2013 in Review: Developer Cancels Plans to Redevelop Key Downtown Property

Editor's Note: As the year winds down, Annapolis Patch is looking back at some of the top stories of the year that made you talk, cry, laugh or just scratch your head. This article first ran July 1, 2013.
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By D. Frank Smith
A developer with plans to purchase and redevelop the downtown site of the former Fawcett's Boating Supply has withdrawn his support for the project, citing opposition among some Annapolitans.

Developer Mark Ordan, CEO of Sunrise Senior Living, wrote an email to Annapolis Mayor Josh Cohen stating that he would withdraw his proposal for a new development at 110 Compromise Street. A copy of the email was provided to Patch by the City of Annapolis.

"We hoped for a collaborative process, reached out to the interested parties and even planned open houses which have now cancelled.  We prefer to avoid seeing people protest what we're doing, so that instead they can save today's deteriorated city dock," Ordan wrote. "On behalf of my partners and I, I wish you my very best. Please also thank your colleagues in the city's management team, who I know had hoped for, and worked toward a positive outcome."

Ordan's cancellation came a few days before an open house to disclose more information on the project, and a few days after a rally at City Dock in Annapolis where a citizens group, the Coalition to Save Annapolis, gathered to protest the development. The group asked for a more comprehensive plan and more transparency.

Ordan also told The Capital Gazette that the decision to pull out of the project was based on the Historic Annapolis Foundation's intent to fight the city on new building height rules.

Members of The Coalition to Save Annapolis issued the following statement Monday on the group's Facebook page:

"The Coalition to Save Annapolis is pleased that the developer has withdrawn his proposal and that the re-development of 110 Compromise Street has been delayed. We hope and believe that Mayor Cohen will take this opportunity to withdraw his application for rezoning and focus the city’s efforts on developing a comprehensive cost benefit analysis and sector study of the Annapolis City Dock Master Plan. We look forward to working with the Mayor on this."

City spokeswoman Rhonda Wardlaw said Ordan attempted to meet with members of the coalition, but was not able to, and that his withdrawal may have been based on a lack of communication between groups.

Cohen had introduced legislation that sought to establish a new zoning district, called the Waterfront City Dock Zone, to prepare the area for the coming retail development planned by Ordan and his associates.