Clipper Mill’s “excellence”
May 13, 2008
The Urban Land Institute, a Washington-based think tank that runs educational programs that deal with development and the environment, has announced its 2008 Excellence Awards. The 10 developments — and by extension, developers — that the ULI has chosen to highlight were selected based on “leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial success.” They come from all over the country, and the list tends to favor adaptive re-use projects, projects that brought jobs or investment from the suburbs into the city, and projects that encourage residential use of downtown neighborhoods.
The lone Baltimore representative is Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse’s Clipper Mill project, a mixed-use development near the Woodberry light rail stop—one of those “right under your nose the whole time” industrial rehab projects that has been praised for its creative update of historical architectural design. Condos there sell for about $700,000, and one of them features a pool surrounded by faux-Roman columns that make the run-down stone walls of the old mill building look like the site of a classical ruin.
Here’s what ULI had to say about it:
“Clipper Mill, Baltimore, Maryland (Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse), a 17.5-acre mid-town site that once housed a major contributor to Baltimore’s industrial economy has been transformed into a mixed-use complex of artisan space, offices, and residences. Next to a light-rail transit stop, and adjacent to an extensive hiking trail network that the developer enhanced along its adjoining portions, Clipper Mill restored the historical characteristics of the property and introduced present-day sustainability features.”
Reached by phone while traveling between New York and Baltimore Tuesday, C. William “Bill” Struever, president and CEO of Struever Bros., said that Clipper Mill, and the column-lined pool in particular, was “right at the top of the list” of developments he was most proud of, over the course of the last 34 years.
“The ULI award is a big deal for us,” said C. William “Bill” Struever, president and CEO of Struever Bros. “We’ve never won it before…Whenever I get depressed, I just go to Clipper Mill…and walk around. Woodberry Kitchen is the best food in the world. I love the oysters.”
ROBBIE WHELAN, Business Writer
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