CAMBRIDGE, Md. - A battle is brewing between the City of Cambridge and the developer tasked with fixing the old Hearn Building downtown.
At the center of debate is how long it's taking to get the project done. The city manager, Tom Carroll, says he's tired of waiting and wants to sever ties with the developer. He says he's frustrated not only because he wants the support beams taken down but he wants to see progress with the building being converted into workforce housing. But the developer, Green Street Housing, says it's committed to completing the project and is unhappy with the city manager's threats.
What stands today are still the exterior support beams that spider out into the street.
Late last week, Carroll sent a letter to Green Street expressing his displeasure with the pace of the project.
Carroll says despite repeated requests, he believes work is not getting done and things are taking too long. "I've personally been writing them letters and the council has been writing them letters since September. We had meetings in October. We had meetings with state officials in November. Promises were being made that money would be available for removing the exterior support right after the first of the year and here we are coming up on Memorial Day," says Carroll.
Green Street Housing took over this project about a year ago. Green Street says, despite the city managers' displeasure, it plans to complete the project.
It goes on to say a project of this size and scope takes time.
In a statement, Green Street said "We are not the current owner or the developer that created this mess. We are the cleanup specialists called in by the state to fix the problem."
Tuesday afternoon there were more sparks between the city and the developer.
Green Street Housing sent a letter to the Mayor of Cambridge complaining about the city manager and what they call his unprofessional handling of the situation.
Green Street says it takes issue with Carroll imposing unrealistic deadlines.
In the letter, Green Street claims Carroll recently told its workers if work does not start in two weeks "Green street housing would agree to never be welcome back to Cambridge again."
However, Carroll says it's come down to a matter of trust.
He says, "They've just missed deadline after deadline and then they're also asking us to trust them on how great the redevelopment is going to be. It's hard to do that when you keep missing deadline after deadline."
In the letter, Green Street Housing reiterated that it has the state's full support for the 20-million-dollar project. Green Street also informed the mayor and council it has no plans to meet with the city manager until they address his behavior.
Along with Green Street Housing's letter to the Mayor, a schedule of the progress was added. It says between May 30 and June 13 the exterior support beams will be removed.
The City Manager's letter is attached as a picture above.
Green Street Housing's letter is attached as a PDF.