I know that technically downtown, Harbor East, Harbor Point, the Westside etc. are neighborhoods, but I am hoping this thread can open discussion on the Hampdens, Pigtowns, Highlandtowns, Poppletons, and Union Square-Hollins Markets around the city.
There are so many grandiose projects taking place in the city center that some of the less spectacular, but equally important, projects around the city’s neighborhoods get little airplay in the Baltimore Development News Thread.
For those of you interested in discussing and celebrating Baltimore’s 225 neighborhoods, welcome.

Below you will find a list of acceptable topics (taken from www.livebaltimore.com, not sure if all 225 are listed or even if that is an accurate number), feel free to speak your mind.

Abell
Allendale
Arcadia
Arlington
Armistead Gardens
Ashburton
Baltimore Highlands
Barclay
Barre Circle
Beechfield
Belair-Edison
Belair-Parkside
Bellona-Gittings
Berea
Beverly Hills
Biddle Street
Blythewood
Bolton Hill
Booth-Boyd
Brewers Hill
Bridgeview/Greenlawn
Broadway East
Broening Manor
Brooklyn
Burleith-Leighton
Butchers Hill
Callaway-Garrison
Cameron Village
Canton
Carroll-South Hilton
Carrollton Ridge
Cedarcroft
Cedmont
Cedonia
Charles North
Charles Village
Cherry Hill
Cheswolde
Chinquapin Park-Belvedere
Christopher
Clifton Park
Cold Spring Newtown
Coldstream - Homestead - Montebello
Coppin Heights
Cross Country
Cross Keys
Curtis Bay
Cylburn
Darley Park
Dickeyville
Dolfield
Dorchester
Downtown
Druid Heights
Dunbar-Broadway
East Arlington
East Baltimore Midway
Easterwood
Eastwood
Edmondson Village
Ednor Gardens/Lakeside
Ellwood Park
Evergreen
Evergreen Lawn
Fairmont
Fallstaff
Federal Hill
Fell's Point
Forest Park
Four By Four
Frankford
Franklin Square
Franklintown
Franklintown Road
Garwyn Oaks
Gay Street
Glen
Glen Oaks Glenham-Belford
Govans/Mid-Govans
Graceland Park
Greektown
Greenmount West
Greenspring
Grove Park
Guilford
Gwynns Falls
Hamilton Hills
Hampden
Hanlon
Harlem Park
Harwood
Heritage Crossing
Herring Run Park
Highlandtown
Hillen
Hoes Heights
Hollins Market
Homeland
Howard Park
Hunting Ridge
Idlewood
Inner Harbor
Irvington
Johnston Square
Jonestown
Joseph Lee
Kenilworth Park
Kernewood
Keswick
Kresson
Lake Evesham
Lake Walker
Lakeland
Langston Hughes
Lauraville
Levindale
Liberty Square
Little Italy
Loch Raven
Locust Point
Loyola/Notre Dame
Lucille Park
Madison East End
Madison Park
Mayfield
McElderry Park
Medfield
Medford
Middle East
Midtown Belvedere
Midtown Edmondson
Mill Hill
Milton-Montford
Mondawmin
Montebello
Moravia-Walther
Morgan Park
Morrell Park
Mosher
Mount Clare
Mount Holly
Mount Vernon
Mount Washington
Mount Winans
New Northwood
North Harford
North Roland Park/Poplar Hill
O'Donnel Heights
Oakenshawe
Oaklee
Oldtown
Oliver
Orangeville
Original Northwood
Otterbein Overlea
Panway/Braddish Avenue
Park Circle
Park Heights
Parklane
Parkside
Parkview/Woodbrook
Patterson Park
Patterson Place
Pen Lucy
Penn-North
Penrose
Perring Loch
Poppleton
Purnell
Radnor Winston
Ramblewood
Reisterstown Station
Remington
Reservoir Hill
Richnor Springs
Ridgely's Delight
Riverside
Rognel Heights
Roland Park
Roland Springs
Rosebank
Rosemont
Rosemont East
Sabina-Mattfeldt
Saint Agnes
Saint Helena
Saint Joseph's
Saint Paul
Sandtown-Winchester
Seton Hill
Sharp-Leadenhall
Shipley Hill
South Baltimore
South Clifton Park
Stonewood-Pentwood-Winston
Taylor Heights
Ten Hills
The Orchards
Towanda-Grantley
Tremont
Tuscany-Canterbury
Union Square
Uplands
Upper Fells Point
Upton
Villages of Homeland
Violetville
Wakefield
Walbrook
Waltherson
Washington Hill
Washington Village - Pigtown
Waverly
West Arlington
West Hills
Westfield
Westgate
Westport
Wilson Heights
Wilson Park
Winchester
Windsor Hills
Winston-Govans
Woodberry
Woodbourne Heights
Woodbourne McCabe
Woodmere
Woodring
Wyman Park
Wyndhurst
Yale Heights

The East Baltimore Comprehensive Redevelopment Plan
The 215-acre area will accommodate two million square feet of research facilities, neighborhood retail, schools, recreation facilities, and a minimum of 1200 residences in both new construction and rehabilitated structures.

http://www.urbandesignassociates.com/projects/project42/masterplan/aerial.jpg
http://www.urbandesignassociates.com/projects/project42/transformation/aerial01.jpg
http://www.urbandesignassociates.com/projects/project42/transformation/persp01aft.jpg
http://www.urbandesignassociates.com/projects/project42/transformation/persp02aft.jpg

Very detailed layout of phase 1 of the East Baltimore Redevelopment
http://www.ebdi.org/images/MAPS/FCNEBPmastersite060411.jpg

Park Square Development (Poppleton Redevelopment)
Following an extensive selection process, La Cite Development has a fully negotiationed Land Disposition Agreement with the City of Baltimore. The overall project known as the Park Square Development is a large scale redevelopment of 32.94 acres of land in the Poppleton neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore.

Stats:
- 2.5 million square feet
- 1,700-1,800 housing units (including 293 rental units and 321 townhomes)
- 20 percent will be affordable housing, 80 percent will be market rate
- 100,000-200,000 square feet of commercial space
- The project will also include parking, municipal services, and green space.
- Multi-phase project
- Phase 1 will break ground in 2008
- Estimated cost of all phases is $200 million
- Expected completion in 2011

Renderings and more information can be found on www.lacitedevelopment.com. Maybe somebody who knows flash better than me can post them later on.

Athena Square - Greektown
From the Ryan Homes website: Ryan Homes is pleased to introduce brand new townhomes in Greektown, a thriving residential and business neighborhood ideally positioned close to the dining, nightlife, entertainment, shops, and culture afforded by nearby Fell’s Point, Little Italy, Inner Harbor, Broadway, and The Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Revel in the benefits of city living with a new spacious townhome including a rooftop deck that provides a stunning view of the downtown Baltimore cityscape. Interstate 95 is only two blocks away and provides easy access to Washington DC, White Marsh, and Towson. Each 20-foot wide townhome is generously appointed with today’s most desirable features, including 3 bedrooms, two and a half baths, rooftop deck, penthouse with optional wet bar, and 2,025 square feet of living space.

http://www.ryanhomes.com/imgGrab.aspx?ID=ba37b822-fc76-410a-865d-694a502ed593&Width=445&Height=275&LastUpdated=4/10/2007%201:45:22%20PM

Union Square-Hollins Market New Housing on Pratt Street
Southwest Visions is a non-profit developer working within the boundaries of the Union Square-Hollins Market Historic District to provide a mixed-income condominium community comprised of market rate condominiums and 25% affordable housing.
The project goal is to build 42-50 units using a combination of new infill housing and historic renovation. The design is to be sensitive to the current neighborhood residents and the historic context of the area. The project will incorporate sustainable design ideas, and try to be an economic generator for continued development in the neighborhood.

http://76.12.46.214/public/project_imgs/ontheboards/boards_swvisions1_lg.jpg
http://76.12.46.214/public/project_imgs/ontheboards/boards_swvisions2_lg.jpg

Park Square Development(Poppleton Redevelopment)
Following an extensive selection process, La Cite Development has a fully negotiationed Land Disposition Agreement with the City of Baltimore. The overall project known as the Park Square Development is a large scale redevelopment of 32.94 acres of land in the Poppleton neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore.

Stats:
- 2.5 million square feet
- 1,700-1,800 housing units (including 293 rental units and 321 townhomes)
- 20 percent will be affordable housing, 80 percent will be market rate
- 100,000-200,000 square feet of commercial space
- The project will also include parking, municipal services, and green space.
- Multi-phase project
- Phase 1 will break ground in 2008
- Estimated cost of all phases is $200 million
- Expected completion in 2011

Renderings and more information can be found on www.lacitedevelopment.com. Maybe somebody who knows flash better than me can post them later on.

Tried to add the renderings but the red X's showed up. Maybe someone else can do this. Click on the flash image and a pop-up in jpeg format comes up. The URL is provided.

Uplands should be included in here and Park Heights is on its way.

Great idea for a thread. Those townhouses look great and will certainly add to the neighborhoods while also keeping in mind the architecture of those areas.

Tried to add the renderings but the red X's showed up. Maybe someone else can do this. Click on the flash image and a pop-up in jpeg format comes up. The URL is provided.

Here is an attempt:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/rccoffman/Picture14.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/rccoffman/Picture8.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/rccoffman/Picture9.png
This one is creepy!
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/rccoffman/Picture10.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/rccoffman/Picture11.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/rccoffman/Picture12.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/rccoffman/Picture13.png

Wild!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Uplands should be included in here and Park Heights is on its way.

