September 6, 2011
The state fired back at the Baltimore property owners who have sued to stop the $1.5 billion State Center project, filing a countersuit on Friday demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars that delays in the project are costing the state. The countersuit states that the group of property owners – who collectively call themselves the Coalition to Save Downtown Baltimore – filed their initial lawsuit in December because they “cannot compete” with the State Center project. [...more]
August 15, 2011
Maryland could be within $43 million of hitting its debt ceiling in fiscal year 2017, according to projections presented to the Capital Debt Affordability Committee on Friday. Maryland has a self-imposed limit on debt service of 8% of all revenues received. This means that only 8% of revenues in a given year can go toward principal and interest on state bonds.Currently, the state’s debt service payment is 6.9% of its revenues. By 2017, debt service is projected to be 7.8% of revenues. (By comparison, the interest on the federal debt this year is about 10% of total revenues.) [...more]
August 2, 2011
A coalition of Baltimore community groups has written to Comptroller Peter Franchot “to express our dismay and disappointment” that he has yanked his support from the $1.5 billion State Center project, despite his votes for the project in the past. [...more]
July 20, 2011
Questioning the practicality of “undertaking a commercial real estate venture of this magnitude in the midst of the worst economic climate since the Great Depression,” Comptroller Peter Franchot has joined the chorus of voices objecting to the $1.5 billion State Center project in midtown Baltimore.
Franchot wrote a letter to General Services Secretary Alvin Collins and Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley saying he’s concerned about the economic impact – both on the government’s coffers and on taxpayers – of moving forward with the project right now.
[...more]
July 14, 2011
A Baltimore judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging the award of contracts to build State Center in midtown Baltimore will go forward, stopping construction of the $1.5 billion project until it is resolved. [...more]
July 8, 2011
The first part of the public-private partnership State Center project in Baltimore represents a $127 million giveaway of taxpayer dollars with more on the way, according to a new report from the Maryland Public Policy Institute and the Maryland Tax Education Foundation. [...more]
February 2, 2011
A group of downtown Baltimore property owners accusing the state of circumventing the state’s procurement laws to award contracts for the $1.5 billion State Center development project is broadening their complaint to question the award of $33 million in state bonds to build a parking garage on site. [...more]
December 20, 2010
Claiming that the state ignored procurement laws to award the contracts for the $1.5 billion State Center development project, a group of large property owners in Baltimore’s central business district sued the government and State Center developers on Friday, hoping to bring the project to a halt.
The massive project occupying more than eight-square blocks has had the enthusiastic backing of Baltimore elected officials and persistent skeptical analyses from the legislature’s staff. [...more]
December 16, 2010
The $33 million state debt burden for the State Center parking garage, as well as the absence of a formal agreement on labor costs or local hiring, led Comptroller Peter Franchot to vote against approving the parking garage lease agreement at Wednesday’s Board of Public Works meeting.
The lease agreement was ultimately approved, with the board’s other two members Gov. Martin O’Malley and Treasurer Nancy Kopp voting for it. [...more]
July 29, 2010
By Megan Poinski Megan@MarylandReporter.com The Board of Public Works on Wednesday unanimously green-lighted work to begin on the $215 million first phase of a massive public-private partnership designed to revitalize central Baltimore, improve government office space, and create jobs. The revitalization of State Center project will give a boost to the ailing construction industry at [...] [...more]
