Bad case of the Gunts
Written by JMG   
Friday, 16 January 2009 08:33
So, architecture in Baltimore ... yeah. We've got buildings alright, but you'd be forgiven for wondering about the importance of architecture in a city that seems to have more houses than people.

We're all pissed that the city's newest downtown hotel, the Hilton, blocks the view of the Bromo Seltzer Tower from Camden Yards, but architecture in Baltimore is about a lot more than that. Follow the money: people are worried about getting laid off and it all started with some bad housing loans. Meanwhile, everybody's favorite Mizz Mayor (see last issue's Lix) get's indicted for receiving improper gifts from 'Developer A', aka her ex boyfriend Ronald Lipscomb. In The Wire, way back before anybody suspected that you could trade furs for tax breaks, Wayne Scott's main man Lester Freamon drops the classic line: "Seems that Stringer Bell is even worse than a drug dealer ..." then Prezbo steals the punch: "He's a developer!" Snap. We were always disappointed that Lester and them didn't follow it a little bit further and start tapping the phones of the architects.

This space is here to talk about all the angles in Baltimore's architecture that no one ever talks about, at least not in public. It's no secret that the Sun's nominal architecture critic, Ed Gunts, does little more than simply report on what's happening. And it's no secret that he was in the middle of a minor real estate development scandal himself a few years ago: the City Paper noticed that his favorite and most written about neighborhoods, Mount Vernon and Bolton Hill, contained almost 20 properties that Mr. Gunts owned and was looking to sell, for a very reasonable price, no doubt.

Gunts was totally asleep at the switch when the Hilton went through planning, and apparently so was UDARP. From their website: "The Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel's goal is to achieve the highest quality for the planned and built environment of Baltimore City". UDARP's mandate is to review 'signature sites, and signature projects'. The Hilton, a project that received a large amount of public funding in the form of tax credits, was championed by the BDC, another acronym that will show in this space again. If Baltimore architecture were a police drama, the Baltimore Development Corporation would be the Bad Cop, aggressively pushing for more and more economic development, and City Planning would be the Good Cop, advocating for the public realm, with the ultimate call on funding for the developer and contractor coming down to the City Council and the Mayor's office.

The contractor for the Hilton? That'd be Doracon, founded by Developer A: Sheila's ex BF Ronald Lipscomb.
 



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