CASCADE — Work on a supplemental environmental impact statement about the proposed development of the former Fort RitchieU.S. Armybase has not begun because the Army hasn’t designated money for the study, Army environmental attorney David Howlett said last week.
The earliest the environmental study would start would be this summer, but that depends on when the Central Army Headquarters designates money for the study, Howlett said.
Development of the property, which is owned by Columbia, Md.-based Corporate Office Properties Trust, or COPT, has been stalled as officials await the results of the environmental review, said Bill Hofmann, COPT’s senior property and environmental services manager for the former Fort Ritchie property.
The base, near Cascade, was closed in 1998 and was later transferred to COPT, which planned a development including 1.7 million square feet of office space, and 673 homes and apartments.
Hofmann said that development is still COPT’s long-term plan, even though the company reduced the value of the land to zero a year ago due to the inability to recover its $28 million investment in the property. The company hasn’t been able to recover its investment because of economic times and a lawsuit regarding the property, Hofmann said.