You're right, here is some info on the Uplands:

Uplands Development
A master plan for the Uplands site was created by national award winning design and market analysis firms with the full engagement of the surrounding community. The master plan calls for the development of 1,146 new units. Preliminary market studies indicate that the total project site can support 215 rental units and 931 for-sale units for a mix of incomes. The plan is urban and the housing types are modern, including small-lot singles, row houses and duplexes, grand four-plex “mansionettes”, and rental and for-sale multi-family buildings of higher density along Edmondson Avenue. The development scale and product mix are strongly supported by a market analysis that revealed significant regional demand for an urban neighborhood housing product distinct from the suburbs. The creation of a new neighborhood of attractive homeownership opportunities will stabilize the surrounding communities and help to revitalize the local retail corridors. Construction of the new housing will begin in 2008. The project is expected to proceed in several phases and be completed by 2013. Total projects costs are estimated to exceed $300 million.

For all other information, please consult this 80-page report: http://www.baltimorehousing.org/index/uplands_masterplan.pdf

The Poppleton redevelopment is the most exciting to me right now. Like Harbor East/Harbor Point, Canton Crossing, Westport, etc. it's attempting to create a high-density neighborhood, but unlike those projects, it's not attempting to be a "second downtown."

It's high-density, it's got a lot of green space, it's got a lot of retail space...hopefully one day the Red Line will run through the area...this project has a lot of potential and it should be exciting to see it get underway. There aren't a whole lot of neighborhoods in Baltimore, if any at all, that resemble what Poppleton has the potential to become.

So, between 2008 to 2013, all of these bio parks and housing should be complete? :?

You know, Steven, I'm not sure. The more I read on these developments, the more it appears that the information is outdated. There have, however, been articles written in the Baltimore Sun and the Daily Record on many of these developments in the past year and a a half. I know that both biotech parks are underway, but I think they are both far from finished. I'm not sure to what extent any other revitalization has taken place in the area, however. I'm not sure if any of our forumers live out that way, but it would be great to get some photos..if there is anything to photograph yet. I'll shoot the developers some e-mails and see what I can find out.

Another project that I am having difficulty finding information on is the Barclay redevelopment. Telekesis Corp. was awarded the rights to redevelop over 300 rowhomes in Barclay for moderate to low-income families. Apparently, plans were moving along well when a number of the homes burned down in a fire last summer. Since that time, I haven't been able to find a whole lot. The redevelopment of 285 of those homes was supposed to begin late this year, but I have no idea where that project stands right now?
Anyone know?

There are currently plans for developing the empty parcel of land in Washington Hill between Orleans and Baltimore St and Wolfe and Washington. I'm not sure how to pull the renderings for you to see, but you can see them at the following link:

http://www.cbre.com/USA/US/VA/Tysons+Corner/Property/gatewayatwashingtonhill

I think right now they are looking for investors, so who knows if this will be the final product, but I do expect good things from this spot.

wow, 1700-1800 units from the poppleton development? great news for a city that's definitely on the rise.


Uplands should be included in here and Park Heights is on its way.
^^i kind of figured a massive change was about to happen in park heights, but i didn't want to assume. i've noticed how they have a couple of new buildings in that area: 1) 21st century self-storage, 2) magna training center, 3) harry & jeanette weinberg men's center, and 4) jai medical center. i can't wait to see what the city has in store for the park heights renaissance. it should be interesting.

There are currently plans for developing the empty parcel of land in Washington Hill between Orleans and Baltimore St and Wolfe and Washington. I'm not sure how to pull the renderings for you to see, but you can see them at the following link:

http://www.cbre.com/USA/US/VA/Tysons+Corner/Property/gatewayatwashingtonhill

I think right now they are looking for investors, so who knows if this will be the final product, but I do expect good things from this spot.
great find, chromebowler!!:okay: it's gonna' be called "the gateway at washington hill". here's the info:

The site is located in the City of Baltimore and is composed of three city blocks bounded by Orleans Street on the north, Baltimore Street on the south and Wolfe Street and Washington Street on the west and east respectively. The Owner has received PUD approval for the development of 240,000 square feet of office space, 60,000 square feet of retail space, 714 multifamily units and 72 townhomes, for a total of 1,261,900 buildable square feet .

The close proximity of The Gateway at Washington Hill to Johns Hopkins Hospital, Fells Point, downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor presents investors a rare mixed use development opportunity.

The northern portion of the site is currently being leased to Johns Hopkins as a staging area for the construction of a cardiovascular and critical care facility.

http://www.cbre.com/NR/rdonlyres/D8300CC1-CFB9-42D4-9503-A842D06940FC/573966/aerialfromOM_Page_1.jpg

http://www.cbre.com/NR/rdonlyres/D8300CC1-CFB9-42D4-9503-A842D06940FC/570735/SketchofChapelSquare.jpg

http://www.cbre.com/NR/rdonlyres/D8300CC1-CFB9-42D4-9503-A842D06940FC/573968/aerialfromOM_Page_2.jpg
^^here's the details for parcels a, b, & c..............
Parcel A: 60 townhome units
Parcel B: 10,000 s.f. of retail, 372 residential units, and 12 townhomes
Parcel C: 50,000 s.f. of retail, 240,000 s.f. of office, & 342 residential units

There are currently plans for developing the empty parcel of land in Washington Hill between Orleans and Baltimore St and Wolfe and Washington. I'm not sure how to pull the renderings for you to see, but you can see them at the following link:

http://www.cbre.com/USA/US/VA/Tysons+Corner/Property/gatewayatwashingtonhill

I think right now they are looking for investors, so who knows if this will be the final product, but I do expect good things from this spot.

If I'm reading this correctly, it appears the owner of the site--Capital Development LLC's David Holmes (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4183/is_20050412/ai_n13594635)--is looking to cash out on the property. i.e., sell for someone else to develop. The drawing is just to show what's possible under the PUD for the site. Holmes is probably (hopefully) turning his efforts toward the Marketplace at Fells Point (http://www.marketplaceatfellspoint.com/team.html).

^^like you said, let's hope this is the case. i'm starting to like this development better.

So many awesome projects! :)

If I'm reading this correctly, it appears the owner of the site--Capital Development LLC's David Holmes (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4183/is_20050412/ai_n13594635)--is looking to cash out on the property. i.e., sell for someone else to develop. The drawing is just to show what's possible under the PUD for the site. Holmes is probably (hopefully) turning his efforts toward the Marketplace at Fells Point (http://www.marketplaceatfellspoint.com/team.html).

I Posted a note in the main forum last week that there are huge For Sale signs up on the Washington Hill property.

If I'm reading this correctly, it appears the owner of the site--Capital Development LLC's David Holmes (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4183/is_20050412/ai_n13594635)--is looking to cash out on the property. i.e., sell for someone else to develop. The drawing is just to show what's possible under the PUD for the site. Holmes is probably (hopefully) turning his efforts toward the Marketplace at Fells Point (http://www.marketplaceatfellspoint.com/team.html).

The Marketplace project seems somewhat stagnant right now - I hope you are right that he starts focusing on the project more closely now. One note: the article you referenced about the Washington Hill development was from April 2005 and it doesn't bode well for that parcel that building was supposed to start by year's end and still it is vacant. Let's hope someone moves quickly on it. The housing market may have to improve before someone will take on the risk though, so we will probably have to be patient.

... The housing market may have to improve before someone will take on the risk though, so we will probably have to be patient.

Right. Though if someone has the cash, they might buy the land and bank it ... or build apartments and offices.

wow, 1700-1800 units from the poppleton development? great news for a city that's definitely on the rise.



^^i kind of figured a massive change was about to happen in park heights, but i didn't want to assume. i've noticed how they have a couple of new buildings in that area: 1) 21st century self-storage, 2) magna training center, 3) harry & jeanette weinberg men's center, and 4) jai medical center. i can't wait to see what the city has in store for the park heights renaissance. it should be interesting.

The city talks about Park Heights in its Comprehensive Master Plan. Its going to be a significant development. It will be interesting to see what the life span of the track is now that slots are not going to Pimlico. Does it shut down and move somewhere else? If so, that another 200+ acres along a major artery ripe for mix-use development.

Does anyone know what they're going to do in the O'Donnell Heights area?They're demolishing all the projects over here and I want to know what they're going to build there

Does anyone know what they're going to do in the O'Donnell Heights area?They're demolishing all the projects over here and I want to know what they're going to build there

According to the Housing Authority of Baltimore City's FY07 & FY08 Plan (http://www.baltimorehousing.org/index/pdfs/annualplan_vol1.pdf)submitted to Hud last May 1, "HABC will develop plans, with input from resident stakeholders, for a mixed-finance, mixed income replacement of the distressed O'Donnell Heights site."

According to the Housing Authority of Baltimore City's FY07 & FY08 Plan (http://www.baltimorehousing.org/index/pdfs/annualplan_vol1.pdf)submitted to Hud last May 1, "HABC will develop plans, with input from resident stakeholders, for a mixed-finance, mixed income replacement of the distressed O'Donnell Heights site."

My reading of that is that they are going to level the crappy crime-ridden Heights (distressed) while they have funds for it and think about a plan for it later.

Much like Hollender Ridge. Which is being redeveloped with no residential.

^^ Touche.

I know I'm getting old when I can remember reading the hype about Hollander Ridge when it first opened. Although, in fairness, it did look a lot better than the existing public housing then. Anyway, I'm glad the city went with light industrial there, and I suspect the neighbors just across the city fence, er, city line are, too. Jobs and taxes. Rock on.

Friday, August 3, 2007
Restaurant revival
Move toward upscale eateries hitting Fells Point
http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2007/08/06/story4.html?page=1

Here's an interesting article about a transformation taking place in Fells Point. It's from back in August, but still a good read. It's kind of long, so I'll summarize, but it's still worth a read. It basically talks about Fells Point changing from a place of cheap bars to upscale restaurants. It mentions a couple of new restaurants and new expansions of already-existing restaurants. Some of them should have opened by now. Anybody have a chance to check any of them out?

Another interesting link that I stumbled upon:

http://www.rebuildingmadison.info/

Apparently this guy bought a vacant rowhome in the middle of one of Baltimore's most drug-infested neighborhoods. He is re-habbing the property and keeps a website to log his experiences.

