Coming Down to the (1st) Wire
The Date: January 24, 2012. The Time: 12:00 Noon. The Place: The sidewalk in front of the Parkway Theatre, #3 West North Avenue, Baltimore. The Event: "Pre-bid Conference" for the RFP (Request for Proposals) issued by the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC), issued on Dec. 1st, 2011. Although three buildings are included in this RFP (the theatre, #1820 N. Charles Street, and #1 W. North Avenue), oddly, BDC has announced that the public will be allowed to tour ONLY the theatre building itself, which presents a severe (and unnecessary in our view) limitation to potential developers and other interested parties who need to know the particulars of these other buildings in order to develop an intellegent, realistic response to the RFP. The RFP DOES offer a future "Right-of-Entry" to the buildings (upon payment of an uspecified fee to BDC), but ONLY to the one Developer selected AFTER all proposals have been submitted. Since this will be well after the Feb. 1st deadline for the submission of questions about the properties to BDC, the ability of ANYONE to submit a realistic response to the RFP by the March 31st submission deadline seems problematic. Anyone considering making the "trek" is advised to dress warmly, wear boots, bring a hard hat, gloves, flash light (VERY important!), face mask (there is asbestos in the building), your sense of adventure and be prepared to sign a liability waiver. Repelling gear is probably unnecessary. I have seen no prohibition against cameras or recording devices. You must arrive no later than 12:15 PM.
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