[Chat] do you read this about stuever?

[Christine Gray]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-te.md.struever19aug19,1,
3817534.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

On St. Paul Street, holding his ground
Charles Village: One man won't sell his rental property to a developer who
needs the block.
By Scott Calvert
Sun Staff
Originally published August 19, 2004
C. William Struever is one of Baltimore's shrewdest, most successful
developers. Daniel F. Jackson Jr. is a Pasadena man who owns a handful of
rental properties.
That's because Jackson owns a Charles Village
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-charlesvillage.
htmlstory>  rowhouse needed by Struever to develop a key part of the $150
million College Town dorms, shops and condominiums in North Baltimore near
the Johns Hopkins University
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/visitor/college/bal-hl-hopkins.st
ory> .
But Jackson - unlike others who have made big profits by selling nearly
identical rowhouses to Struever for up to $400,000 - has declined to sell,
and nobody can make him.
Critics say he is greedy to seek a reported $1.5 million on a block where
houses went for $100,000 just four years ago. Jackson insists he wants only
a "decent" deal and is unmoved by pleas to sell in time for a planned
October groundbreaking.
"It's not my problem," said Jackson, 56, who grew up in Hamilton. "It's as
simple as this: Like the movie Tom Cruise is in, 'Show me the money.' Let's
get the deal done; stop playing games."
This may not quite be David and Goliath, but the standoff shows how a little
guy can trip up major developers when they don't have the muscle of the
city's eminent domain acquisition power behind them.
Although Struever quietly bought some houses in the 3200 block of St. Paul
Street in 2000, his plans went public in 2002, driving up prices as other
owners on the block have sold - leaving only Jackson.
"He's the last remaining property owner," said Dominic Wiker, a College Town
development director for Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc. "We'd just like
this situation to be resolved."
Neither Wiker nor Jackson would discuss details, but area resident Sandra
Sparks said Wiker told her Jackson has sought $1.5 million.
"He's way, way, way out of line. It's just pure greed," said Sparks, who
runs the design committee for a body that guides development in North
Charles Village
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-charlesvillage.
htmlstory> .
She and others say area residents support the project, which could energize
a stretch long considered sleepy for a college district. Now, the longer
Jackson holds out, they say, the longer they will have to endure rowhouses
that - except for Jackson's - sit vacant.
"We're sitting here watching something not happen until they reach an
agreement where [Jackson] doesn't feel anything has been stolen and
[Struever and his staff] don't feel they have been gouged," said Janet
Levine, executive director of the Charles Village
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-charlesvillage.
htmlstory>  Community Benefits District. "There is that middle ground."
Work starting
On the north side of 33rd Street, Hopkins - with Struever as developer - is
preparing to raze an old parking garage and two buildings to make way for
student dorms with 618 beds and a Barnes & Noble bookstore at ground level.
That is a $75 million piece of College Town.
But Hopkins already owned that property. On the south side of 33rd Street,
Struever aims to finish College Town on the 3200 block of St. Paul, linking
33rd to an existing row of stores and restaurants in the 3100 block. First,
though, he has had to buy the majority of both sides of the block.
On the west side of St. Paul, the $50 million plan calls for 82 condominiums
geared toward empty-nesters, street-level retail and a 575-car garage tucked
behind new buildings. Parking revenue bonds of $9 million and part of a $9.9
million infusion from the city are to be used for the garage.
Property records show that Struever owns all 10 rowhouses on that side of
St. Paul. Wiker said progress is being made on buying two buildings at the
southwest corner of St. Paul and 33rd, where Hopkins fraternity members
live. University Mini Mart and a florist occupy the ground floor.
On the east side of St. Paul - which includes Jackson's property - Struever
wants to knock down 15 rowhouses and erect a five-story building with shops
and restaurants on the first floor and 68 condominiums on upper floors, plus
95 parking spaces out back. That portion will cost over $20 million, Wiker
said.
Today, plans for the east side of the block could receive final approval
from the city's Design Advisory Panel. But no work can start there until
Jackson sells his house, the fourth one from 32nd Street. Three tenants
still live there.
Buying quietly
In the beginning, Struever took a page from Walt Disney and James W. Rouse,
who quietly amassed tracts for Disney World and Columbia. Struever used two
entities, Harris Hill LLC and Homeland Development, to buy several houses
for $90,000 to $125,000.
After word spread, some owners got $250,000 apiece for their houses. In
June, the second-to-last holdout raised the bar to $400,000 for his place.
Jackson said he is not blocking the project for the sake of blocking it. He
thinks College Town could be "real good" and said he has nothing against
Struever. But he also said Struever's team insulted him over the past two
years.
"I don't know if they think I'm stupid or what," Jackson said Tuesday night
in a phone interview. "I have rental properties as a business."
(It is not clear what he paid for his St. Paul Street house in 1972, but
similar houses in the area typically sold then for $10,000 to $15,000. He
owns seven other rental properties in Baltimore.)
Wiker, of Struever Bros., says the company has treated every property owner
fairly. "How could he be frustrated?" he said.
Once, Jackson said, Bill Struever was "crying poor man" by claiming he could
not pay what Jackson asked. Jackson said he told him, "I don't think you're
losing money." Struever did not return a message left yesterday.
Another time, Jackson said, Wiker told him the city would condemn his house
if he didn't sell - something Jackson said he quickly learned was false
because the city decided early on not to use its condemnation power on the
project.
"Never happened," Wiker said.
Struever's latest proposal has an unacceptable "wrinkle," Jackson said. As
soon as an initial contract is signed, Struever would gain control of the
alley and two parking spaces behind the house, rather than after final
settlment, as usually happens.
Jackson said two people have approached him recently offering to buy the
house so that they could square off against Struever.
"I may just sell to them and let them worry about it," he said.
Asked whether he might sell directly to Struever, he said, "Possibly."
Wiker said that if Jackson doesn't sell, there is no practical way to build
around his house, as an Atlantic City
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/beaches/bal-beach-atlanticcity,0,6207913
.htmlstory>  casino once did when a homeowner declined to sell.
M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of Baltimore Development Corp., the city's
development arm, said, "I trust Mr. Struever and his investors will
persevere and find some way to purchase that property, if the project is to
go ahead as presently designed."
Brodie said the city decided years ago that the private sector would have to
"buy everything they needed" on this project.
He said, "I would have my architects look and see if this gentleman could be
left in place."

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