Recently, City staff and the University of Maryland Foundation held a meeting to review design options for a joint development on the City Hall block between Baltimore Avenue and Yale Avenue. The workshop was lead by the architecture and planning firm, Design Collective, and Streetsense, a retail consulting firm, also attended.
At this Wednesday’s worksession, Design Collective will be present to present the conceptual designs that resulted from this workshop.
The preferred concept is to have a single building with separate spaces and identities for a 30,000 SF City Hall and 45,000 SF of university offices. A significant public plaza would occupy the Route 1 frontage and approximately 10,000 SF of retail could be accommodated initially on the ground floor of the university offices. A small amount of surface parking would be provided on site with most of the parking provided in the existing garage. There is the possibility for additional development along Yale Avenue in the future.
If the City Council is comfortable with the general conceptual design, the next step will be to work on a legal framework for proceeding with the project.