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Actor Kevin Spacey has been identified as the mystery buyer of the $5.65 million Pier Home at Harborview that sold earlier this year, according to local real estate agents and others familiar with the transaction.

Real estate agents disclosed in February that a buyer paid cash for the five-level residence at the eastern end of a pier that juts into the water as part of the gated Harborview community.

The sale price of the pier home, 622 Ponte Villas North, is one of the highest ever sums paid for an Inner Harbor residence. (Writer Tom Clancy paid $12.6 million in 2009 for several combined penthouses at the Ritz-Carlton Residences.) In this sale, the buyer’s identity has not been made public.

Charlie Hatter of Monument Sotheby’s International Realty, the listing agent, declined last week to identify the buyer. But others familiar with the Baltimore real estate market say the person is rumored to be Spacey, who stars in the “House of Cards” television series filmed in Maryland.

“Real estate agents talk to each other,” said one knowledgeable source, noting that other property owners along Ponte Villas North also have identified Spacey as the buyer.

Designed by Marks, Thomas Architects, the residence is actually two properties combined into one. The seller was the estate of developer Leroy Merritt, who died in 2010 and lived there briefly. It was originally listed for $8.5 million. Before the sale, it was rented by Orioles third baseman Manny Machado.

The 9,000-square-foot house contains six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, three half-bathrooms, a theater, an elevator, two garages, a billiard room, a sauna and a rooftop deck with a 360-degree view. The red neon Domino Sugars sign is visible directly across the water.

Spacey’s real name is Kevin Spacey Fowler. Since 2013, he has played Frank Underwood in “House of Cards,” a role that brought him to Maryland. He could not be reached for comment.

Demolition Underway in Mount Vernon-Belvedere

Demolition is well underway on a low-rise office building at 9 E. Mount Royal Avenue that is being razed to make way for a seven-story, 64-unit apartment building.

Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation last week approved the design for the replacement structure by Kann Partners. Zahlco Development, headed by Yonah Zahler, is the developer of the project, which also includes renovation of the adjacent building at 11 E. Mount Royal Avenue.

Maryland Nonprofits to Facilitate “Dialogue” Regarding Sale of Baltimore Clayworks Properties

Maryland Nonprofits Inc., formerly MANO, will facilitate meetings between the Baltimore Clayworks Board of Trustees, which has launched an effort to sell the group’s two buildings in Mount Washington, and the Clayworks Community Campaign, a group that doesn’t want the sale to proceed.

The dialogue was proposed by state Del. Sandy Rosenberg at a Capital Budget Subcommittee hearing on Baltimore Clayworks, which was called by Dels. Maggie McIntosh and Adrienne Jones and held in Annapolis on May 2.

More than 800 people have signed a petition seeking to prevent the sale of the Baltimore Clayworks properties at 5706 and 5707 Smith Avenue. Fifty people rallied outside a Clayworks fundraiser in late April to express their opposition to the sale.

Arts Center Planned for Bel Air

The Maryland Center for the Arts announced that Gov. Larry Hogan and the Maryland State Legislature have approved $1 million for the planning, design and construction of the center’s proposed arts campus in Bel Air. Hogan included the project in his state budget for the 2018 fiscal year.

The Maryland Center for the Arts is dedicated to establishing a campus to nurture art, artists and the surrounding community. The center hopes to provide a range of creative experiences through arts education, presentations and exhibitions in music, dance, theater and other visual forms.

A groundbreaking is expected later this year.

This column has been corrected to reflect that the actual sale price of the Inner Harbor home was $5.65 million, not $6.25 million, according to tax records.