Letter: Cambridge Waterfront Development shares update

As Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc. (CWDI) advances its mission to develop Cambridge Harbor, we plan to keep the public informed on our progress and what you can look forward to in the coming months/year. To assist with that, each month I’ll be putting out a letter to the community relaying what the board has been working on. As with any large-scale development project, it may seem that things are moving slowly but rest assured, much is happening! I will share what details I can along the way.

First, I would like to introduce our new slate of Officers, elected at our January 2024 Annual Organizing Meeting:

• Angie Hengst - President
• Shay Lewis-Sisco - Vice President
• Frank Narr - Secretary/Treasurer

The remaining seats on our board are filled by Dion Banks, Rich Zeidman and Mike Frenz. Matt Leonard serves as our Executive Director. We do have one vacant seat waiting to be filled by a County Council appointment.

Board members also serve on our various committees, implemented to advance and drive different aspects of the project. They include:

Planning - currently working with our design partners on plans for the public infrastructure and parks, including most recently the public promenade and East Gateway along Rt 50.

Finance - tasked with maintaining the budget, tracking and reporting, risk management and insurance.

Communication and Outreach - focus on messaging to the community, social media and the website

Government Relations - we have recently brought on Owen McEvoy, former deputy secretary of Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development, to help us better partner with our city, county and state partners.

Hotel Development - currently negotiating a $30,000,000 deal with a boutique hotel developer. This committee ensures that the hotel developer’s concept and design align with the overall plans for Cambridge Harbor, and CWDI’s community-first approach to its development.

We hope to finalize our hotel deal and announce it to the public in the coming months. We plan to break ground on a portion of the new Waterfront Promenade this year.

The 3.5-acre Waterfront Park, east of the boat ramp and bordered by the current boardwalk and the new road, Watermen Way, is available for public use. We welcome organizations that would like to have an event here to please reach out to us.

In addition, this past year we purchased the Richardson Maritime Museum (RMM) property and are working with them to help expand and advance their mission of preserving Cambridge’s maritime heritage and history.

We have also been working with Yacht Maintenance to facilitate their $25,000,000 expansion including the construction of a one-of-a kind travel lift that will significantly increase their capabilities.

Our Board Meeting calendar has been set for 2024 and all of our meetings have an Open Session that the public is welcome to attend. All meetings occur on Wednesday afternoons beginning at 4 p.m. in the Chamber of Commerce Conference Room (306 High Street) as follows:

• March 20
• May 22
• July 31
• Sept. 25
• Nov. 20

I’m looking forward to an exciting year for CWDI. If you have any questions or concerns as we move through the various phases of development, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself (Angie.hengst@cwdimd.org), Matt (matt.leonard@cwdimd.org), or any of the board members.

We will be happy to chat with you.

Angie Hengst

President, CWDI