Thursday, January 10, 2013
Hekemian and Co., the mall’s owner, has been trying to redevelop the shopping and office complex for years.
The redevelopment of the Rotunda mall and office complex has been approved by Baltimore’s Urban Design and Architectural Review Panel on Thursday, according to the Baltimore Business Journal. The panel gave approval to the project's schematics during a panel meeting in August. "I think the architecture isn’t great," panel member Gary Bowden said at that time. "There are a lot of ugly buildings in the area and I think this project has picked up some of that." Hekemian and Co., the Rotunda’s owner, have been working for years to overhaul the struggling mall into an outdoor shopping complex with a residential component. Prior to the economic collapse in 2008, the company had hoped to add a 22-story apartment building, condos and a detached …
Thursday, August 16, 2012
The proposed redevelopment of the Hampden mall can begin the Urban Design and Architectural Review Panel's final review process.
Members of a city review panel expressed concern about the architecture of the proposed redevelopment of the Rotunda, but gave approval to the project’s schematics on Thursday. The project will now move into the final approval phase with the Urban Design and Architectural Review Panel. The developer Hekemian and Co. still must schedule that part of the review process. "I think the architecture isn’t great," said panel member Gary Bowden. "There’s a lot of ugly buildings in the area, and I think this project has picked some of that up." Panel members expressed concern about how the project fits in with the surrounding neighborhoods, the massing of the project and the uniformity of many of the proposed buildings. But the panel members did …
Monday, August 13, 2012
The Urban Design and Architectural Review Panel is scheduled to review plans for the project on Thursday.
On Thursday the Urban Design and Architectural Review Panel will again review plans for the redevelopment of the Rotunda mall. During the first review, panel member M.J. "Jay" Brodie and Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke raised concerns about the plans to remove indoor shopping at the mall and instead have all retail on the building’s exterior. But Hekemian & Co., the mall’s owner, expressed surprise about the suggestion, and was reluctant to maintain the interior shopping of the current mall. Patch wants to know what you think.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Previously members of the panel questioned plans to eliminate the indoor shopping from the redeveloped mall.
Plans for the renovation of the Rotunda mall in Hampden will go before a city architectural review panel again on Thursday. The plans for the redevelopment of the Rotunda—into the Grand Rotunda—will be presented to the Urban Design and Architectural Review Panel at 1 p.m. in the Richard Chen Conference Room on the seventh floor of the Benton Building, 417 Fayette St It will mark the second time the plans have been presented to the panel. On July 19, architectural firm Design Collective and Chris Bell, senior vice president of Hekemian and Co., the mall’s owner, gave a presentation. During the first presentation members of the panel generally expressed support for the redesign, but also shared concern about the developers intention to …
Thursday, July 19, 2012
A city design review panel examined plans to redevelop the struggling Hampden mall.
New plans for the redevelopment of the Rotunda still need some adjustments. Representatives from architectural firm Design Collective and Chris Bell—senior vice president of Hekemian and Co., the mall’s owner—presented the plans to the Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel on Thursday. Members of the panel said they generally approved of the reduced plans for the proposed mixed-use redevelopment. An earlier proposal for the project included a hotel, a 22-story apartment building and condos, but that was scrapped after the 2008 nationwide economic collapse. The new plans still include creating more outdoor retail space at the mall, but now include a much smaller residential component of 300 market rate apartments. But members of the …
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
New plans for the struggling mall will be reviewed by a city panel on Thursday morning.
Plans for a revised Rotunda redevelopment will begin the city’s review process on Thursday. The city’s Urban Design and Review Panel will examine the plans for a revamped "Grand Rotunda" at 9:30 a.m. at 417 E. Fayette St. The review panel’s function is to "achieve the highest quality for the planned and built environment of Baltimore City by providing the Planning Commission and the Department of Planning with design review expertise in the area of urban design, architecture and landscape design," according to its website. In February Hekemian and Co., the struggling mall’s owner, unveiled plans for a new redevelopment of the former insurance office building. Initially the company had planned on a massive redesign of the mall that included…
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Rotunda redevelopment is facing some serious challenges.
Joe Schmigel
5:44 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
"There’s a lot of ugly buildings in the area . . ." Start with the former Zurich Insurance Complex (now a part of JHU, who else?) Luckily, it wasn't purchased by one of the for-profit prison leeches. more ›