With Phase One of CenterWest partially open and nearing completion, La Cité Development is in design and development on Phase Two. This phase will bring more apartments, a hotel, and a grocery store to the Poppleton neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore.

New York City’s La Cité Development is leading the CenterWest development project. It is an $800-million master plan that will include 3.2 million sq. ft. of new construction and 1,800 new housing units. The new construction will take over mostly-vacant lots on N. Schroeder St. and N. Carrollton Ave. between W. Fairmount Ave. to the south and W. Mulberry St. to the north, which also borders Rt. 40 highway.

CenterWest is backed by $58.3 million in Baltimore City tax increment financing (TIF) bonds that will be issued in phases. TIF bonds pay for infrastructure improvements at a development and are paid off by the increase in property tax revenues on the improved property.

Phase One consists of two five-story buildings: Avra, which is now open with 176 apartments, and Ciro, which is mostly completed and is expected to get its final occupancy permit in the spring. Ciro is a five-story building with 86 apartments. Avra and Ciro combine for 262 apartments, 225 parking spaces between two parking garages and a surface parking lot, about 18,000 sq. ft. of retail, a dog park, and new public parks called Poe Park and Central Bark dog park.

The hotel will take over the southernmost lot in the master plan on the unit block of N. Schroeder St. The currently-vacant lot borders N. Schroeder St. to the west, N. Amity St. to the east, W. Fairmount Ave. to the south, and W. Fayette St. to the north.

La Cité President Dan Bythewood Jr. said the hotel will be 14 stories and will have ground floor retail. This lot is the closest property in CenterWest to the University of Maryland BioPark which includes offices, biotech spaces, and the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. Bythewood Jr. said it makes sense for a hotel in the development to be adjacent to the BioPark.

He also said he looks forward to bringing a hotel to the “west side” of Baltimore and the jobs it will bring to the area. La Cité hopes to break ground on this hotel next year.

Also planned for a groundbreaking next year is a 20-story, 400-unit apartment building with a grocery store and additional first-floor retail on one of the northernmost lots of the CenterWest development. This project will occupy a vacant lot that is bordered by N. Schroeder St. the east, W. Mulberry St. to the north, N. Arlington Ave. to the west, and Sarah Ann St. to the south.

Bythewood Jr. said the grocery store, which will be 22,000 to 25,000 sq. ft., has been signed but not yet announced. The building will also have a parking garage.

Design plans and renderings will be released for Phase Two next year.

Avra and Ciro also have ground floor retail. Bythewood Jr. told SouthBMore.com that a deal for a restaurant at Avra is “almost done.”

When asked if he sees Schroeder St. as a new main street for Southwest Baltimore, Bythewood Jr. said CenterWest will focus on larger retail spaces, so residents and visitors will turn to W. Baltimore St. for local stores and smaller retail footprints. W. Baltimore St., which is a block from CenterWest, has many vacant storefronts, but is garnering a lot of new attention from Southwest Partnership and developers.

Hotel site

Apartment and grocery store site

Screenshot courtesy of Google Maps. Proposed 400-unit apartment building and grocery store lot marked in yellow, lots for Phase One buildings Avra and Ciro marked in red, proposed hotel lot marked in blue.

Development overview. CenterWest properties in red

3D project overview showing buildings in planning