Another interesting link that I stumbled upon:

http://www.rebuildingmadison.info/

Apparently this guy bought a vacant rowhome in the middle of one of Baltimore's most drug-infested neighborhoods. He is re-habbing the property and keeps a website to log his experiences.


I kept up with that blog from day one. He made a real go at it.

Decker Walk - Patterson Park

Phases 1 and 2 of this project are already completed and sold out except for two units (according to the website). I'm not certain if there will be any other phases, but I thought this project was cool enough to mention.

From the website:
Innovative. Efficient. Green. The Decker Walk envirowhomes are the newest idea to grow in Patterson Park and are an incomparable place to call home. Decker Walk is a compact development in an urban neighborhood, allowing these rowhomes to take advantage of the existing infrastructure, services and amenities of its surroundings. These architect-designed renovations rest on the edge of Baltimore City's best backyard, Patterson Park. Its convenient location allows you to easily access historic Fells Point and the busy nightlife of the Canton waterfront.

The Patterson Park CDC's envirowhomes were created to minimize the negative impact on the environment while providing for improved occupant comfort. Their innovative design renovations lower utility costs to the homeowner through efficiencies achieved in heating, cooling, insulation, water usage and electrical consumption. Furthermore, they improve the indoor air quality by using no-VOC paints, carbon monoxide detectors and efficiently-designed mechanical ventilation. Unlike standard new construction homes, the envirowhomes utilize the existing masonry building shell, thereby reducing material usage and waste, and also increasing the home's thermal performance. They further minimize their impact on the environment by reducing air pollution, storm-water runoff and the usage of non-renewable materials. Because of these environmentally sensitive improvements, the envirowhomes will earn the EPA's Energy Star rating.

Decker Walk consists of 19 contiguous rowhomes that have been designed with the environment and green-conscious buyer in mind. This development of 2 and 3-story homes offers the buyers the unique opportunity of personalizing their living experience and belonging to a sustainable community.

www.envirowhomes.com

Along the Central Ave Corridor between Fayette and Eastern, it seems there is a lot of potential for development/rehab/revitalization. Does anyone have any information on stuff in the pipeline for this stretch?

There are also a few open lots just east of Central in Washington hill that could turn into interesting properties. Specifically, there is a gated lot between Central on the west, Eden on the east, Fairmount to the north and Baltimore St to the south. Kitty-corner to the SE of that block is another open grassy/gravelly lot. Will try to post pictures later.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - 2:23 PM EST
Developer readies first phase of Greektown project
Baltimore Business Journal - by Robert J. Terry Staff

A year and a half after parting ways with banker Edwin F. Hale on a project to transform a 14-acre industrial swath of East Baltimore, a Northern Virgina-based developer said Tuesday it would soon begin construction of 139 townhomes in the city's Greektown neighborhood.

Executives with Kettler said 10,000 square feet of open space in the form of a neighborhood park would be also be featured in the site development, expected to kick off in early 2008. The company said its project won approval from the Baltimore City Planning Commission in November.

Prices for the townhomes have not yet been set.

The Greektown project will feature short blocks with wide sidewalks adorned with trees -- hallmarks of urban neighborhood design, Kettler said. Residents will have access to garages directly behind each block of homes.

Greektown sits along O'Donnell and Oldham streets, blocks from Johns Hopkins Bayview campus.

"We will continue to provide our residents with the utmost consideration in accessibility and design while contributing to the thriving Baltimore community with a newly revitalized neighborhood," said Kettler President Rick Hausler in a statement.

Plans for the project's second phase call for 235 additional townhomes and two 14-story residential towers with harbor views.

Kettler, formerly known as KSI Services Inc., and local banker Edwin F. Hale Sr. severed ties in April 2006 on the Greektown project and developing a portion of Canton Crossing. Hale is CEO of First Mariner Bank and head of Hale Properties.

^^ I guess the 20+ story towers are not part of the deal anymore, or maybe they're just further down the road. Oh well, still sounds like a great project.

Along the Central Ave Corridor between Fayette and Eastern, it seems there is a lot of potential for development/rehab/revitalization. Does anyone have any information on stuff in the pipeline for this stretch? ...

IIRC (this is straight from memory; don't have the time right now to grab links), developer Larry Silverstein, who did the Canal Street Malthouse and the Mustang Alley projects on Central also has plans for the Fallsway Spring building on the NE corner of Eastern and Central and has control of a lot on the SW corner of Lombard and Central. More to the south, Whole Foods needs more space and is looking to move to the east side of Central. Eventually, there's supposed to be a bridge across Central to Harbor Point. Not sure when the city plans to rebuild Central; don't think it's coming for a couple more years. It certainly has potential to be one of the most interesting streets in B-more. Probably won't hit its stride until Perkins Homes are redeveloped.

The Red Line will likely run down Central Ave. (the two routes for that leg are along Central Ave. and along Piers 5 and 6). If anyone can figure out what is going on wit the Red Line in the next few years, they may just wait until construction begins to redo Central Ave. There's a lot of potential there.

The townhouses at Athena Square are under construction & can be seen from different points along O'Donnell St. I was surprised they started this late in the year. Also, I'm not sure of the footprint of the whole development, but I'd imagine there's going to be a warehouse torn down over there, else the neighborhood will have lovely views of a warehouse to the north & a gas station to the south. ??

N.J. developers back out of Reservoir Hill rehab project
Baltimore Business Journal - by Daniel J. Sernovitz Staff


A team of New Jersey-based real estate developers has pulled up its stakes on a failed Reservoir Hill redevelopment project after nearly three years and more than $3 million spent trying to take part in what they hoped would be the city's "next Bolton Hill."

The developers said they believe their project in the 2400 block of Callow Avenue would have been successful had Baltimore City's Department of Housing and Community Development been more aggressive in taking care of its vacant properties, something they said the housing department pledged to do early on.

"At this point, we needed the backing and support of the city," said Marlene Green, one of the developers. "It sounded like a great project, and we thought there was a market there. Not every investment works out, but the thing is it doesn't have to go this way."

The housing department met with the developers back in 2005, when they bought the properties. Cheron L. Porter, a spokeswoman for the city's housing department, said it made no specific promises and that, ultimately, it must depend on individual developers to assess their own risks. Porter said the department has offered several blocks of city-owned properties in Reservoir Hill for private redevelopment and it does try to help developers when it can.

^^ That's a shame. I thought Reservoir Hill was among the next neighborhoods to make a complete turn-around. You would think with the great architecture in the neighborhood and its proximity to other thriving neighborhoods and transit, that it would be a shoe-in for gentrification. Isn't Reservoir Hill where that whole Buy-A-Block campaign took place?

With Canton, Fells Point, Federal Hill, and others having "arrived," so to speak. Which of the fringe neighborhoods do you think will be the next to join this group? Patterson Park is certainly on its way, and there are a lot of rehabs taking place in Pigtown and quite a bit of activity in Greektown as well.

^^damn, another opportunity for development gone up in smoke.:ohno:

Speaking of Reservoir Hill and homesteaders, I think one of 'em runs this (http://linden2246.blogspot.com/) blog documenting the rehab process. Pretty cool.

I think Res Hill still has a chance...The thing is, its still being held down by speculators and slumlords....(mostly the latter).

^^ That's a shame. I thought Reservoir Hill was among the next neighborhoods to make a complete turn-around. You would think with the great architecture in the neighborhood and its proximity to other thriving neighborhoods and transit, that it would be a shoe-in for gentrification. Isn't Reservoir Hill where that whole Buy-A-Block campaign took place?

With Canton, Fells Point, Federal Hill, and others having "arrived," so to speak. Which of the fringe neighborhoods do you think will be the next to join this group? Patterson Park is certainly on its way, and there are a lot of rehabs taking place in Pigtown and quite a bit of activity in Greektown as well.

I've always thought that Res Hill was really high on the risk list for rehab areas. It isn't close the the waterfront, has no retail and entertainment (and not much potential either, given that it's 100% residential). The other thing is that the houses are SO HUGE, that rehab will be very expensive. It's comparable in some ways to Union Square. I know a family that moved there in about 1982, expecting a quick turnaround. 25 years later, they are still waiting. They have a great house, a business in the area and a good number of neighbors, but they still have to deal with being an island of rehab in a scary area (close to the appropriately named "S Carey St). They are just too far from other rehab areas to have a critical mass. Res Hill is similar and I think the burden of those massive houses, will make this a slow area.

http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2007/12/17/daily26.html?jst=b_ln_hl

Baltimore Main Streets program to grow in 2008
Baltimore Business Journal - by Ryan Sharrow Staff

The Baltimore Development Corp. said Wednesday it will expand its Main Streets program by adding two communities to the initiative in July 2008. And there's already a line of interested candidates.

Officials at the BDC, the city's development arm, said the Main Streets expansion is in response to communities throughout Baltimore showing interest in becoming a part of the program.

Neighborhood leaders have until Feb. 15 to submit an application to become a part of the program, which provides funding and technical support to small businesses in the now-eight Main Street districts throughout the city.

In an interview Wednesday, Donna Langley, director of the Baltimore Main Streets program, said representatives from the city's Hamilton, Lauraville, Charles North, Brooklyn/Curtis Bay, West Pratt Street and North Avenue communities have already shown interest in applying.

"By no means is it limited" to those communities, said Will Beckford, managing director of commercial revitalization for the BDC.

After applications are reviewed by a selection committee, the BDC will conduct site visits of each area. The new programs will start July 1 in the chosen neighborhoods.

Baltimore Main Streets will host two application workshops for representative from interested communities. The first will be on Jan. 7, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. The second is planned for Jan. 8, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., at Maryland Nonprofits on West Ostend Street in South Baltimore.

The program was launched in Baltimore in 2000 as an initiative between the city and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Main Street Center.

Baltimore has not expanded the program since 2004, when Highlandtown become a member.

