In late August, the Taxation, Finance, & Economic Development Committee of the Baltimore City Council returned a favorable report on Council Bill 20-0552, which extends the city’s historic tax credit through 2022. The bill now moves on to the full City Council, and we need you now to reach out to your councilperson and ask them to support this legislation.

Leading preservation economics firm, PlaceEconomics recently completed an analysis of Baltimore City’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit program that supports positive assumptions about the value of the credit, and brings to light new information about the use and benefit of the credit in communities across the city.

Partners for Open Space is launching a social media campaign to generate statewide support for Maryland’s parks, nature, outdoor spaces, as well as its rural and historic heritage, all with a strong nod toward Maryland’s Program Open Space.

Statement Concerning the Proposed Demolition of the Iconic Bel-Loc Diner

06/27/2016

By Preservation Maryland

Preservation Maryland strongly supports the rehabilitation and reuse of the Bel-Loc Diner, a Parkville, Maryland landmark for over 50 years. We believe that Starbucks and Baltimore County officials can achieve the laudable goal of revitalization without the demolition of this important vestige of the recent past.

Fortunately, many examples of how to adaptively reuse a unique structure like the Bel-Loc Diner exist – including many overseen by the Starbucks Corporation. In Hollywood, California, Starbucks recently repurposed a classic 1930s Art Deco gas station into a fully functioning coffee house.

In St. Louis, the company partnered with the Chipotle restaurant chain to rehabilitate and reuse an exceptional modernist saucer structure from the 1960s.

In Phoenix, Arizona, the practice of adaptively reusing mid-century structures, such as diners, has recently taken the area by storm, resulting in the rehabilitation of nearly 150 buildings of this kind in the past ten years alone. Kimber Lanning, Executive Director of Local First Arizona, an organization that supports the expansion of local businesses, explained, “It’s grown so much because people really love funky old buildings.”

Preservation Maryland Executive Director Nicholas Redding underscored his organization’s commitment to places like the Bel-Loc Diner,

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the Bel-Loc Diner could be adaptively reused. We can save the iconic structures and links to our past and still provide ample opportunities for revitalization and growth – often in the same structure.”

There are many alternatives to the bulldozer’s blade, and fortunately, the state’s Heritage Structure Rehabilitation tax credit and the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit, along with a host of other programs and incentives make these alternatives to demolition financially possible – and potentially lucrative as studies have shown time and again.

Preservation Maryland remains optimistic about the future of the diner and stands ready to assist Starbucks and Baltimore County officials in identifying adaptive reuse strategies that would result in the long-term preservation of this important structure and component of Baltimore’s 20th century culture.

Sign the Petition to Encourage Starbucks and Baltimore Co. to Save the Bel-Loc Diner