May 28, 2003                                                              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:           Karen M. Footner, 410-433-0354

                        David B. Rudow, 410-539-5195

                        Jody Landers, 410-337-7200, ext. 111

                        Morgan Amaimo, 410-453-0500

INNOVATIVE PILOT PROJECT TO USE PRIVATE

SECTOR REAL ESTATE RESOURCES TO SELL

SURPLUS CITY-OWNED PROPERTIES

SCOPE - A Public/Private Task Force is Spearheaded by the Baltimore

Efficiency & Economy Foundation and Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors

            Baltimore, MD –  Today, the Baltimore City Board of Estimates approved a unique pilot project entitled, SCOPE – Selling City-Owned Properties Efficiently.  The project is a cooperative venture of the Baltimore Efficiency & Economy Foundation (BEEF), Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors (GBBR) and the City of Baltimore.  David B. Rudow, an attorney with the law firm of Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf & Hendler LLC and BEEF Vice-President, chairs the project funded by the Goldseker Foundation.  Morgan Amaimo is the Project Coordinator.

SCOPE is a cost-effective process that uses private sector resources to sell surplus City-owned properties.  The new process will expedite the transfer of surplus properties into the hands of responsible buyers.

According to Jody Landers, President of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors, the project is built on the existing marketing infrastructure, including the Statewide Multiple Listing

Service (MRIS) and utilizes the skills and expertise of knowledgeable agents, together with mortgage lenders, title companies and other professionals.   Brokers and agents must be accepted for participation in the project.

It is anticipated that the sales will spur the revitalization of many of the City’s long-stagnant communities.  This initial list of properties is just the first step in the implementation of the City’s commitment to dispose of significant numbers of surplus properties it already owns  and to return them to productive use.

Brokers and agents selected to list the properties will conduct a comparative market analysis on each property and prepare a listing agreement to be signed by the broker/agent and Joseph A. Wesolowski, City Real Estate Officer.  Each property will be listed on the Maryland Regional Information System (MRIS), and brokers will arrange access to and showing of each property.  Contract offers will be submitted on the SCOPE Contract of Sale, and after an evaluation of the buyer and financing, all sales will be approved by the City Real Estate Office and the Board of Estimates. 

The Baltimore Efficiency & Economy Foundation in a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that supports local government efforts to manage its operations with greater productivity and economy (see www.beefbaltimore.org).   The Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors is the region’s leading association of real estate professionals.

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