A local developer has gained a city panel’s support to relinquish a $160 million tax increment financing package for a large-scale redevelopment project in Westport.
Ray Jackson, principal of Stonewall Capital, said Thursday before a city planning commission meeting that he did not want the TIF funds that were approved about 15 years ago by the City Council for infrastructure at the now-barren site off the Middle Branch. His 43-acre Westport redevelopment is moving toward breaking ground in the coming year — if he can clear other legal hurdles centering on a land squabble over a proposed high-speed maglev train route.
His stance is a stark contrast to past city TIFs granted for renewal projects of Harbor Point, East Baltimore, Clipper Mill and Center/West.
“We are not asking the city to underwrite and finance our infrastructure,” Jackson said in an email to the Baltimore Business Journal on Thursday. “We are not asking for this financing backed by the city, unlike Port Covington, Harbor East, East Baltimore Development Inc., etc., we are doing this ourselves…unheard of!!!!!!!!”
