Baltimore Peninsula might have a new developer soon — but its identity, for now, is a mystery.
Under Armour founder Kevin Plank said last month that he wouldn’t develop more of the South Baltimore site. That left up to 100 acres of land available, according to a spokesperson for Sagamore Ventures, Plank’s investment firm.
Now the Arkansas bank that ultimately has control over this land says it’s moving closer to a potential sale.
“We are currently in active discussions with a potential buyer,” Bank OZK said in a financial disclosure released last week.
Plank’s development firm unveiled plans in 2016 to build a dense mini-city on an industrial site formerly known as Port Covington. A massive Under Armour campus would anchor the project. A historic tax incentive package from the city would catalyze its development. A decade later, just one phase of the project — five buildings with a mix of residential, retail and office space — has been completed.
Bank OZK, a mid-size bank known for its aggressive commercial real estate lending, financed much of Baltimore Peninsula’s first phase of construction. It also had an interest in the land set aside for future phases of development via a $66 million land loan.
Last year, the bank disclosed that it had changed the status of that land loan to “substandard non-accrual,” meaning it was preparing to take a loss.
Not long after, Plank said he was stepping back from future development at the site.
The plan, according to spokespeople for the project, was to turn over the land to the bank from Little Rock, Arkansas.
Bank OZK has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
When asked about non-performing commercial loans during last week’s earnings call, CEO George Gleason talked about a project in Boston, an office building in California and a life sciences development in Chicago. He didn’t say much about Baltimore.
“The Baltimore land, we’ve talked about at length in previous conversations,” Gleason told his shareholders. “We’re working on a potential sale of that property right now.”
According to a supplemental financial disclosure, Bank OZK plans to take title to the land if the sale to this unidentified buyer falls through.
The only other developer with a current project at Baltimore Peninsula is Mark Sapperstein of 28 Walker Development. Sapperstein spearheaded the development of Locke Landing, a waterfront residential community of townhomes and an apartment building.
“It’s not me,” Sapperstein said when asked if he was the unidentified buyer.
Sapperstein said he was interested in the rest of the land at Baltimore Peninsula, but he declined to comment further.
This article has been updated to correct the number of buildings included in Baltimore Peninsula's first phase.




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