A rendering of the planned development. (City documents)
Years after picking up a piece of Hull Street in Manchester, a Maryland developer is looking to go a bit bigger than initially planned.
Haris Design & Construction Co. recently filed plans for a six-story, 108-apartment mixed-use building at 1114 Hull St.
The new plans mark a slight upsizing of Haris’ previous plans, which date back to 2020 when it bought the half-acre site for over $1 million.
Shortly after closing on the land, Haris filed plans for a five-story, 88-unit building and had its plan of development approved and building permits pulled, but work never got underway. The lot is currently mostly vacant, with only a decades-old garage standing on it.
Haris owner Shakil Siddiqui said it now makes more economic sense to add the extra floor and 20 additional apartments.
“Because the cost of construction these days has gone up so high, the numbers don’t make sense if you don’t have a certain number of apartments,” Siddiqui said.
The redesigned building would also include around 2,300 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, and Siddiqui said the firm is in discussions with national food-and-beverage brands about leasing the space.
An 84-year-old garage is all that’s currently on the site. (BizSense file photo)
Other planned amenities include a roughly 100-spot parking deck, gym, pool and community room.
Haris now needs a special-use permit to entitle the project, due to the extra floor. Architecture firm SMBW is the project designer and SUP consultant, SilverCore is the engineer, and Nyfeler Associates is the surveyor.
Siddiqui said he’s hoping to begin construction in the third quarter of 2025.
Haris also owns 1228 Hull St., the site a block down where the Lighthouse Diner once stood.
Siddiqui bought that parcel from an entity tied to Michael Hild at a 2019 auction with plans to build another apartment building, but the site has sat dormant since the diner building was razed. Siddiqui said he’s waiting for interest rates to fall before beginning work there.
Other nearby Hild-tied properties on Hull Street, including the former Dogtown Brewing Co. space, recently became available for lease after sitting unused for years.