In a 50-page memorandum filed this week in support of a preliminary injunction, seven city residents and the Inner Harbor Coalition argue that tearing down the two existing Harborplace pavilions before all funding is secured risks leaving the heart of the city as "a wasteland of half-demolished structures, abandoned pits, and indefinitely vacant and unbuilt lots."

The filing is part of a lawsuit filed in September against Mayor Brandon Scott, the City Council and MCB Real Estate, the developer behind the plan to replace the aging pavilions with high-rise luxury housing, an upscale hotel, an office building and a curving retail complex along Pratt and Light streets.

"If all funding is not fully secured in advance of demolition and redevelopment, there is a serious risk that the Inner Harbor will sit vacant for an extended period of time or indefinitely," the memorandum states.

The coalition's attorney, Michael McCann, argues that the city violated the Zoning Code, the Baltimore City Charter and a Maryland constitutional provision barring "special laws" that benefit particular private interests. The memo points to three City Council bills passed in 2024 that removed 50-foot height limits on the harbor, added housing and parking as permitted uses and gave MCB control of additional city-owned property.

"Special laws are inherently undemocratic. They discriminate against the powerless and under-represented," the memo asserts. "There is overwhelming, if not undisputed, evidence that the MCB Inner Harbor bills were intended solely to benefit MCB."

The plaintiffs include former 2nd District Councilman Anthony Ambridge, economist Anirban Basu, attorney Eleanor M. Carey, developer and former mayoral candidate David Tufaro, architect David Benn, and Barbara Valeri and Bill Pencek, who chairs the Inner Harbor Coalition.

The injunction request notes that although MCB principal P. David Bramble has said publicly he will not begin construction until all private funding is in place, the developer has already submitted multiple permit applications for site work, promenade reconstruction and building in tidal wetlands. Critics have also pointed to a proposed 95% property tax break for the project over 25 years, which could save MCB $200 million or more.

Separately, Tufaro has applied to the Maryland Historical Trust to have the 46-year-old, Rouse Company-built pavilions designated as historical landmarks, a move that could further complicate demolition plans.

MCB spokeswoman Alexandra M. Hughes dismissed the coalition's latest filing, calling the three-year-old nonprofit "unilaterally focused on obstruction."

"It seems we are perpetually in Ground Hog Day with the plaintiffs," Hughes wrote in a statement. She pointed to voters' approval in 2024 of a charter amendment, Question F, that allows multi-family housing at the harbor. The measure passed 60% to 40% after MCB spent more than $400,000 promoting it.

City Solicitor Ebony Thompson, in a motion earlier this month seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, argued that the city did not give MCB special treatment and that the plaintiffs lack standing to sue. The council bills, she wrote, "were not passed for the exclusive benefit of a particular private developer and do not require any specific development," but rather serve as "a neutral platform to spur growth and revitalization."

Mayor Scott, speaking Thursday on WBAL NewsRadio's "C4 and Bryan Nehman Show," defended the project and suggested race plays a role in the criticism.

"You cannot have a thriving downtown without a thriving Harborplace," Scott said, adding that the development would support jobs for Baltimoreans. "I don't remember a lot of folks complaining about [tax] deals when it was on the other side of the harbor. Why is it that when Dave Bramble, someone who happens to look like me and C4, now we should have a discussion about why they should be able to do it?"

The case is pending before a Baltimore Circuit Court judge, who will decide whether to grant the injunction and pause demolition while the lawsuit proceeds.