Scott Plank‘s War Horse Cities is redeveloping a vacant, former clothing factory near Hollins Market to office and tech space.
The project at 1020 W. Pratt St. is expected to open next year. Plank does not own the building, but is leasing it with an option to buy, said Amy Larkin, a War Horse spokeswoman, on Thursday.
“The building has great open floor plates, plenty of natural light and lends itself well to many uses from maker space to open office-incubator as well as industrial-tech uses,” Larkin said.
The three-story, 43,371-square-foot industrial space was built in 1925 and once housed a Montgomery Wards shirt factory and later the Baltimore Envelope Factory.
The redevelopment is part of an ongoing push by Plank to upgrade parts of Southwest Baltimore.
A project to upgrade and modernize the Western Police District by War Horse Cities Community Development Corp., Plank’s nonprofit group, was completed in July 2017 at a cost of $4.5 million.
War Horse Cities and the War Horse CDC have acquired several properties in the Hollins community over the past three years as part of an ongoing transformation of the neighborhood anchored by the University of Maryland Biopark.
Plank is spearheading the redevelopment of 16 rowhouses near Hollins Market and Union Square in what will be the first new residential construction in the communities in five decades. Some of those properties are located at 1216-1226 Hollins St. and 14-20 S. Stockton St.
Plans by War Horse Cities CDC to redevelop the city-owned Hollins Market were scaled back last year after Plank and the Baltimore City Public Markets Corp. failed to settle funding differences for the project. The city took over the Hollins re-do project earlier this year. But Plank is still redoing the market’s facade.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Baltimore office has been hired as leasing agent for the new office and tech space.