Interested applicants can apply at www.baltimoremainstreets.com

Back in September, the Department of Planning issued an RFP for the Oldtown Mall Area Master Plan (http://baltimorecity.gov/government/planning/documents/Oldtown%20RFP%20-full%20text%20website.pdf). The final date for submissions was October 5, but I haven't found any information on any of the proposals. According to the Baltimore City's Future blog (http://baltimorefuture.blogspot.com/2007/03/oldtown-mall-you-tube-worthy.html), however, the city has adopted a plan that encompasses Oldtown, Penn-Fallsway and a number of the surrounding public housing developments. According to the blog, the plan calls for a high-density neighborhood with mid- and high-rise condos, apartments, offices, and hotels - all with ground-level retail.

Can anyone confirm that the city has indeed adopted such a plan?

Don't know about that one, Peter. But, it does sound good. :yes: :)

Athena Square progress

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/2141255752_c9f26a700f.jpg

Doors and windows are in. Exterior will be brick. (just the first row of the develoment is being built right now, but I think they were almost all sold).

For Those who don't know,thats in Greektown and i pass through there all the time ;)

Athena Square progress

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/2141255752_c9f26a700f.jpg

Doors and windows are in. Exterior will be brick. (just the first row of the develoment is being built right now, but I think they were almost all sold).

Nice picture. Thanks for the update. :yes:

:)

Don't know about that one, Peter. But, it does sound good. :yes: :)
yeah, it sounds really good....especially for that area. i think the only operating businesses that are there right now are Central Booking and Our Daily Bread Employment Center.

^^ Loose usage of the word "business".

^^ :lol:

It's sort of like how WYPR had Jay Hancock on today as the "conservative" for a call-in show. Um, yeah. (The left-winger was Bob Kaufman, so yeah, I guess Hancock would be the conservative in that matchup. So would Fidel Castro.)

Yesterday I caught a matinée showing at the Senator and noticed a sign on an empty lot a block north of the corner of Northern Parkway and York Road advertising the "Kenneth Square townhomes." Now, I know there is already a community there called Kenneth Square, but if I remember correctly they are 19th century stone rowhomes. The sign pictured three-story brick rowhomes sitting atop garages, so I'm assuming it is a new development. Anybody know anything about this?

It would be great if that area could gain a few more residences. It's got so many great destinations already, it just needs a little more density and foot traffic.

Athena Square - Greektown
Fr

http://www.ryanhomes.com/imgGrab.aspx?ID=ba37b822-fc76-410a-865d-694a502ed593&Width=445&Height=275&LastUpdated=4/10/2007%201:45:22%20PM

They started putting the brick on Athena Square, now. I think folks will be moving into these before WADA moves into his new place. :ohno:

Didn't get a chance to a get a picture this time.

Historic Mt. Washington means business

01/03/08
by Virginia Terhune
Baltimore Messenger


People who drive through the Mt. Washington area on Falls Road may be so focused on the road ahead that they miss spotting -- and patronizing -- small businesses along the way.

For that reason, nearly 20 shop owners and organizations recently launched a Web site to promote their businesses located east of the Jones Falls Expressway, an area distinct from Mt. Washington Village, which is west of the expressway.

"We started it to highlight our section of the neighborhood," said Scott Schools, owner of the Eastbank Hair salon on Falls Road.

Although he opened the business more than 16 years ago, some clients still ask him if he just opened.

"They say, 'I drive by but I've never seen you,'" he said.

Schools is talking to other owners in the area about eventually forming a business association.

In the meantime, they have taken a first step by launching www.historicmtwashington.com.

"We've got to start somewhere," he said.

Including the word "historic" distinguishes it from Mt. Washington Village, which already has a Web site and association.

The historic refers to the Mt. Washington Mill, a former textile mill on the Jones Falls that was converted into retail stores that today include Whole Foods and Starbucks.

The new site displays nearly 30 businesses and organizations (some with Web links) flanking a hand-drawn map that shows stores in relation to Falls Road and Kelly and Smith avenues.

The map is also featured on postcards available in area shops.

"Our goal is to have every business carry a little stack on their counters, even if they're not joining the organization," Schools said. "It's a way for the community to help cross-market itself."

Some of the participants to date include Eastbank, Alexandra Webb jewelry and Joe's Bike Shop on Falls Road, the mill complex off Smith Avenue, and the Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center and Northwest Ice Rink off Cottonworth Avenue.

Most businesses are served by on-street parking along Falls Road or private parking lots, Schools said.

"There's an ample amount of parking," he said. "If it's not right next to a place, it's within a short walking distance."

Down the road, participants hope to start a merchant's association, which could entitle them to grants for light-pole banners and other advertising help.

"It makes it easier to promote the neighborhood, and also get crosswalks marked and speed limits enforced," Schools said.

Merchants also hope to host a festival in 2008, adding to the two already held by Mt. Washington Village.

"We hope to do a reciprocal (Web site) link," Schools said. "We're totally behind them."

^^ Hustled my first six-pack (Colt 45) outside a bar there when I was in seventh grade. I'll vouch for that 'hood's historicity.

Re: RFP for Bowley's Lane

Baltimore, MD (January 7, 2008) – The Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) today announced that, on behalf of the City of Baltimore, it has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Bowleys Lane Landfill and Eastern Sanitation Yard at 6101 Bowleys Lane in Northeast Baltimore.

The site, located in the city’s Frankford neighborhood, comprises approximately 82 acres, 55 of which were formerly used for landfill operations, which ceased in 1985. Currently, the property still houses, on nearly 10 acres, a garage and small administration building for the Eastern Sanitation Yard, which must remain on the site at its existing location or relocated to a new location approved by the Baltimore City Department of Public Works and BDC.

Bounded to the south by Herring Run, to the east by Moravia Road, to the north by Bowleys Lane and to the west by Herring Run and Herring Run Park, the site is zoned M-1 (light industrial); Biddison Run bisects the site. An established residential area consisting of row houses and a number of multi-family apartment complexes abuts the property on the north and east. Moravia Road, a major thoroughfare, separates the southern portion of the site from industrial properties that lie to the south and east. Neighborhood retail opportunities consist mostly of convenience goods shopping and some ancillary services concentrated along nearby Sinclair Lane and Frankford Avenue.

BDC is seeking proposals from qualified developers for the purchase and redevelopment of the site that will achieve the city’s objectives including job creation, tax generation, an attractive design, and a redevelopment that fits within the context of the Frankford neighborhood. Reliance on public funds for the project is discouraged and subsidies by the city should not be anticipated. The site is offered in “as-is” condition.

To obtain further information regarding this offering, contact Terrance Hancock, BDC Economic Development Officer, at 410-837-9305. The RFP can be downloaded from BDC’s website at www.baltimoredevelopment.com.

Deadline for submission of proposals, accompanied by a $250.00 non-refundable check, are due by 12 noon on Monday, March 14, 2008.

[QUOTEHere's an interesting article about a transformation taking place in Fells Point. It's from back in August, but still a good read. It's kind of long, so I'll summarize, but it's still worth a read. It basically talks about Fells Point changing from a place of cheap bars to upscale restaurants. It mentions a couple of new restaurants and new expansions of already-existing restaurants. Some of them should have opened by now. Anybody have a chance to check any of them out?[/QUOTE]

Yup, Fells Point definately isnt what it used to be and the change happend fairly quick. Maybe 5 years ago Fells Point still had a sizable college crowd but now it seems as if the point is going upscale and the college crowd has left for Federal Hill, Powere Plant Live and Canton.

I wonder how raising property values is going to affect the latino immigrant community down there.

Yup, Fells Point definately isnt what it used to be and the change happend fairly quick. Maybe 5 years ago Fells Point still had a sizable college crowd but now it seems as if the point is going upscale and the college crowd has left for Federal Hill, Powere Plant Live and Canton.

I agreeeeeeee. Damn pazo is expensive! That’s my line when people talk about fells point. That area is going to be hot hot hot in the coming years. Its the connection, i mean i was sitting next to bond steet warehouse(that park) enjoying the weather yesterday and i realized that Harbor east and fells point will be completely connected in the coming years, and harbor east is already connected with the inner harbor, walkable. Tons of money is and will be coming into the area. I work at the black olive on bond street(just weekend nights) and im still amazed that there is a market for that level of restaurant in a neighborhood i remember as a kid for being nothing more then a college watering hole.

and the Latinos? gentrification ive heard is a happening thing now. unfort

Union Square-Hollins Market New Housing on Pratt Street
Southwest Visions is a non-profit developer working within the boundaries of the Union Square-Hollins Market Historic District to provide a mixed-income condominium community comprised of market rate condominiums and 25% affordable housing.
The project goal is to build 42-50 units using a combination of new infill housing and historic renovation. The design is to be sensitive to the current neighborhood residents and the historic context of the area. The project will incorporate sustainable design ideas, and try to be an economic generator for continued development in the neighborhood.

http://76.12.46.214/public/project_imgs/ontheboards/boards_swvisions1_lg.jpg
http://76.12.46.214/public/project_imgs/ontheboards/boards_swvisions2_lg.jpg


Can someone map this for me? im having a hard time understanding where its going? Thanks

... I work at the black olive on bond street...

Cool. Any idea what the status of Stelios's inn is?

Can someone map this for me? im having a hard time understanding where its going? Thanks

NW corner of W. Pratt and S. Mount Streets near Union Square. Click here (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=US&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&addtohistory=&cat=&address=W+Pratt+St+%26+S+Mount+St&city=Baltimore&state=MD&zipcode=21223), hit the "aerial view" tab and drill down. You'll see the empty lot and the twin spires of the church in the background.

Cool. Any idea what the status of Stelios's inn is?

ahaha, good joke. Umm no seriously, The funding is there, they covered all the legal stuff, and they should be starting within 45days from the newyear, after that its 8months till it should be open. It will be a nice addition to the area... ive viewed and started to work with them on some of the project. Market place on the first floor selling organic produce(heavily local), fish, and a variety of other greek products. Also an unbelieveable cafe on the roof, etc etc. Lets just start consturction already. ~7mil going into it

ahaha, good joke. Umm no seriously, The funding is there, they covered all the legal stuff, and they should be starting within 45days from the newyear, after that its 8months till it should be open. It will be a nice addition to the area... ive viewed and started to work with them on some of the project. Market place on the first floor selling organic produce(heavily local), fish, and a variety of other greek products. Also an unbelieveable cafe on the roof, etc etc. Lets just start consturction already. ~7mil going into it

Great news. What are the latest renderings for this one?

