Just four days after a bidder pulled out of a deal to run the Market House, Mayor Ellen O. Moyer yesterday ordered staff members to put management of City Dock landmark back up for bid.

"We don't want this to be sitting forever," said Ms. Moyer, who told the city's Department of Central Services to put the half-finished building up for bid by the end of the week. "It's already been sitting for a year."

City officials said they hope the fast-tracked search for a new company to manage the property will be completed by mid-November, enough time to have the building open in May.

Bids will be due by Oct. 6, city procurement officials said. The request for management companies will be advertised beginning tomorrow in area newspapers and on the city Web site.

City officials also are considering requiring new bidders to submit a security deposit bond with their proposals, something the city did not do when gourmet grocer Dean & DeLuca and another competitor bid on the Market House last fall.

"We're talking about that," said Brian Snyder, city procurement officer. "Normally, it wouldn't be an issue."

Dean & DeLuca, which was heavily favored by the city administration, withdrew from the deal last month without giving a reason. They sold their share of the lease to local company Annapolis Seafood, who on Friday withdrew their own offer, citing fighting between the Mayor and City Council.

The loss of Dean & DeLuca set off a storm of criticism of Ms. Moyer, whose administration had handled most of the closed-door negotiations with the company last fall. In turn, she has blasted City Council members for "personal attacks and hostility" that led the local company to withdraw.

Ms. Moyer did not consult with the City Council before she issued yesterday's order to put the Market House up for bid again.

"Why would I?" she said. "They've already made a number of their comments, in private and in public."

Under the city charter, the administration handles solicitation for contracts on everything from road construction to phone service.

But critics said it would have been a good idea for Ms. Moyer to seek council input anyway before charging ahead.

"Given the difficult history of the Market House lease, I should think it would have been prudent for the Mayor to meet with the Council to resolve these outstanding issues before issuing another (request for proposals)," Alderwoman Sheila Tolliver wrote in an e-mail to city officials this morning.

Ms. Tolliver and others say the city code may prohibit the town from selling management of the public market to a private company. Mrs. Tolliver also asked whether the city had dissolved its lease with Annapolis Seafood, or if it needed to offer the lease first to Site Realty Group, the company that was rejected when the city chose Dean & DeLuca last September.

Alderman George O. Kelley Sr., one of the leading critics who is running against Ms. Moyer in the Nov. 8 mayor's race, called the rebidding "the right thing" to do.

"As long as the city is open and honest about the process," he said.

Mr. Kelley said he did not know about Ms. Moyer's actions until late last night.

"She hasn't consulted us in the past, why should it be any different now?" he said. "That's how she operates. What's important now is doing what's best for the city."

The new selection process will likely follow the same method that the city used last fall: A committee of department heads will review the proposals submitted by Oct. 6 and will make a recommendation to the City Council on which offer to accept, Mr. Snyder said.

If the process succeeds, aldermen will vote on the next vendor by mid-November, and then city attorneys will negotiate a new lease with the new management company.

In an attempt to speed up the negotiations, city officials are including a copy of the original lease with Dean & DeLuca for prospective tenants to review and have ready.

That lease gives the new management company of the Market House a 20-year term to run the market next to Ego Alley. If they follow the old lease, the new management company would pay the city between $100,000 to $300,000 a year in rent.

City officials are also asking prospective tenants to shoot for a spring opening date. "We're hoping to head questions (about the lease) off at the pass," Mr. Snyder said. "And we're putting a timeline in the bid."

Still, it's unclear whether city officials will be able to attract anyone interested in running the Market House on such short notice. Ms. Moyer and others have wondered whether any businessman would want to deal with the city following years of arguments about the 5,000-square-foot building.

"Hopefully people will still be interested," Ms. Moyer said. "(If not), it'll just sit there as it is."

Officials for Site Realty, which runs the Eastern Market in Washington, D.C., have said they are still interested in the project. Ms. Moyer said she would also hope that Annapolis Seafood will respond to the latest bid, though officials for the local company have not said whether they would make their own offer.

- No Jumps-

Published August 30, 2005, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2005 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.