The new Courtyard by Marriott in the Donovan Building may get a new neighbor to the south. Mayor Byron Brown announced that proposals will soon be sought for the Inner Harbor’s Webster Block. The Brown administration plans to issue a request for proposals (RFP) from developers interested in developing the key parcel later this month. The 1.9 acre parcel, currently a parking lot, is bound by Main, Perry, Scott and Washington streets, two blocks south of HSBC Center and directly in front of HSBC’s Atrium office building.
Sources say the RFP is being issued after an unnamed development team approached the City with a preliminary plan for a high rise project on the site.
In 2010, Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation agreed to acquire the block if and when HSBC Bank chose to relocate its nearly 4,000 employees to the site. The bank, whose lease for 650,000 sq.ft. of space in HSBC Center expires next year, was looking at its space options while also negotiating with current landlord Seneca One Realty LLC on a lease renewal. The bank has since decided to consolidate its employees into the Atrium building and may vacant some or all of its leased space in HSBC Center.
The City’s recent track record with RFPs is less than stellar. RFPs were issued for vacant City and NFTA land behind the LaSalle light rail station in 2007 after developer Angelo Natale expressed interest in putting a residential project there with new urbanism features. Four developers submitted plans but the City later halted the process after realizing they didn’t disclose an easement ran through the property. A revised RFP was not released.
Also in 2007, RFPs were issued for two Waterfront Village parcels. Three proposals were received for a property at 240-260 Lakefront Boulevard next to the Marina Park complex. Waterfront Medical Professional’s Casa Luce proposal beat out two other submissions from Benderson Development and Savarino Cos. The Casa Luce project that featured an eight-story mid-rise building and eight patio homes never made it off the drawing board.
Competition for a 1.4 acre La Riviere parcel adjacent to Templeton Landing turned messy when development rights were awarded to James Pitts/Specialty Restaurants’ proposal for a four-story, 100 room Wingate Inn over a competing plan by Ciminelli Cos. and Hamister Group for a ten-story building with a 135 room Hilton Garden Inn, 80,000 sq.ft. of office space, ground floor retail and 76 interior parking spaces. Ciminelli also offered more for the site, $1.2 million, while Specialty Restaurants proposed to “negotiate a minimum of a $100,000 purchase price for the parcel.”
City officials rejected the Ciminelli/Hamister proposal saying the design exceeded height restrictions that were in place on the site. Architect Bernard Zyscovich later revamped the façade of the proposed Wingate after the original design was roundly criticized. The project appears to be dead.