The board of the Baltimore Development Corp. recommended Thursday that the city move forward with a 15-year tax abatement for an apartment project with 246 market-rate units on Eager Street in the East Baltimore Development Inc. zone north of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The project would add more housing to the ongoing development in the area. Officials broke ground on a new hotel there in December and work on townhouses and a park also has begun.

The $51.7 million apartment project, intended to open in 2019, is meant to satisfy demand for market-rate rentals in the area, said Deborah Hunt Devan, who chairs the BDC project committee. The project includes 28 units configured as townhouses and a six-story apartment building with 218 units, a pool, a fitness center and other amenities.

The abatement, in the form of a payment in lieu of taxes for developers Pennrose and AVG Partners, is expected to amount to about $6.75 million over the 15-year period, starting with a 95 percent tax abatement for the first five years, steppingdown to 5 percent in year 15.

It is the third time the board has considered a tax abatement for the project, which also includes about 3,500 square feet of retail and about 150 on-site parking spaces. The developers requested a 25-year deal in 2014 and a 20-year deal last fall.

Devan said granting a 15-year abatement ensured the city made an adequate return on its investment, unlike requests for longer abatements.

nsherman@baltsun.com