Maryland Board of Public Works approves $1.4B State Center project - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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billion and to take at leasg a decadeto complete. The boarr voted 3-0 to approve a master development agreementy forthe project, clearing the way for a privatse development team to begin design work on the project’sz first phase. The board includes Gov. Martin O’Malley, Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Francho t and weighs all major stateespending projects. The vote was not as O’Malley has supported the project since he was mayor of Baltimore and Kopp has said despitefinancial concerns, she believes the project should move As proposed, the state would lease the land off Martin Luther King Boulevard to Statre Center LLC, which would redevelop the site into a mixed-usse complex with homes, offices and commercial The state would then lease office space from the developersd for use by its stat agencies.
The development team includes Baron & Salizar, a nationakl housing developer, and PS Partneras LLC, led by Linden Associates Inc. President Christopher Kurz. Struever Bros. Eccles & Rousew Inc. and Doracon Contracting, original members of the have since withdrawn butStruever Bros. will remaijn part of the project as a A third equity partner will also be brought on to State Center LLC to replacwe Doracon as aminority business. in the final days of the Generalp Assembly’s last session.
Their efforts failed, but they succeeded in hinginyg the project on an analysis of by Kopp and Francho t focusing on whether undertaking the redevelopment would hurtthe state’d ability to borrow money for other capita projects. Kopp’s report, issued May 15, The distinctionh means the state would be required to list the projectd costs on its balance sheet as assets and liabilities rather than just listinhg its costs for renting the officee space from the developers asan expense.
That, in could max out the state’s ability to borrow The state budget committees met May 28 If all goes as the developers could brealk ground onthe project’s firsgt of four phases in June 2010. But for that to the developers will have to come back to the state with morespecific designs, project costs, and lease terms.