MCB Real Estate is in the process of buying the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

Buying the 488-room hotel would add to the Baltimore developer’s portfolio downtown, where the firm already owns or controls multiple properties clustered around the intersection of Pratt and Light streets, including Harborplace. MCB has said it wants to tear down the retail pavilions at the famed waterfront tourism destination and rebuild it to include residential and commercial space.

Spokespeople for MCB and Hyatt declined to confirm a pending purchase of the Hyatt. The Banner’s sources weren’t authorized to talk about the deal.

Acquiring a downtown hotel would mark a new direction for MCB. On its website, the firm advertises dozens of properties and development projects across the country, including apartment complexes, office buildings, shopping centers and warehouses — but no hotels.

The Hyatt Regency was Baltimore’s original Convention Center hotel. It was pitched as a game-changing investment for Baltimore’s tourism industry. The city went all-in to lure Hyatt in 1979, according to previous reporting by The Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore offered up a piece of city-owned land, located at 300 S. Light St., and financial support. The city steered $10 million in federal urban development funds — money intended to help low- and middle-income neighborhoods — to construct the Hyatt.

In return for building and operating the hotel, Hyatt got a lease lasting more than four decades. In 2016, the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development extended the deal through 2035.

MCB, led by West Baltimore native P. David Bramble, wants to raze Harborplace, replace the retail pavilions with five large buildings and rebuild the surrounding streetscape and waterfront promenade. The estimated cost in 2023 was $900 million, of which $400 million was expected to come from taxpayers.

State and local politicians largely cheered the plans, though some residents have criticized the speed of the deal, failure to come up with other ideas and lack of public input.

But in November, about 60% of voters approved a ballot question that paved the way forward for MCB‘s vision. The question now is who will finance the reimagining of the Inner Harbor?

One source of money could be a new government body with sweeping powers over downtown Baltimore and the ability borrow funds and levy taxes to repay the debt.

Earlier this year, the mayor’s office pushed state legislation that would have created a new independent authority to run the Convention Center. That authority would also have had the ability to borrow money for the redevelopment of nearby properties, including at the Inner Harbor.

Instead, the bill was amended to study the issue further. Lawmakers are expected to reconsider the authority idea next year. In committee hearings, they generally agreed that something had to be done to buoy the city’s struggling Convention Center, a recurring conundrum for Baltimore.

Along with Harborplace, MCB owns the office building at 1 E. Pratt Street and a parking garage on Lexington Street. The firm also controls a parking lot at 300 E. Pratt Street, where it previously planned to build a mixed-use tower.

“MCB remains committed to the reimagining of Downtown Baltimore and putting Baltimore on a trajectory for growth for decades to come,” Alexanda Hughes, a spokesperson for MCB, said in a statement. “At this time, we do not have any news to share regarding Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor.”

The city also isn’t saying anything about a potential sale of the Hyatt.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Housing and Community Development, Tammy Hawley, referred comment to the Baltimore Development Corp., the city’s economic development arm. In a statement, BDC Executive Vice President Kimberly Clark referred comment to Hyatt.

A Hyatt spokesperson said in a statement that the company doesn’t comment on potential transactions.