A $26.8 million plan to build a six-story, 97-unit apartment project on downtown Baltimore’s west side is moving to the construction phase, after Baltimore’s spending board approved a construction loan for the development.Mayfair Place is the name of the project, which will incorporate the reconstructed front façade of the historic Mayfair Theatre. Zahlco Development and Northern Virginia Real Estate Urban Ventures are the developers.At its meeting on Wednesday, Baltimore’s Board of Estimates approved without discussion a request from the city’s housing department to make an Inclusionary Housing Loan of up to $960,000 to 300-304 W. Franklin LLC, which is controlled by Zahlco Mayfair LLC, an affiliate of Zahlco Development.The $960,000 city loan is the final piece of a complicated funding package needed for construction to begin.The construction site, at the northwest corner of Franklin and Howard streets, is the footprint of the former Mayfair Theatre at 506 N. Howard Street and the former Franklin-Delphy hotel at 300-304 West Franklin Street, now a corner lot. When complete, Mayfair Place will have 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space with apartments above. Project amenities will include a fitness center; club room’ lobby/sitting area; outdoor deck and lounge; bike storage room and theater room.Zahlco Construction and Design is the general contractor and Moseley Architects is the architect.  Yonah Zahler, president and CEO of Zahlco, the parent of Zahlco Development and Zahlco Construction and Design, is the principal of 300-304 W. Franklin LLC and Zahlco Mayfair LLC. Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures is a minority- and women-owned business headed by Dr. Gina Merrill.According to a project summary prepared for the Board of Estimates by the housing department, the city loan will be used to support “hard construction costs” associated with eight “Inclusionary Units” that will be leased to households earning 60 percent of the area’s median income. In all, 49 of the 97 apartments, including the inclusionary units supported by the city loan, will be income-restricted, and the other 48 will be rented as market-rate apartments.Total project development costs are estimated to be $26,779,456, of which $21.5 million covers hard construction and contingency costs; $1,972,677 covers soft costs; $950,000 covers a developer’s fee, and $1,777,016 covers financing costs.The funding package includes a combination of grants and loans. Other funding sources listed by the housing department include $12 million from Eastern Savings Bank; $5 million from a source called “Black Economic Development”; $750,000 from the State of Maryland’s Project CORE program; $6,455,565 from Msquared, the equity source, and $1,613,891 from Zahlco.Last August, Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) approved a request from the development team to “deconstruct” the theatre’s front façade, which dates from 1903, and reconstruct it as part of the development. The commissioners were told the development team members initially wanted to keep the façade in place and build around it but the Maryland Transit Administration didn’t approve of their plan to brace and stabilize the façade while construction was underway on the rest of the building.The state officials, CHAP was told, feared that the proposed bracing would be too close to the state’s light rail line along Howard Street and that pieces of the facade could fall onto the tracks. CHAP had previously approved a plan that called for the façade to be salvaged and incorporated into an otherwise new structure and accepted the alternate proposal to deconstruct and reconstruct the façade.According to the housing department, Mayfair Place has received its building permits. Construction is expected to last 20 months, putting completion in the fall of 2026 if it begins in the first quarter of 2025. Leasing is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2026 and last for 10 months.The Baltimore Development Corp., acting on behalf of the city, selected Zahlco to be the developer of the Mayfair Theatre parcel in 2018. Zahlco’s portfolio includes residential and commercial projects at 9-11 E. Mount Royal Avenue; 725 and 733 West Pratt Street; 824 N. Calvert Street; 3025-3043 N. Calvert Street; 313 S. Broadway; 301 E. 29th Street and 306 W. Franklin Street, among other locations. It is working with the University of Baltimore and Northern Virginia Real Estate Urban Ventures on plans to build a mixed-use development on a 2.35-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Maryland Avenue and Oliver Street in Midtown.