Three years after buying a condemned rowhouse on Monroe Street in West Baltimore, developer Devante Teel says he still has not been able to pull a permit to turn the property into a restaurant and lounge. He estimates he has already sunk roughly $100,000 into the project, yet the house is still officially condemned, sitting as a vacant and deteriorating shell on the block instead of the nightlife spot he planned.
Teel bought the building in 2023 for about $32,500. He says zoning and intake delays dragged on so long that he had to renew approvals two years later, restarting the clock instead of moving ahead with construction. According to Teel, the city issued a 2024 violation ordering him to secure openings and clear trash. He says he complied, but still never received an occupancy permit. As reported by Fox Baltimore, Teel puts his total costs so far at roughly $100,000.
Bmore F.A.S.T. and the permit czar
Inside City Hall, the response to stories like Teel’s is Mayor Brandon Scott’s Bmore F.A.S.T. initiative, which lays out more than 30 recommendations, from an e-permits rollout to PermitStat performance meetings, and creates a central Director of Permitting and Development Services to coordinate approvals and clear bottlenecks. The initiative is tied to a $3 billion, 15-year strategy to rehabilitate tens of thousands of vacant properties, and it treats permit reform as a prerequisite to getting construction dollars into neighborhoods instead of being stuck in processing queues.
As outlined on the city’s Bmore F.A.S.T. page, the plan aims to modernize technology, publish standard review times, and expand customer access so that projects move faster and with fewer surprises for builders and homeowners. City of Baltimore
City data, council skepticism
The administration says its internal numbers show real progress. At a recent City Council hearing, permit leaders reported sharp drops in intake backlogs and a quicker residential turnaround, with median issuance times for home projects falling significantly. On paper, they say, the system is moving more smoothly…