After Baltimore officials called off a long-delayed deal earlier this month to revitalize Poppleton, the developer leading the effort has fired back, accusing the city of breaching its agreement.

The head of New York-based La Cité Development said the company has put the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development “on notice” that it has breached an agreement to redevelop the Southwest Baltimore neighborhood.

“Regrettably, the city has been in material breach of our agreement for ten full months by failing to provide the financing support it agreed to seek in good faith for the next phases in the project,” Dan Bythewood, La Cité president, said in an email to The Baltimore Sun.

Bythewood said the city has breached “numerous” other obligations under the agreement, though he did not elaborate. Development has stalled, forcing the firm to declare an “event of force majeure,” he said. That typically refers to events beyond someone’s control that can excuse a contractual obligation.

Earlier this month, after nearly two decades of delays, the city had terminated its 18-year-old redevelopment deal with Poppleton Development LLC. The developer, which completed just one apartment complex out of an array of proposed mixed-use buildings across nearly 33 acres, has defaulted on its 2006 land disposition and development agreement, the city said.

The city’s housing department had declined to extend a missed deadline, which put the developer in default, Baltimore Housing Commissioner Alice Kennedy had said.

A spokeswoman for the city housing department, Tammy D. Hawley, referred questions Friday to the city’s Law Department. Ebony Thompson, city solicitor, declined to comment on a pending matter.

Bythewood contends the city is obligated to move forward with additional tax increment financing, which it said would allow La Cité to finalize its financing and break ground on 165 new apartment units at 999 W. Saratoga, a project that has received approval from the city’s Urban Design and Architecture Advisory Panel and is close to completing its design phase.

The City Council in 2015 approved a $58.3 million tax increment financing plan for Poppleton, in which bonds for the infrastructure would be repaid using new tax revenue generated by the project.

In 2017, the city issued $12 million worth of bonds to cover since-completed public improvements for a 262-unit apartment complex that opened in 2019. As of a June 30, 2023 city TIF districts report, plans were underway to issue bonds to complete the remainder of the first development phase, though the amount to be issued was undetermined.

Earlier this month, the city called off the agreement with La Cité, with Kennedy saying Poppleton had seen signs of progress, but “the area’s revitalization has mostly been met with delays and shortcomings that we can no longer endure.”

The city turned down La Cité’s request to extend a deadline to show evidence of financing for a planned senior apartment building because it would lead to more delays and not be in the community’s or city’s best interest, Kennedy said.

Initially, La Cité had planned to attract young, white-collar workers to its “CenterWest” project, with a proposed mix of office space, hotels, retail and at least 1,700 housing units, both rentals and owned, including 321 row houses.

The city, meanwhile, has acquired more than 500 properties for the project in one of the city’s oldest Black neighborhoods, spending at least $15 million to relocate Poppleton residents, buy their homes and businesses and demolish structures.

But La Cité still has not completed the redevelopment’s first phase. The city tried to cancel the deal in 2012 after six years passed with nothing built, but La Cité sued in federal court and won.

This year, in May, La Cité requested what Kennedy had described as an open-ended extension to show financing for a senior building long planned for 231 N. Schroeder Street, although the agreement provides for an extension of no more than 60 days.

La Cité said it has invested $102 million in the completed a 262-unit apartment complex, which includes 20% of affordable units.

It touts those apartments as contributing to a 40% drop in crime rates and a jump in land and surrounding home values.

Future phases include plans for NVR Ryan Homes to build 193 for-sale townhouses and condo units on seven acres.

La Cité said nearly 80% of the land has been either completed, committed or sold.

“It saddens us that the city’s recent maneuver, trying improperly to terminate future phases of the work, would rob more people of Baltimore of the opportunities that residents of [the completed phase] are already enjoying,” Bythewood said in the email.