Belmont Update: No Change, No Purchase

It’s been eight months since was officially closed for business, and since making a $2.4 million offer on the property in June, Howard County government has yet to purchase the historic Elkridge estate.

Howard Community College, which owns the 82-acre property, declared it out of business as of January 1.

Since the county provided a $2.2 million loan for HCC to make the purchase in 2004, it had the right of first refusal. In June, it was exercising its right to first refusal and was conducting due diligence on the 18th century estate, which includes a manor house, barn, carriage house and sprawling acreage that abuts Patapsco State Park.

Considering the loan and earlier renovations paid by the county, the county's current outlay for the estate will cost $89,000, deducted from the land acquisition fund, said Kevin Enright, spokesman for Howard County.

“We are still conducting due diligence,” said Ian Kennedy, chief of staff for Howard County government. “We want to be sure the programming and operations would be viable and sustainable if we moved forward with a purchase."

Maintaining the estate costs approximately $300,000 a year, according to John Byrd, director of recreation and parks for Howard County.

At a meeting of the Greater Elkridge Community Association that should it choose to purchase Belmont, Howard County might call on a third-party organization to assist with operations and programming.

So far, the county has not put out any requests for proposals (RFP).

“The county has not purchased Belmont, and issuing an RFP for management would be wholly premature,” said Kennedy.