Houston-based The Hanover Company presented plans at Baltimore City Planning Department’s Urban Design & Architecture Advisory Panel (UDAAP) today for the company’s second apartment building on the 100 block of W. Ostend St. The proposed five-story building is part of Caves Valley Partners (CVP) $275-million Stadium Square mixed-use development. Stadium Square is on three blocks of South Baltimore and Sharp-Leadenhall located between Cross St. on the north, Race St. on the east, Leadenhall St. on the west, and both sides of Ostend St. to the south.

Hanover’s first building at Stadium Square, Hanover Cross Street, was completed in 2017 and sits adjacent to the proposed new project site. The six -story building includes 293 apartments, 14,000 sq. ft. of retail, and a 450-car garage.

The 100 block of W. Ostend St. currently has a BMORE Around Town tailgating lot, which replaced industrial buildings that were demolished in recent years, and a USPS post office which will be demolished after it relocates “any day” to S. Hanover St. The block, which also faces W. West St., Race St., and Leadenhall St., formerly had several rowhomes and the VacPac building.

The new apartment building will share this block with a six-story, 67,000 sq. ft. office building at 160 W. Ostend St. that will occupy the northwest corner of the site. The apartment building and its hidden parking garage will be constructed on the rest of the site. CVP will construct the office building and Hanover is under contract on the land where the new apartment building will be.

CVP originally intended on keeping the four-story VacPac building and converting it into a 30,000 sq. ft. office building with ground floor retail. Arsh Mirmiran of CVP said that the company had already gutted the building for the rebuild but it became “cost prohibitive.”

“The VacPac building created a really inefficient layout for the apartment building, significantly driving up costs per unit. If it hadn’t been right in the middle of the block, we could have saved it,” said Mirmiran.

Hanover is hoping to begin construction on the new apartment building in mid-2019 with a two-year construction timeline. The office building will likely begin construction around the same time.

The apartment building will have around 315 mostly one-bedroom apartment units, two courtyards, a pool, a gym, club rooms, and a 334-car garage which is fully wrapped and hidden by the apartment units and attached office building.

The exterior of the building will have two different styles of brick facades. One style will feature red brick which is a nod to the surrounding rowhomes, and the other style will be white brick which is inspired by industrial properties in the area. The corners and entrances to the building will have a modern design that will serve as a transition between the two styles.

The exterior of the building will also have many balconies attached to the apartment units.

Hanover is working with architecture firm Design Collective on the design.

The surrounding sidewalks will be lined with many trees and plants which will resemble the landscaping around Hanover Cross Street. The main entrance to the building on Ostend St. will also have a small pocket park with landscaping.

Hanover Acquisitions & Development Partner Adam S. Harbin told SouthBMore.com that Hanover Cross Street was a successful project that remains stable with high occupancy levels. Hanover has not yet been successful in filling any of the retail spaces, but Harbin said that some tenant announcements should be coming soon.

Mirmiran told SouthBMore.com that the goal is to get 160 W. Ostend St. a bit of a jump start on construction and to get it out of the ground before the new Hanover apartment building begins construction. He noted, however, that both could start construction at the same time if needed.

Mirmiran said that 160 W. Ostend will begin construction when CVP inks its first office tenant. He said they are in negotiations with a tenant that could occupy 33,000 sq. ft. and the top three floors of the building.

Mirmiran also said CVP has a “handshake agreement” with a restaurateur who will take the entire first-floor retail space at 160 W. Ostend St.

On the south side of the 100 block of W. Ostend St. is 145 W. Ostend St., which is a 72,000 sq. ft. office building that opened last summer. That building is now 75% leased with tenants including Spaces, Ricoh, Clark Construction Group, Employee One Benefit Solutions, and Janney Montgomery Scott.

Also proposed for the same block as 145 W. Ostend St. is an approximately 180,000 sq. ft. office building with first-floor retail at the site of a current parking lot, and an 840-space parking garage that will be located behind both office buildings.

Another project already completed in Stadium Square is the 2,400 sq. ft. Leadenhall Community Center which opened in August.

CVP is also planning a 30-plus unit affordable apartment building for veterans at the southeast corner of Leadenhall St. and W. Cross St. that would replace five existing rowhomes. The plan is to use the front facade of the homes for the new building, which will also have ground-floor retail. CVP has acquired four of the homes, but has been unable to acquire the fifth home, which is owned by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC). CVP his hoping this issue will be resolved in the coming years. In the meantime, the company renovated two of the rowhomes and one on the 1100 block of Leadenhall St. as affordable housing for police officers.

Read SouthBMore.com’s articles detailing the Stadium Square development here.

Rendering courtesy of Design Collective

About the Author: Kevin Lynch Founder and Publisher of SouthBmore.com, longtime resident of South Baltimore, and a graduate of Towson University. Diehard Ravens and O's fan, beach volleyball enthusiast, dog lover, and "bar food" foodie. Email me at Founder and Publisher of SouthBmore.com, longtime resident of South Baltimore, and a graduate of Towson University. Diehard Ravens and O's fan, beach volleyball enthusiast, dog lover, and "bar food" foodie. Email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter at @SoBoKevin