NW corner of W. Pratt and S. Mount Streets near Union Square. Click here (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=US&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&addtohistory=&cat=&address=W+Pratt+St+%26+S+Mount+St&city=Baltimore&state=MD&zipcode=21223), hit the "aerial view" tab and drill down. You'll see the empty lot and the twin spires of the church in the background.

ah! westside. Man, i had the best idea for MARC... create a "westside" station, that line there at the B&O connects to the camden line and could go right to Union. imagine a solid station 3blocks away from UMbio park. Thats going to be a fun area to watch come up with billions in development. Now, if they could only get a grocery store over there

Historic Mt. Washington means business

01/03/08
by Virginia Terhune
Baltimore Messenger

People who drive through the Mt. Washington area on Falls Road may be so focused on the road ahead that they miss spotting -- and patronizing -- small businesses along the way.

For that reason, nearly 20 shop owners and organizations recently launched a Web site to promote their businesses located east of the Jones Falls Expressway, an area distinct from Mt. Washington Village, which is west of the expressway.

"We started it to highlight our section of the neighborhood," said Scott Schools, owner of the Eastbank Hair salon on Falls Road.

The east side could use some PR, in fact not only isn't there much PR about the area, but I live a couple blocks away and hadn't heard about the new web site or program. Personally I think they would have better luck if they combined efforts for the entire area on both sides of the Falls since there's a considerable critical mass in the area that the little village or the east sides alone area doesn't have. They also need something that would appear to guys (aside from bikes and car repairs) since most of the retail has to do with hair or makeup. I love living here because of all the local businesses, but what's weakest is that after about 7 PM the place mostly closes up.

I am pleased to see that there will be some sort of new marketplace in the building where the old Mt Washington grocery store was. I hope the new owner has some sort of angle to distinguish the new place from the nearby Whole Foods store or the competition will be pretty tough. My impression is that it will be a multi-vendor, local produce sort of place, but I don't have many facts on that.

ah! westside. Man, i had the best idea for MARC... create a "westside" station, that line there at the B&O connects to the camden line and could go right to Union. imagine a solid station 3blocks away from UMbio park. Thats going to be a fun area to watch come up with billions in development. Now, if they could only get a grocery store over there

There is a Safeway at Carey and Pratt. About 6 blocks from MLK....

I agreeeeeeee. Damn pazo is expensive! That’s my line when people talk about fells point. That area is going to be hot hot hot in the coming years. Its the connection, i mean i was sitting next to bond steet warehouse(that park) enjoying the weather yesterday and i realized that Harbor east and fells point will be completely connected in the coming years, and harbor east is already connected with the inner harbor, walkable. Tons of money is and will be coming into the area. I work at the black olive on bond street(just weekend nights) and im still amazed that there is a market for that level of restaurant in a neighborhood i remember as a kid for being nothing more then a college watering hole.

and the Latinos? gentrification ive heard is a happening thing now. unfort

I believe soon the Inner Harbor, Harbor East, Federal Hill and Canton will all be connected by it's waterfront. Right now every sees them as their own seperate neighborhoods but if all these development projects come into fruition, the waterfront will soom dominate the Baltimore skyline.

There is a Safeway at Carey and Pratt. About 6 blocks from MLK....

I would love to see a redevelopment of that Safeway. Right now there is just too much surface parking for my liking. Unfortunately, they'd probably have to tear down the whole thing and start over...but I guess they could do something there like they're doing with the Rotunda. It would be a good project to tie Hollins Market with Pigtown, and maybe add a little sprucing up to Carroll Park. They'd probably have to do something with the B&O tracks that run through there though. I have heard the idea floated that it could be used for a streetcar line connecting Pratt St. and Pigtown with Montgomery Park.

In Portland they are building a Safeway grocery as part of a larger mixed use project (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=120198)

The Northwood Plaza Design Team is proud to sponsor A Community Design Workshop – Creating A New Vision for Northwood Plaza… the commercial heart of our community! The workshop will be held on Saturday, January 19, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at The Clarence M. Mitchell School of Engineering on the campus of Morgan State University (5200 Perring Parkway).

Participating Organizations include: Northwood Plaza Working Group, The Neighborhood Design Center, Hillen Road Improvement Association, Northeast Community Organization, Original Northwood Association, Northeast Development Alliance, Baltimore City Planning Department, Morgan State University, Baltimore Development Corporation.

Hi all just visiting the forum. Moved to Baltimore 3yrs ago from the Carolinas. Love the City even with its challenges. Settled in the north Baltimore neighborhood of Coldspring. Seems that a lot of new development is quietly making its way to the northern section of the City. Specifically the Rotunda in Hamden. I have heard rumors that Pimplico Racetrack may close (Peakness will move to Laurel) and the site could be redeveloped into one of the largest mixed uses projects in the City per the Park Heights Redevelopment Plan. Anyone have any insight on this?

... I have heard rumors that Pimlico Racetrack may close (Peakness will move to Laurel) and the site could be redeveloped into one of the largest mixed uses projects in the City per the Park Heights Redevelopment Plan. Anyone have any insight on this?

Welcome! The narrative you've outlined is plausible. However, surrounding neighborhoods score a certain amount of boodle in "impact fees" from having the track as a neighbor ... and that boodle would be boosted significantly (http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpid=574&show=archivedetails&ArchiveID=1329091&om=1) if the slots bill passes.

If ya wanna learn more about the issue, check out the Baltimore Messenger's (http://news.mywebpal.com/index.cfm?pnpid=574) archives. Key word: Pimlico.

Cheers!

http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=4191&type=UTTM

East Baltimore community school will displace at least 25 homeowners, 47 renters
ROBBIE WHELAN
Daily Record Business Writer
January 30, 2008 6:21 PM

Officials involved with the redevelopment of Middle East, the neighborhood near the Johns Hopkins Hospital, have obtained $41 million to acquire land for a “community school” in East Baltimore, but local residents are upset because the project will force them from their homes.

Members of the Baltimore City Board of Estimates approved the issue of nearly $58 million in tax increment bonds on Jan. 16 for East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit organization directing the development push.

A partnership involving the city, the state, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the 88-acre, $1.8 billion East Side effort is being carried out in two phases and will include hundreds of units of new and rehabilitated housing, several life sciences buildings to be leased by private biotech firms and the Johns Hopkins University, and thousands of square feet of retail space.

At present, the area is plagued by blighted housing stock, high crime rates and a flourishing drug trade.

Construction of affordable housing units in Phase I has begun. The first research facility, a lab building adjacent to Hopkins, is expected to open in April.

The community school, to be located on two blocks along the north side of Ashland Avenue, between North Chester Street and Collington Avenue, is part of Phase II.

The school will serve students from kindergarten through eighth grade, and is not expected to open until at least 2011, but residents and homeowners have been given only a few months to pack up for relocation. It will displace at least 25 homeowners and 47 renters.

Since 2002, 396 families have been displaced by Phase I, and the average family was paid $153,000 to cover the price of their home and relocation costs, said Jack Shannon, president and CEO of EBDI. The average value of a house in the Phase I area is less than $30,000.

“All of our activities to date have come at a high cost for the families,” Shannon said. “But for these families, it’s different in a few ways. Unlike five years ago, we have a demonstrated track record of successful outcomes.”

The community school will feature an “integrated curriculum” that focuses on wellness and health. A clinic run in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute will be part of the campus.

Nathan Sooy, executive director of the Save Middle East Action Committee, a community organization, said the school will be a positive addition to the neighborhood, but its real purpose is to attract middle-class homebuyers once the poor community members have been relocated.

“The residents of the neighborhood clearly know that none of this is being done for them,” he said. “Any benefit they receive is going to be entirely incidental.”

Officials at EBDI have orally assured the community that those families who have be relocated will still have the right to send their children to the school.

But Nikita Edwards, a SMEAC member and stay-at-home mother who lives nearby the proposed campus for the school, doesn’t think the school is such a good idea.

“The ones who live around here will have to scramble to put their children in a new school … plus a lot of people can’t afford the transportation to get to the new school,” she said. “It may be here in the near future, but for most of us, it wasn’t meant for us.”

Roy Wade, who has lived with in his mother’s house on the corner of Collington Street and Ashland Avenue for 40 years, says that he has been told to move out of his house in a matter of months.

“We don’t mind making the community better — I want to see the drug dealers gone, now,” he said. “But they just said, ‘You’ve got to leave.’”

His mother is 75, and has paid off the mortgage on her house, but Wade said he is worried that in a new, unfamiliar community, she might not feel safe.

“It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve put into your house, it’s how much life you’ve put into it,” he said.

Unsold homes put up for rent
Development near train station feels real estate pinch
Station North Townhomes
http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/photo/2008-02/35091565.jpg
Station North Townhomes, in the 1700 block N. Calvert St., was hurt by the subprime mortgage crisis. Buyers with contracts no longer qualified for loans, and investors -- about a quarter of the buyers -- dropped out. (Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor / January 24, 2008)

By Lorraine Mirabella | Sun reporter
February 1, 2008

The Station North Townhomes had no shortage of pre-construction buyers, lured by the promise of luxury living near Penn Station in Baltimore's emerging arts district. Prices in 2005 reflected a red-hot market, rising tens of thousands of dollars with each batch of new contracts.

But when construction wrapped up last spring, subprime mortgage woes had begun to surface and the housing market was slumping.

Buyers with contracts no longer qualified for loans, and investors - who made up about a quarter of the buyers - dropped out. The four-story, four-bedroom homes, with granite kitchens, open floor plans, huge windows and garages, sat in stark contrast to nearby blocks of boarded and vacant homes. Just over half had been sold.

