{"id":520,"date":"2026-10-22T21:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T21:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/?p=520"},"modified":"2026-10-22T21:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T21:02:07","slug":"they-abated-the-tower-and-called-it-better-than-zero-baltimores-board-of-estimates-voted-unanimously-oct-21-to-give-the-university-of-maryland-baltimore-and-developer-wexford-science-amp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/?p=520","title":{"rendered":"THEY ABATED THE TOWER AND CALLED IT BETTER THAN ZERO | Baltimore\u2019s Board of Estimates voted unanimously Oct. 21 to give the University of Maryland, Baltimore and developer Wexford Science & Technology a 25-year PILOT abating $80 million in property taxes on a $160 million, 15-story, 730-bed \u201ccollege town\u201d tower rented by the bed \u2014 the first deal under a new state-authorized Downtown RISE program that can erase up to 95% of city property tax \u2014 after a city development official quoted \u201cShark Tank,\u201d argued the parking lot pays \u201czero\u201d today, and the comptroller asked for in writing the university\u2019s promise to keep the land on the tax rolls when the discount ends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They abated the tower and called it better than zero. I know the sentence. It is what a city says when it has decided to forgive most of a building\u2019s taxes for a quarter-century and wants you to compare the deal not to what the building would owe, but to the parking lot it replaces, because next to a parking lot everything is a bargain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the record. On Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, Baltimore\u2019s Board of Estimates \u2014 the mayor-controlled spending board, five members \u2014 voted unanimously for a payment in lieu of taxes that The Banner reports will abate $80 million over the next 25 years for the University of Maryland, Baltimore\u2019s North Quad, the first piece of a planned \u201ccollege town.\u201d The development is led by Wexford Science & Technology: a $160 million, 15-story building in the 600 block of West Lexington Street with 404 units and 730 beds for graduate students, rented by the bed, plus about 16,000 square feet of retail. It is the first award under Downtown RISE, a new PILOT program the Baltimore Development Corporation says was authorized by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Wes Moore; the law took effect in April 2026 for ten years, and it lets a project replace city property tax with a negotiated annual payment if the developer can \u201cdemonstrate financial necessity.\u201d The Banner says the program can erase up to 95 percent of property taxes for 25 years in exchange for an annual fee that\u2019s substantially less; the Capital Gazette puts it as up to 95 percent of the taxes on the property\u2019s increased value. It is the same program the city is using to negotiate a PILOT for the towers proposed to replace the Harborplace pavilions. A South Quad may come later and may ask for its own. The plan around it includes a gathering space that could feature a pub and an outdoor entertainment venue, and courts for pickleball or tennis. The Capital Gazette notes the deal contains no labor agreements for workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the defense. The site is a parking lot that pays no property tax, said Jeremy Watson, a senior vice president at the development corporation. \u201cWithout this deal,\u201d he said, \u201cthe building doesn\u2019t get built and the city keeps collecting what it gets today, which is zero.\u201d Then he quoted Kevin O\u2019Leary of \u201cShark Tank\u201d \u2014 \u201cMy money is my military. I send it out, every dollar, to capture and bring back more soldiers\u201d \u2014 and said the abatement brings back \u201c2.43 soldiers\u201d for each one. Council President Zeke Cohen said the show\u2019s investors would be disappointed if the board were not \u201cpushing and scrutinizing.\u201d The meeting started late because Comptroller Bill Henry and university officials were hammering out an assurance that UMB \u2014 a nonprofit that does not pay property taxes on most of its land \u2014 would keep these parcels on the tax rolls when the PILOT ends. President Bruce Jarrell committed to it, speaking of a vision from Lexington Market down Eutaw Street \u201cright to the Eutaw gate of the Orioles.\u201d Henry said he would like that in writing. Joan Jacobson of With Us For Us, a coalition of advocacy groups and unions, said the discount was too steep and too long: \u201clabor agreements and a small, brief tax discount would better benefit the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deb wants to know if she can rent Buck\u2019s old room by the bed. Buck says the room has one bed and it is his. I love them. They are seasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZero\u201d is the alibi. The 95 is the story. Sit with it until it confesses. Every abatement in America is sold against the empty lot, and the empty lot always loses, because it cannot speak at the hearing. But the honest comparison is not the lot. It is every other building on that street paying full freight to the same city \u2014 and I say that as a man who has opened his own envelope and knows exactly what full freight feels like \u2014 while this one gets to call its discount a favor. Look at the shape of the handshake. A state legislature writes the program. A governor signs it. A city development corporation runs the math. A board that the mayor controls votes it through. A university that belongs to the state system and pays no tax on most of its land partners with a private developer to build a tower that rents students by the bed. The public is on every side of the table and still somehow ends up as the party that gives. And when somebody asks for labor agreements, the room quotes a reality show about rich people buying slices of small businesses. Both parties are the help. One signs the bill in Annapolis. One holds the term sheet on Lexington Street. The comptroller holds a promise he wants in writing. The cardigan stays. Fill the notebook. Then ask, out loud, who in Baltimore gets to pay five cents on the dollar for 25 years, and why it is never the rowhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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