A lender is foreclosing on a downtown apartment building owned by one Baltimore’s most prolific developers of office-to-residential conversions.

PMC Property Group has 13 apartment buildings in Baltimore, nine of which are downtown. The Philadelphia-based firm has specialized in taking old office buildings and converting them into apartment complexes.

According to a lawsuit filed in Baltimore Circuit Court this week, an LLC controlled by PMC defaulted on a $16.4 million loan used to renovate 301 N. Charles St. The 11-story art deco-style building is the former home of the Baltimore Life Insurance Company.

PMC did not respond to a request for comment.

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Property records show PMC bought the building in 2012 for $3.4 million. PMC borrowed $16.4 million in 2014 to renovate the building, records show, and that 10-year loan came due last fall. Fannie Mae owns the loan. Records show the servicer of the loan informed PMC in December that it was foreclosing on the property.

As of this month, PMC still owed about $13 million of principal on its loan, according to court records.

The downtown property’s website says one-bedroom units start at $1,195 and that the building “offers the ultimate urban living experience.” PMC’s renovation created 92 units, the Baltimore Business Journal reported in 2015.

The foreclosure comes at a tough time for downtown Baltimore, which has been struggling for years with vacant office space. This week, T. Rowe Price, an investment firm that was headquartered downtown since its founding in 1937, began moving its 2,000 employees to lavish new offices at Harbor Point.

A city deputy finance official told the City Council last year that the value of downtown properties dropped by a projected $72 million across 42 properties, denting the city’s tax revenues.

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On Thursday, elected officials and business leaders gathered in a ballroom at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel for the “State of Downtown” summit. The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore hosts the annual event, where speakers always find reasons for optimism ― even when facing a bleak reality.

The organization’s president, Shelonda Stokes, said this is “downtown’s moment,” and encouraged people not to miss the proverbial train.

“Remember that girl in school that had the pigtails and the glasses and would sit in the back unnoticed? And then one day, boom! She comes out and everybody starts to notice her at that moment. They cannot believe they overlooked her. That’s downtown Baltimore right now,” Stokes said.

City officials are fond of saying the downtown area is Baltimore’s fastest growing residential area.

Mayor Brandon Scott, talking at the event about vacant office towers, said those buildings may “never be offices again” and that conversions to residential, along with encouraging new small businesses and restaurants to open, would be key to downtown’s revitalization as a neighborhood.