Daily Record

A community group has raised concerns about the possibility of a 7-Eleven convenience store that may open on the ground floor of a condo building across the street from Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore’s iconic plaza centered around a 178-foot monument to George Washington.

In order to defend the historical character of the plaza, the group said, it is reaching out to local institutions — the Walters Art Museum and the Peabody Institute — in an effort to raise enough money to purchase the building by the end of this week.

“A 24-hour use next to one of the greatest architectural treasures is simply not appropriate right there,” said R. Paul Warren, vice president of the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association. “Unfortunately, it’s completely legal.”

Gregory N. Friedman, a principal with AGM Commercial Real Estate, bought the property, which is at 529 N. Charles St., in March for $310,000, and plans to lease the space to a convenience store operator. Warren of the MV-BA said that operator is 7-Eleven, and that Friedman has said he could enter a lease agreement by the end of the week.

“We have no problem with 7-Eleven, no issue there, we just object to the location,” Warren said. “[Friedman] has a golden goose by the tail. It’s just money.”

Warren said a 7-Eleven would encourage loitering and clash with the historic character of the area. The monument and the squares that fan out around it comprise a U.S. National Historic Landmark District — one of only four in Maryland — and include historic beaux-arts mansions and the site where National Anthem author Francis Scott Key died.

Instead, the group wants to put a Mount Vernon visitors’ center on the site, which commands a picture-window view of the monument and would be located along the route of a free downtown bus that is expected to begin operation next summer, shuttling tourists north from the Inner Harbor.

Warren and his group have been frantically trying to raise money to make an offer on the 2,000-square-foot property, which has in the past housed restaurants including the Buttery and the Monument Cafe, and which is topped with 14 condo units. Friedman has said although he does not plan to sell the property, he will entertain an offer.