A $20M apartment building one block from Penn Station is expected to break ground this summer and open its doors fall 2017, developer Ernst Valery says.

The eight-story Nelson Kohl Apartments in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District will contain 103 mostly market-rate units, with studio, one- and two-bedroom units. SA+A Development, Ernst's firm, will also offer some reduced-rate apartments for artists.

The company will also commission artists to outfit its eight lobbies with paintings, sculptures and other visual displays.

“Since it's the arts and entertainment district," Ernst says, "we wanted to engage artists and help get them into the building before opening it up. We want artists to develop the lobbies instead of having a cookie-cutter look."

He’s pictured here in his office inside the Chesapeake building, which he and partner Michael Shecter redeveloped in 2013.

SA+A has hired Kinsley Construction as the general contractor and LSC Design as the architect of the project at 20 E Lanvale St, now an empty parking lot (pictured) behind the Chesapeake.

The ground floor will house a yoga studio and a Milk & Honey café and market, the second one that Ernst and wife Dana Valery operate. Baltimore City's Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel signed off on the project in October. A green roof with vegetation will top off the building.