Back in April 2021, Gov. Larry Hogan announced plans to move state agencies from State Center, the office complex on Preston Street in midtown, to downtown Baltimore as part of an effort to revitalize the city’s central business district. The state Board of Public Works took another step in that direction on Wednesday, approving a 10-year lease for the State Department of Assessment and Taxation to move into new quarters at the Inner Harbor.

Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, who chaired the meeting, said anyone who has been to the department’s current quarters on the seventh floor of one of the State Center buildings knows “it's not necessarily a nice retail operation or a location.” But the new space at 115 Market Place, will provide state employees “a modern and vibrant work space.”

As workers return to the office whether full-time or on hybrid work schedules, it’s a nice perk, he said.

“For our state employees, there'll be a number of interior as well as exterior amenities including the cafes, fitness center, shopping and restaurants that are right there downtown,” Rutherford said.

In addition, an influx of state employees in an area hurt by the pandemic will “provide investment and spur additional economic and civic revitalization and transformative transformation in downtown Baltimore,” he said.

Eventually, more than 3,000 state employees who work for a dozen agencies inside the Preston Street complex will be moved downtown. The state plans to turn the midtown complex over to Baltimore City “so its citizens and elected representatives can determine the best use of the site,” Rutherford said.

The Assessments and Taxation department will be the second state agency to move downtown. In May, the Board of Public works approved a 10-year lease for space at 25 S Charles Street.

Editors Note: This story has been updated.