7 State Circle in Annapolis to get old yet modern look

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jul 7, 2006 by Mark R. Smith

It was in early December of 1997 that two 19th-century structures in downtown Annapolis burned to the ground - an event that was followed by years of controversy about the rebirth of the area's pricey real estate and the eventual sale of the property.

Today, however, construction is finally under way. As mandates from the U.S. National Park Service and the city's Historic District Commission (HDC) dictate, what is now known as 7 State Circle will have an old yet modern look, complete with offices, ground-floor retail condominiums and a parking garage that evokes images of a James Bond movie rather than harkening back to the days of colonial patriot Jonas Green.

The 14,276-square-foot, four-story office and retail condo will front State Circle and Main Street, and will be divided into four office units - priced at $1.6 million for a suite, $3.6 million for a floor - and three retail units.

Activity Brisk

Early activity on the building, which is owned by Siena Corp. and has scenic views of the state capital and retail district, has been strong for office and retail space, said Dennis C. Murphy of Murphy Hogan Commercial Real Estate Services in Annapolis, which is marketing the building. Murphy said two units are under contract, one to a high-end jewelry store that is already located in the Annapolis area.

The building was designed by Bohl Architects of Annapolis, with Washington, D.C.-based contractor McCullough Construction expected to have the structure ready for occupancy by next spring.

Charles H. Chip Bohl, owner and architect, said that the challenge with any such project in the historic district is to design a building that is compatible with its nature and character while not being an imitation of a historical style. Therein lies the complexity.

Bohl cited Disneyland as an example of pretend buildings from a particular time. That's fine for what it is, but it's not what we want to do here.

He also said the time gap between the fire and the first dig has hurt the downtown tourist area, adding that, We need more and better retail on Main Street. A concentration is what is needed.

The parking garage is the brainchild of New York City-based Parkmatic. Employing a card-swipe system, it will shift cars from a platform elevator on State Circle to six open spaces on any one of three levels. Such a feature is a great benefit to downtown, said Michael F. Miron, economic development director for the city of Annapolis.

We're out of land and this is an infill project, Miron said. In the historic district, on-site parking does not have to be provided for buildings of less than 20,000 square feet, so we like this concept.

Miron said that such accommodations have been in use for 50 years in other parts of the country and the world and that the Maryland Downtown Development Association will feature this project as part of a workshop later this year.

Back to the Future

There was more than a touch of irony in the groundbreaking for the new building, as it came about six months after a recent fire at 122 Main Street, the former home of Zachary's Jewelers.

Stephen Samaris owns Zachary's - which has temporarily moved to the corner of Main Street and Market Space - and is now a board member of the Annapolis Business Association, an organization that named him president just two weeks before the 1997 blaze.

The wheels of progress are pretty slow when fingers are being pointed as to what was whose fault, Samaris said of working with insurers. He also explained that the architect, building owner and HDC all have considerable work to do before the permit-and-approval process can allow construction to begin, and that can be slowed for myriad reasons.

To have thought that [the Zachary's building] would have been completed by Memorial Day, as other people said, was expecting too much. I have always believed that two years would be a reasonable time frame, he said. But today, we're glad to fill that hole up the street.