The University, Armada Hoffler Properties and Beatty Development Group officially broke ground at 3200 St. Paul on March 26 for the start of construction on a mixed-use building.
The 1.13-acre plot, located at the intersection of 33rd and St. Paul Streets, will feature 157 apartments geared toward student tenants, a CVS pharmacy and other retailers, as well as a 162-space paid parking lot for residents and customers. Although the remaining retail space has not been officially designated, current prospective retailers could include neighborhood stores, fast-food chains and full service restaurants, according to Tim Pula, senior development director of Beatty Development Group.
Among the 31,400 square feet designated for retail, 10,500 will be for CVS. The decision to include a CVS, which will be the main tenant of the building, was made based on feedback from both the Baltimore and Hopkins communities.
“What we repeatedly heard in interviews with different community stakeholders was that the neighborhood needed a full service pharmacy that also sold a wide variety of convenience items,” Pula wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Vice Provost for Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger agreed, citing the impact of responses on the decision to choose CVS as the anchor tenant.
“The need for a full service pharmacy was voiced both by our student population as well as parents and the surrounding community,” Shollenberger wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “This is another great example of how this project is a direct reflection of the feedback we received from these critical stakeholders.”
The mixed-use development’s aesthetic will have similar features to neighboring buildings.
“The building will feature a blend of brick and glass on the outside but in a more modern, contemporary manner than in most of the neighboring buildings,” Pula wrote. “We believe that the project will strengthen the connections between JHU and the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Aside from contributing to the urban fabric by filling in the currently empty lot, Pula stated that the building will also increase the stability and safety of Charles Village.
“Putting some 500+ more students into the center of Charles Village will increase Charles Village’s vitality and safety,” Pula wrote. “The building will provide additional retail to both students and to the neighborhood, both of which — accord[ing] to studies — are underserved.”
Conception of the new building started when Hopkins purchased the property in 2007. It requested proposals for development in 2012 from 10 development companies. The response of Armada Hoffler Properties and the Beatty Development Group was selected by the Hopkins Board of Trustees as the winning proposal, economically and technologically.
“The team has extensive experience in Baltimore and is responsible for much of the transformative work done in Harbor East — for example, Spinnaker Bay apartments, the Four Seasons Hotel and the Waterfront Marriott,” Shollenberger wrote. “We look forward to the impact their expertise will have on our students and the larger Charles Village community.”
This will be the first collaboration between Armada Hoffler/Beatty and Hopkins.
“Armada Hoffler/Beatty will design, develop, finance, construct, own and operate the building,” Pula wrote.
The addition of the building is another expansion of the Charles Village planned unit development (PUD), which started in the late 1990s.
“A PUD is essentially a community plan that often includes some combination of housing, commercial office development and retail,” Shollenberger wrote. “Charles Commons, which opened in 2006, was an important step in the fulfillment of this plan, as was the retail space featuring Starbucks, Chipotle and [other businesses] on the east side of St. Paul that opened in 2008.”
The University expects that the building will further the revitalization of Charles Village and serve as another critical bridge between the campus and beyond.
“In the same way that Charles Commons and the East Side of 3200 St. Paul Street began the process of transforming Charles Village into a pedestrian-friendly retail and residential district, so too will the 3200 St. Paul project have the potential to further enhance this positive transformation,” Shollenberger wrote.
In an interview with Commercial Property Executives in October 2014, Tony Nero, president of development for Armada Hoffler Properties, stated that the total cost for the development will be approximately $65 million.
The new building will be marketed toward juniors and seniors and will include study lounges, internet and a fitness center. Students are expected to move into the building — which will be named in the coming months — in the 2016-2017 academic year.
Founded in 1979, Armada Hoffler is a real estate and construction company that has built more than 25.4 million square feet of real estate with a market value of over $3.3 billion in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Beatty Development Group, founded in 2013 by Michael S. Beatty, is a Baltimore-based development firm that concentrates on mixed-use buildings.
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