Now, amid a housing slump that has builders slashing prices and offering giveaways, Station North's developer is looking for tenants.

"The sales just pretty much stopped," said James D. Campbell, a principal with Somerset Development Co., of Washington.

Somerset hopes to rent the 14 unsold homes in the 32-unit development, offering a lease-to-buy program or straight rentals, with monthly payments ranging from $1,600 to $2,400. Rents are slightly higher for the lease-to-own program

So far, one family has signed on to lease with the option to buy, Campbell said. In that program, tenants sign a sales contract, but typically delay the closing six to 12 months, during which a portion of the rent gets applied to a down payment and tenants get help on improving their credit.

Somerset's sale prices, which started at a range of $280,000 to $300,000 in summer 2005 and climbed in a matter of months to the high $400,000s for the largest corner units, have already been reduced. They now range from $300,000 to $450,000. Campbell said additional price cuts were not an option.

"We didn't want to price them so low that it didn't make any kind of economic sense," Campbell said. "Renting will be a better strategy."

John E. Kortecamp, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Maryland, said he was unaware of any other Baltimore-area, for-sale housing projects that had converted to rentals.

Such conversions have become more common in the harder-hit housing market in metropolitan Washington, he said.

But "there is continued talk about more and more condos coming on the market, and if that trend turns out to be true, then we might very well see more of this," he said.

Melissa Wallace-Johnson, 29, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, moved in June from Silver Spring, where she and her husband rented, to Station North, where they bought their first home.

The couple got a reduced price of $339,000 with upgrades such as granite counters. And the couple liked the access to Penn Station and nightlife and restaurants in a neighborhood where people were renovating homes and bringing in new businesses.

"If we'd bought in Silver Spring, it would have been double the price," Wallace-Johnson said. "We've fallen in love with the neighborhood. You can tell it's on the verge of something."

The couple does not regret the decision, despite the conversion to rentals, which Wallace-Johnson said is a better route than slashing prices to try to sell.

"We went into this knowing we would not be there forever, but we didn't go into it to make money," she said. "We wanted to buy and own. We're confident we won't lose money."

One neighbor, though, said she is troubled by an increasing number of tenants, including those who are renting from individual property owners as well as those who will rent from the developer.

Homeowner Charmaine Mercer estimated that about 10 or 11 of the homes are now occupied by owners, with the rest either leased or vacant.

"People who rent don't have a vested interest in the properties," said Mercer, who moved with her husband from a suburban area near Catonsville last summer, drawn by the homes' contemporary design, the area's cultural activities and the proximity of the trains she takes to work in Washington.

Mercer said she and other homeowners have started to work together to deal with problems such as trash - and have even purchased trash cans for neighbors to use.

"There's an expectation when you pay a certain amount that there are issues you won't have to encounter, and that hasn't been the case," she said.

Converting for-sale homes to rentals is one strategy for waiting out a slow market, said Bob Aydukovic, vice president of economic development for the Downtown Partnership.

"What developers have realized is that the rental market is still extremely strong downtown," Aydukovic said. "They're going after that rental base and trying to get people in there to cover costs. The whole for-sale market is slow but not crashing."

Other builders have been forced to halt construction, reduce prices or lure buyers with incentives and giveaways. Inventory is still exceeding demand, Kortecamp said.

In November, Lennar Corp., one of the nation's largest homebuilders, sold the bulk of its unsold, 26-unit Federal Place luxury development off Key Highway in Baltimore's Federal Hill to Terra Nova Ventures, a local developer who cut prices by about 20 percent. The new owner has since sold one house.

And last month, because homebuilders were canceling land sales, Columbia's master developer General Growth Properties Inc., said it plans to lower the estimated market value of its remaining unsold residential lots in the Howard County community and take a non-cash charge of $77 million.

The Station North Townhomes may have felt the housing downturn more severely because of its location, Kortecamp said. While Penn Station has been a huge draw and is likely to be a centerpiece in future community revitalization, the new homes are still abutted by blocks of long-vacant properties.

"You get in some instances, a little ahead of the redevelopment curve," Kortecamp said.

Campbell says the goal is to offer homes for rent until the for-sale market rebounds.

"The for-sale market will at some point come back, and our goal is to rent them until that happens and get as many under the lease-to-own," he said. "We're still very optimistic. There's a lot of new families living there who weren't living there eight months ago."

Unsold homes put up for rent
Development near train station feels real estate pinch
Station North Townhomes
http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/photo/2008-02/35091565.jpg
Station North Townhomes, in the 1700 block N. Calvert St., was hurt by the subprime mortgage crisis. Buyers with contracts no longer qualified for loans, and investors -- about a quarter of the buyers -- dropped out. (Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor / January 24, 2008)

By Lorraine Mirabella | Sun reporter
February 1, 2008

The Station North Townhomes had no shortage of pre-construction buyers, lured by the promise of luxury living near Penn Station in Baltimore's emerging arts district. Prices in 2005 reflected a red-hot market, rising tens of thousands of dollars with each batch of new contracts.."

Surprise, surprise. The houses are not attractive, the neighborhood is sketchy at best, they are right on a major traffic artery and the mortgage market sucks.

^^ It's unfortunate taht these homes did not sell but you pointed out a lot of the reasons for it's failure. But seeing these homes being constructed gave me some hope that the neighborhood around the train station was going to turn another corner for revitalization.

More Station North news....

http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/photo/2008-02/35136658.jpg

Where art has lived
A longtime home to painters, designers and makeshift galleries could be sold
Large loft

By Julie Scharper | Sun reporter
February 2, 2008

The Copy Cat building might be the only place in the city where a professional dancing banana could feel at home.

In one apartment, a tire swing dangles between a drum set and a bar. In another, food salvaged from garbage bins fills the refrigerator and a bottle of turquoise hair dye sits in the bathroom.

Everywhere you look in the former factory in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District there are interesting things -- an old wheelchair, a maze of hand-built walls, an orange cat named Fettuccine -- and countless works of art.

"I consider it my own personal playground," says Carabella Sands, 21, the dancing banana in question, who retreats there after a long day luring customers to a Timonium smoothie stand.

For more than two decades, the five-story brick building near the intersection of Guilford and Mount Royal avenues in Baltimore has been a place for hundreds of artists to live, create art and hold concerts and gallery openings.

But life at the Copy Cat might soon change.

Mt. Vernon Properties is considering buying and renovating the building, doubling the number of apartments and increasing rents, says Robert Persaud, an adviser to the company. Current residents would not be able to stay during the extensive renovation, he says.

Charles Lankford, the building's owner for more than 30 years, says the deal with Persaud is far from final, noting that it might be hard to secure financing. He says he would like to find a partner to help him improve the building.

Tenants admit that the building is rundown -- some pass notes to neighbors through holes in the floor -- but they say they like the Copy Cat as it is. And they believe that their presence is vital to making the arts district thrive.

"We're all kind of experimenting and expressing ourselves in ways we wouldn't be if we didn't all live here together," says Brady Starr, a 26-year-old painter who lives with several roommates in an apartment, studio and gallery called "Page 5."

His upstairs neighbor, 20-year-old Michael Farley, is trying to organize tenants to buy the Copy Cat themselves, as artists at two nearby buildings have done.

"I love it, despite the inconvenience of the Middle Ages," says Farley, his cowboy boots clicking across the floor as he leads a visitor into two joined apartments he shares with seven people, a few cats, a dog, a dozen bicycles and a ghoulish figure made of cotton gauze.

In the kitchen, several twentysomethings talk around a large wooden table, a single light bulb casting shadows on their faces. Some smoke, tapping their cigarette ashes into a white goblet labeled "Holy Grail."

Farley, a sculpture major at Maryland Institute College of Art, sticks his head in the refrigerator and pulls out a pastry box. "Who wants Dumpster cake?" he asks, explaining that some residents pull expired, but edible, food from garbage bins behind grocery stores.

Many furnishings are salvaged from the trash or were left behind. In the largest room, a series of walls -- some curved, some set at sharp angles -- were built by previous tenants.

In the bathroom, a bottle of "Tripped Up Turquoise" hair dye sits on a shelf, and someone has scrawled, "Let's all be postmodern" on the side of the shower.

"My mom calls it 'the set of Rent,'" Farley says, referring to the '90s Broadway musical about struggling East Village artists.

The artists say they flourish in the building's laid-back, do-it-yourself atmosphere. Huge windows let in lots of light, and high-ceilinged loft-style spaces can be shared by many people, keeping rent within a starving artist's budget. The chipped paint, spotty utilities and hissing, cantankerous radiators add to the creative atmosphere, they say.

The boxy building was constructed in the 1890s as part of a factory complex for the Crown, Cork and Seal Co., the originators of the bottle cap. It is nicknamed the Copy Cat after a printing company billboard that long stood on its roof.

The building is showing its age. In one hallway, the ceiling sags around a pipe. Outside, a sea-green graffiti tag, as complicated as a Celtic knot, is painted on one wall. A gargoyle leers over the satellite dishes that sprout from windows like flat-topped mushrooms.

Persaud, of Mt. Vernon Properties, says that his company is studying whether it would be profitable to repair the building and renovate it and a sister property. They envision doubling the number of units in the building -- from 75 to 150 -- and renting for $700 to $950. Currently, residents who share the large spaces pay, on average, a couple of hundred dollars each per month.

"We feel we can do some good up there," says Persaud. "With careful investment and planning, that area has wonderful potential."

Lankford, 64, says he's proud that he's managed to keep the building going all these years, helping so many eclectic young artists.

"Some day I might write a book about it," Lankford says by phone from his Florida home.

For decades, the blocks around Penn Station languished, despite being sandwiched between the cultural hubs of Charles Village and Mount Vernon. Since being designated an arts district in 2004, several galleries, restaurants and nightclubs have opened, according to David Bielenberg, executive director of a nonprofit group that promotes the neighborhood.

Bielenberg and other community leaders are exploring housing options for the residents if the building is renovated.

