ECO HOME - SOLD 

SHORT HISTORY

• 1995 - The building was seized in a criminal conspiracy case and handed over to the ECO for use as a community center.

  
  
  

• 2006 - Community groups met at the building to form the West Baltimore Coalition and advocate for transit-oriented development of the West Baltimore MARC Station area. The coalition that met there formed the West Baltimore MARC Transit-Oriented Development Transportation, Inc, and also helped write the West Baltimore MARC Station Area Master Plan (2008), as well as the Baltimore Red Line West Baltimore MARC Vision Plan (2012).

  
  
  

• 2018 -  With little, if any, consultation with the ECO or other community groups, the property was sold at the annual Baltimore City tax auction for just $2,543 in back taxes owed. The new tax lien holder obtained the building for a high bid of just $5,115. The rules of the tax sale are such that the current lien holder may never have to pay the balance owed of that bid, nor any of the fines, water bills, and taxes that have accumulated since that 2018 tax sale. And after years of letting the property sit vacant, dragging down the the neighborhood and the city, the property owner is free to walk away with nothing more owed. (But that’s not what’s happening in this case.)

  
  
  

• 2018 - 2022 - The building remains in the ECO name on the deed (through the rules of the tax sale system), and all fines, taxes and other expenses accrue not to the person who controls the property (the tax sale certificate holder), but to the ECO as the “owner” (in name only) on the recorded deed.

  
  
  

• 2022 - New leadership takes over the ECO, revives its charter and reinvigorates its work. The new leadership seeks to regain financial control of the organization’s long-time home. They contact the lien holder and are told the sale price for the organization is $80,000.

  Also being investigated at that time by the ECO leadership is a billboard on the roof of the property dating from at least 2007. According to a listing on an auction site, the space is leased to Clear Channel for $1000/year, but its unclear whether and/or to whom those monies have been paid.

  
  
  

• 2022 Court Action - The ECO leadership reviews the court filings pertaining to the property and determines there may be an improperly-awarded extension for a critical filing by the tax certificate holder. The ECO leadership decides to retain counsel and seek to have that extension examined by a judge in the Baltimore City Circuit Court. If that extension is ruled to be improperly granted, other required deadlines may have passed, and the hope from the ECO’s perspective, is that the judge will rule that the tax certificate has therefore been forfeited, and the property will be returned to the community. The ECO leadership is asking for a hearing as soon as possible on an emergency basis.

  
  
  

• May 17, 2022 - ECO leadership checks on fees and taxes now owed on the property after several years of control by the tax certificate holder, and finds that there are now outstanding bills on the property totaling nearly $30,000 (including water, fines and others), all of which must be paid before a deed can be written in a new owner’s name.

  
  
  

• June 1, 2022 - ECO leadership finalizes a proposal to seek a settlement with the tax certificate holder and rehabilitate the building as a fully-rehabilitated, and completely-reimagined neighborhood-anchoring community center. The restoration would take place using available state and federal funds. Proposal receives strong reviews from key state entities, but the certificate holder is unwilling to wait, and declares their intention to put the property in an auction.

• June 10th, 2022 - An open auction was conducted by Ashland Auctions at the direction of the tax certificate holder. The ECO immediately contacts all city and state representatives to seek assistance in retaining the property under the ECO’s ownership - to no avail. The final bid was for $139,500.