The site, located at 300 East Pratt St, is now a parking lot. The buyers plan to develop a $250-million, 52-story, mixed-use project that will include 300 condos, a 250-key, five-star hotel and 40,000 sf of restaurants and shops. The condominiums and the hotel will share the same amenities, including a concierge desk and a swimming pool.

There have been a number of proposals floated over the years for this plot; none have materialized. Indeed, this particular deal came together at the last minute through a series of events. Originally, Schulweis did not have the property listed for sale. Senior investment associate at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co. in Washington, DC Stacey Milam, though, did have a buyer interested in developing a presence in the Baltimore market. Milam thought the plot would fit its needs and cold- called Schulweis Realty to see if it would be interested.

At that point, he tells GlobeSt.com, Tom Brody, managing director of Schulweis offered to pay Milam's commission if he would represent Schulweis and determined a market value for the property. "He wasn't sure what it was worth," Milam says. Close to the end of the study period, though, the buyer backed out of the transaction. At that point, Schulweis, which was in the process of selling its Town and Country REIT, decided to pull the property off the market. Milam, though, asked for 48 hours to locate another buyer. Milam, along with investment specialists Payton Banks and Eugene Amegashitsi, brought Doracon and UrbanAmerica to the table with a non-contingent contract, closing the transaction in three months. Despite the last minute scramble, Milam says, "it turned into a perfect and uneventful deal."