"We're doing everything we can to let the current residents of the Copy Cat realize how important they are to the district," he says.

Joe McNeely, director of the Central Baltimore Partnership, says he is encouraging Persaud to renovate the buildings in sections so that the residents are not displaced. He admits that many residents won't be able to afford higher rents.

It's a familiar pattern, sometimes called the "SoHo effect," McNeely says, referring to the New York City neighborhood: Artists move into a rundown area and spruce it up, but then get priced out.

Whether or not the deal goes through, the building needs serious work. "Either some developer is going to buy it and do this or the building is going to deteriorate to a place where it's going to be closed," he says.

But residents worry that renovations will destroy the life they've built together.

At the space called Page 5, Starr, with a smudge of gray paint on his cheek, points out walls he and his roommates have built to section off a studio and gallery for shows and weekly figure drawing sessions. He absent-mindedly taps on a piano, awakening a family of mice nesting inside that begin to squeak fiercely.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, volunteers with a group called "Food Not Bombs" prepare vegetarian meals to give to homeless people.

Each living space has its own distinct character. On the top floor, Web designer Kevin Blackistone, 29, and his roommates frequently host parties and concerts in a loft that has a stage, drum set, sound system, tire swing and wheelchair. A spotted cat, named, appropriately, Natty Boh, stalks across a bar that the roommates built from scrap.

Downstairs, Farley and his friends rattle off some of what makes life in the Copy Cat unique: The canvas the roommates paint together. The transvestite prostitute on Guilford who offered to protect them from thugs. The time a resident's car was stolen and later found totaled with only a gold wig and a Bette Midler movie stolen.

The residents feel comfortable in the neighborhood, despite occasional muggings, broken car windows and huge alley rats. They look out for each other's safety, the same way they critique each other's art and share food.

Many former tenants say the happiest years of their youth were spent at the Copy Cat, says Lankford, the owner.

Or, as Farley says, "It's like Neverland but with more rats."

It's probably good for the general development of the neighborhood - many of those properties are probably going to need to be rehabbed/gentrified before much new construction begins, but it's disappointing that a place like the Copy Cat, which embodies so much of what Station North is supposed to be about, has to bite the dust. Hopefully the artists can find a new home in the neighborhood.

It's probably good for the general development of the neighborhood - many of those properties are probably going to need to be rehabbed/gentrified before much new construction begins, but it's disappointing that a place like the Copy Cat, which embodies so much of what Station North is supposed to be about, has to bite the dust. Hopefully the artists can find a new home in the neighborhood.


It's hard to replicate something as successful as the Copy Cat building. It's an integral element to the arts community in Baltimore. It would be a shame to see it go.

Besides my sentiment, I don't know how advisable it would be to convert the building. The neighborhood is frightening at best once the sun sets. I doubt they'd be able to fill so many apartments... especially for the price they're expecting.

This was posted in another thread, but I thought it could spark some good discussion here, as the topic of a new Baltimore chinatown always seems to draw some interesting opinions. What do you think about the Station North area for the new Chinatown? I'd love to see it work, but the idea of Station North doubling as an arts district and a chinatown seems like it might be trying to do a little much.



http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=4314&type=UTTM
A new Chinatown for Baltimore?
ROBBIE WHELAN
Daily Record Business Writer
February 11, 2008 6:48 PM
When most people look at the area surrounding the intersection of North Charles Street and North Avenue, they see vacant row houses, a few large condemned buildings, a fried chicken restaurant and cracked, buckling pavement.

When Tony Cheng looked at it, he saw Chinatown.

The Washington-based restaurateur and businessman, who once owned a restaurant near Mount Vernon Place, has been buying up property in the Station North area of the city with the intention of attracting Chinese and other Asian business owners to a redeveloped arts and entertainment district.

Cheng, who owns two Chinese restaurants in Washington, has purchased 10 properties so far, according to his Annapolis-based attorney, Dennis McCoy.

The list includes the former Bank of America building on the corner of North Avenue and North Charles, an ornate stone structure that once housed state Sen. Catherine Pugh’s campaign headquarters.

McCoy declined say how much Cheng has paid, but according to tax records, the properties are worth at least $2 million. And that does not include several parking lots that Cheng has also acquired.

“Mr. Cheng has decided to invest a not inconsiderable amount of money in the area,” McCoy said. “He has a number of projects in mind, including the development of an Asian community expanded beyond the small Korean community that is already there, and perhaps to establish more of a Chinatown than Baltimore has had for some time.”

In December, Cheng’s son, Anthony Cheng Jr., opened MVP Bus, a “Chinatown bus” service that offers discounted rates between Baltimore, New York and Washington, in the Hyundai Plaza building at 1910 N. Charles St.

Buses bound for New York and Washington will leave from the parking lot facing the ticket office, meaning that if Cheng’s plans go through, Baltimore’s Chinatown would be directly connected to those of Washington and New York.

Most Chinatown bus lines that pass through Baltimore now stop at the O’Donnell Street Travel Plaza in Southeast Baltimore.

The bus station shares the building with a Korean takeout restaurant, but Cheng plans to move a new, white tablecloth Chinese restaurant, called Tony Cheng’s, to the site.

Other plans include the conversion of the Bruning paint supplies store at 2011 Maryland Ave. into an art gallery, several more Chinese restaurants and an Asian grocery store.

Cheng’s vision is meant to dovetail with the nearby development of the Station North Arts District.

“What I understand he’s thinking about is not so much a community that focuses on Chinese customers, but Chinese merchants,” McCoy said. “Since this is an arts and entertainment district, I think he has in mind developing some Chinese restaurants, some art galleries that have a Chinese flavor, and drawing in some other types of art businesses … and maybe blending in some high-tech startup businesses.”

The former Bank of America processing center, a hulking, six-story concrete structure at North Charles and 21st streets, could house “an incubator for art-type businesses, or a place that would facilitate hi-tech or biotech type business in an artistic setting,” McCoy said.

Paul Dombrowski, the Baltimore Development Corp.’s project manager for Station North, said Cheng’s project would help encourage reinvestment in a neighborhood that had fallen prey to vacancy and neglect, but that in the last two or three years has begun to attract attention for developers.

“We have to remember that there is already a really strong Asian community within that area,” he said. “To my knowledge, most of that Asian heritage is Korean, but we would like to encourage development any way we can … to establish a new identity.”

Kapyoung Park, president of the Korean Liquor and Grocery Store Association of Maryland, said there are about 20 Korean-owned businesses, including at least five restaurants, in the immediate area, and about 500 Korean-owned businesses in Baltimore.

“I think [a Chinatown] would be helpful because we can get more attention from the local government if we’re all in the same area,” he said. “But when they say they’re going to create a Chinatown, where are the business owners going to come from?”

Cheng’s son said his father has been courting Chinese business owners from as far away as New York and Virginia, but that they will reach out to local Korean-American business owners as well.

“A lot of the Chinese he’s talking to are immigrants and they need a place to plop their feet down, and my father thinks that Baltimore is a hidden gem,” he said. “Development is creeping up at a snail’s pace and coming to a dead stop at North Avenue. … We need to see that neighborhood pop a little bit.”

Welcome! The narrative you've outlined is plausible. However, surrounding neighborhoods score a certain amount of boodle in "impact fees" from having the track as a neighbor ... and that boodle would be boosted significantly (http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpid=574&show=archivedetails&ArchiveID=1329091&om=1) if the slots bill passes.

If ya wanna learn more about the issue, check out the Baltimore Messenger's (http://news.mywebpal.com/index.cfm?pnpid=574) archives. Key word: Pimlico.

Cheers!


Thanks. One thing that is a little of a surprise to me about Baltimore is the lack of development along the Light Rail particuliarly along the northern stem with the exception being Woodbury/Clipper Mill and Mt. Washington Village. At my stop...Coldspring, there seems to a lot a wasted opportunity with the hodge podge of quasi industrial facilities to the Northern District Police Station. I read an old MTA Plan that identified Coldspring as the location for additional parking and the Jones Falls Plan noted that this was a good location for a mixed use/transit oriented development. However; nothing happened because, as I understand it, a property owner i.e. BG&E did not want to sell its property which is the tower that is abandon on the site.

THat combined with Loyola College building an athletic field and sports complex in 'woodbury woods' and a proposal that I read from the BDC to do some townhomes off Greensprings in woodbury... It just seems like there is little or no cooridinated efforts to bring some of these ideas concepts to fruition in manner that allows for some development while preserving and opening up some of these natural areas for further access. One positive step in that direction is the expansion of the Jones Falls Trail, which will pass through these areas as it moves from downtown up towards RE Lee Park.

^^i agree. that area should be developed more.

I'd love a new, better, bigger Chinatown. But how big would it really be? And how would the Chinese people be lured here? :?

Thanks. One thing that is a little of a surprise to me about Baltimore is the lack of development along the Light Rail particuliarly along the northern stem with the exception being Woodbury/Clipper Mill and Mt. Washington Village. At my stop...Coldspring, there seems to a lot a wasted opportunity with the hodge podge of quasi industrial facilities to the Northern District Police Station. I read an old MTA Plan that identified Coldspring as the location for additional parking and the Jones Falls Plan noted that this was a good location for a mixed use/transit oriented development. However; nothing happened because, as I understand it, a property owner i.e. BG&E did not want to sell its property which is the tower that is abandon on the site.

There isn't much there that's very desirable for development, except in Woodberry. The Cold Spring stop is a no-man's land, almost subterranean, in the Jones Falls Valley flood plain, near Poly but otherwise not near anything else. Mt Washington is as well developed as anybody in the neighborhood wants it to be. The Falls Road stop is also in a flood plain and the vacant land next to it is either park land or a private holding that may be toxic.

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=localnews&pnpID=574&NewsID=878568&CategoryID=8012&on=1

Rewrite of zoning code could help York Road

02/20/08
VIRGINIA TERHUNE
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City Councilman Bill Henry sees the pending rewrite of the city's outdated zoning code as an opportunity for redevelopment along main corridors such as York Road, which he represents.

