A Tuesday Sykesville Board of Zoning Appeals decision on the historic Warfield property’s redevelopment is setting the project back
again after years of delays.
Though the town approved plans in April 2025 to change a building’s use from an extended-stay hotel to an assisted-living facility, the Tuesday decision requires more planning and approvals from developers to move forward.
“Any delay impacts costs,” Steven McCleaf, senior vice president of Warfield Companies, said in an interview Thursday. “There seems to be a roadblock at every turn.”
The cost and time impact of the decision is unpredictable. After already experiencing over five years of delays, McCleaf said, developers hope to discuss with town staff how they can move forward in the approval process.
“If we had a good relationship with the town and weren’t in litigation,” McCleaf said, “this project would take off like a rocket ship.”
An ongoing conflict
The board ruled Tuesday to uphold an August administrative decision by Town Manager Joe Cosentini requiring developers to resubmit previously approved plans for the overall development after altering a building’s planned use to an assisted-living facility.
Developers may submit plans for the overall project and the individual property concurrently, Cosentini said, but any changes to the broader plan could require site-specific resubmission.
“An appeal remains very much on the table,” McCleaf said, but developers cannot come to any serious conclusions until the town’s written determination is complete.
The ruling marks the latest turn in a yearslong dispute between the town and the project’s developers over how the historic Warfield property should be redeveloped — including a Feb. 11 town decision denying a request to scale back commercial and employment requirements.
Warfield at Historic Sykesville, a roughly 90-acre campus along Route 32, was formerly part of the state-run Springfield Hospital Center. It was transferred from the state to the town in 2002 and sold for $8.2 million to Warfield Companies in 2018 under an agreement that the developer would restore several historic buildings on the site.
Developers completed 145 town homes in 2023, but the town sued Warfield Historic Properties later that year for $1.2 million and the return of 12 historic buildings, citing “little progress” on restoration. Warfield Companies countersued in August.
After the town moved to foreclose on the property in March 2024, developer entities filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Warfield Companies later filed a $20 million adversary proceeding against the town, alleging the town’s actions prevented the project from moving forward and reduced its economic value. The town launched a counterclaim shortly after. Both lawsuits are ongoing, McCleaf said.
The zoning board’s decision
Early concept plans approved in 2016 showed a building on the Warfield property as a hotel. When developer Thrive at Warfield received a conditional use permit in April 2025 to convert it into an assisted-living facility, Cosentini said the change in use required updated plans under the town’s code.
“The code does not invite judgment calls about whether differences are minor, inconsequential or refinements,” Cosentini told the board during a Feb. 4 hearing.
Thrive at Warfield appealed, arguing the determination was “arbitrary and capricious, unreasonable and legally erroneous.”
Restarting the process would leave developers “stuck in a circle” of continuously updating plans as additional details emerge, said Sean Davis, a principal with engineering firm Morris & Ritchie Associates, during a Feb. 4 hearing.
Davis cited a similar approval process in 2019 where developers were not required to amend approved site plans.
The board disagreed, saying Cosentini’s decision was consistent with town code and was not arbitrary or unreasonable.
The board said a detailed written opinion will be issued in the coming weeks. The 30-day appeal period will begin once the written decision is filed.