, realistic, affordable solution. The adaptive re-use of the pavilions could be undertaken quickly and take advantage of existing state and federal rehabilitation tax credits.

5. Sustainability – Absent city control of the property with clear articulation of goals, standards and acceptable uses developed with the legitimate input of downtown residents, the pattern of abuses and decline that the property experienced for decades will be repeated.

MCB could default, dissolve or transfer the property to a third party. And the floating wetlands proposed by P. David Bramble amount to so much greenwashing. They do not provide the most environmentally sound solution that reuse of the existing pavilions would.

Baltimore needs a sustainable, realistic, affordable solution. The adaptive re-use of the pavilions could be undertaken quickly.

There are additional reasons why the rehabilitation of Rouse’s “festival marketplace” pavilions makes better sense than what MCB proposes.

At bare minimum, city officials must forbid demolition of those structures – now purportedly scheduled as early as next month – unless and until all of the roughly $500 million in private funding needed for the project is secured by MCB.

And let’s further hope that state officials like Governor Wes Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Senate President Bill Ferguson, who giddily jumped on the MCB bandwagon in 2023, come to their financial senses.

• Rebecca Hoffberger is the founder and director emeritus of the American Visionary Arts Museum, and Bill Pencek is the former executive director of the Baltimore Heritage Area Association and chair of the Inner Harbor Coalition.

The coalition is a group of Baltimore citizens dedicated to the revitalization of the Inner Harbor and Harborplace. It is not opposed to development, but seeks a careful and thoughtful process for waterfront renovations that will shape Baltimore’s future for generations to come.