Henry said he will wait to see what ideas citizens, businesses and others generate during the 18-to-24-month overhaul of the code, and expects to add some ideas of his own.

"I will point out, though, that I ran on a platform which placed great importance on the revitalization of our commercial corridors and shopping districts," he said in an e-mail.

"I expect to support zoning changes that will make it easier to positively redevelop those corridors and districts."

Last updated in 1971, the 493-page zoning code regulates the size, type, structure, nature and use of land or buildings, as well as parking and signs, city planners said.

The planning department will host a meeting Tuesday, Feb. 26, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute to explain how citizens can get involved in the rewrite process.

(The rewrite of the zoning code is distinct from the rezoning process, which involves changing the type of zoning on a piece of property.)

To help with the rewrite process, the city plans to hire a consultant, expected to cost $350,000, to work with planners and residents to identify problems and solutions.

The first task will be to draft a list of current problems in the code within the next few months.

"If we have no agreement on what the problems are, we won't get to the solution," said Laurie Feinberg, an Oakenshawe resident and chief of the planning department's comprehensive planning division, during a community meeting in downtown Baltimore on Feb. 13.

The hope is that by the time the updated zoning code is adopted in the fall of 2009, it will be more user- friendly, understandable, enforceable, predictable -- and shorter.

"We don't want the book to get fatter, hopefully," she said.

Preserving character

One of the goals of the zoning code update is to preserve the character of existing neighborhoods while guiding redevelopment and new development, Feinberg said.

There might be opportunities, for example, to create commercial "nodes" along York Road, similar to the redeveloped Belvedere Square shopping center at York Road and Belvedere Avenue.

North Baltimore is also home to medical and college campuses, such as Sinai Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, Loyola College and the College of Notre Dame, which are changing, or might change in the future, their mixes of housing and services.

Planners did not predict major changes to single-family zones in north Baltimore, but some community leaders, including those in Bellona-Gittings and Hampden, say they are worried about the establishment of group homes for disabled people in residential zones.

A bill before the City Council would allow group homes with more than four people in certain zones without council approval. The city's Planning Commission was scheduled to review the bill Feb. 21.

City offices were closed Feb. 18 for Presidents' Day and city planners could not be reached for comment about how the group homes bill, if adopted, would be affected by the zoning code rewrite.

Karen Stokes, executive director of the Greater Homewood Community Corp., said open space and code enforcement issues might surface, based on a recent workshop.

Karen DeCamp, president of the York Road Partnership, said she didn't know much yet about the process and planned to attend the Feb. 26 meeting at Poly.

Planners hope residents, groups and businesses get involved by signing up for e-mail updates and commenting on proposals via an interactive Web site to be developed.

Residents will have a chance to participate in work groups organized by topic and an advisory council appointed by Mayor Sheila Dixon.

Feinberg also anticipates "visioning" projects to help neighborhoods focus on what they would like to see in their areas.

She described the process as, "Here's a blank map, and here are your colors. Tell me where you want to be."

The time has come

Even if the city's recently completed master plan didn't require an overhaul, people would push for it anyway for a variety of reasons, according to planners.

* Parts of the cluttered code are anachronistic, including a reference to where S&H Green Stamp redemption centers can be located. (Green Stamps, which peaked during the 1960s, used to be acquired through grocery purchases for redemption at stores for appliances and other products. Now they're redeemed over the Internet.)

* The outdated code also makes it tougher to facilitate the trend toward mixed-use transit centers and retail-residential "villages" where people can live and walk to stores and services, such as Cross Street and Mount Vernon.

Neighborhoods might support a small storefront business, such as a hairdresser, but zoning in some cases won't allow it, according to one planner.

* Requests for relief from the cumbersome code are adding significantly to the workload of the city's Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals. In 2007, the board dealt with nearly 1,100 variance requests, 600 of which were for row house additions, Feinberg said.

* Over time, developers and others have found ways to work around the code, resulting in more than 200 overlay districts, which include urban renewal districts and planned unit developments, Feinberg said.

* Cases of nonconforming uses are also on the rise. Four out of five houses in the R-8 zones do not conform to the code, which says they must be at least 16 feet wide.

But times have changed, and the code needs to change with it, planners said.

"Row houses sell for $400,000 today and are no longer considered substandard," Feinberg said.

For more information, go to www.baltimorecity.gov/government/planning.

Planning under way for Old Town makeover

Edward Gunts | Architecture
March 3, 2008

It has designed new housing to replace Church Home Hospital on Broadway and laid the groundwork for the biotech park taking shape north of the Johns Hopkins medical campus.

Now a nationally prominent team of urban designers has been hired to recommend ways to revitalize another large swath of East Baltimore - the Old Town renewal area and surroundings.

Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh heads a group that was selected this year by Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration to create a master plan to guide redevelopment of 400 acres that lie between downtown Baltimore and the medical campus.

The area has become a repository for some of the harsher elements of urban life, including prisons, way stations for the homeless and abandoned buildings surrounded by barbed wire. But because it's so close to downtown and Hopkins, it also attracts interest from developers.

The city is seeking a vision for transforming the area into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood or series of neighborhoods with businesses, shops, housing and public spaces, and using the transformed property to create a stronger connection between downtown and the Hopkins campus.

As part of the study, city officials also want to know how to provide better access to the area and take more advantage of assets there, including Dunbar High School, Sojourner Douglass College and the restored houses on Stirling Street.

"It's a case of addressing a variety of issues by putting them in a broader framework," said city planning director Doug McCoach.

"If you look at any one parcel, you get solutions in scale with that parcel," he explained. "If you look at the whole area, you can look at bigger ideas - mixed-use strategies, high-quality open spaces. It's a way to reshuffle the deck a bit and identify opportunities that might be hidden in plain sight."

Old Town is one of the three original sections of Baltimore, along with Jonestown and Fells Point. Because it is not on the waterfront, it has largely been bypassed by the rebuilding activity that has helped rejuvenate the Inner Harbor and Fells Point shorelines.

Planners describe the area as a "hole in the doughnut" because though much of the land is relatively underused, the area is surrounded by strong institutions and neighborhoods.

Some changes are already in the works. The Baltimore Development Corp. has selected a group headed by Continental Realty to build a grocery store and other commercial space in Old Town. In recent months, developers have unveiled plans to build three moderate-priced hotels on Fallsway just south of Gay Street. The Housing Authority of Baltimore City plans to raze a public housing complex, Somerset Homes, to make way for new development.

The Old Town study area is bounded roughly by Fallsway on the west, Fayette Street on the south, North Broadway on the east and East Madison Street on the north.

Urban Design Associates is nationally known for creating master plans for mixed-use communities in urban areas. It was selected from among eight groups.

The planning effort will take about six months; the city's budget is about $300,000. Other members of the Urban Design team include the Cobalt Group, an economic analyst from Pittsburgh; Marks Thomas Architects of Baltimore; and RK&K, a Baltimore engineering firm.

A public meeting has been set for 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Pleasant View Gardens Community Center, 201 N. Aisquith St., to launch the planning effort.

McCoach said the team was chosen in large part because the selection panel was impressed with the team members' knowledge of the city and vision for the area.

"We were struck by their notion of how all the different pieces of the puzzle could come together to create something that's bigger than what's there today," he said. "They understand the synergy we're looking for."

Paul Ostergaard, a principal of Urban Design, said he believes the area has strong potential though it has suffered from lack of investment.

Ostergaard said his team plans to meet with stakeholders to gather information about the area and to conduct two charettes - intensive, short-term planning exercises - as it develops its master plan. He applauds the city's leaders for wanting to look at the big picture.

From a "smart growth" perspective, he said, "this is the most sustainable form of growth you can imagine, because you're taking part of a great city and recycling it. We can see a lot more people living there, a lot of jobs created there. It's an amazing location."

Monumental Life tour
As part of a yearlong celebration of its 150th anniversary, Monumental Life Insurance Co. is opening its headquarters in the 1100 block of N. Charles St. for the general public to tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The open house is a rare opportunity to explore the building, which is filled with antiques. Visitors will also be able to see the old treasury vault that has been buried under Charles Street since 1939. Monumental Life's actual anniversary is Wednesday.

ed.gunts@baltsun.com

I like the idea of a new chinatown ! I did not even know that , at one time , there was a chinatown in Baltimore.

There are still remnants of the old Chinatown here and there. Mostly faded signs on the sides of brick buildings. I like the idea of a new Chinatown. Chinatowns, although fairly generic, are still cool. They tend to be very visual with lots of public art and interesting architecture. They also tend to have a higher than average density of places of interest - restaurants, shops, theatres... the kinds of things that get people on the street just wondering around. I think either the proposed location for the new Chinatown or the old location of the former Chinatown would be an ideal spot for a higher-density, high-interest neighborhood. As it stands right now, Baltimore gets less and less "interesting" the further away from the harbor you go. It would be a huge boost if we could build a highly attractive, highly desirable neighborhood north of the harbor right in the middle of the Charles Street corridor. With Station North and a new Chinatown, it could create a very unique atmosphere. A lot of potential there.

Since the Baltimore Development thread is active these days with transit and 10IH news, I figured I'd transplant one project in particular to this thread. After all, I did create this thread with hopes that it could be used to discuss the smaller, neighborhood-transforming projects around the city.

Anyway, here is a project proposed for the intersection of Howard and Madison:

M on Madison
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http://www.pfarc.com/images/06013/NE.gif

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Looking at this project, this seems to be the kind of project that the city is hoping we'll see more of throughout the Westside - mid-rise, mixed-use residential. I personally think the city has the right idea here. I think if the Westside can be filled out with projects similar to this, it will become the most active area of the city, and possibly one of the most desirable.

Unfortunately, Peter Fillat has a tendency to post projects on his website that are either dead or are projects for which his firm was not selected, so it's difficult to say whether this project will ever come to fruition. The developer is Oak Street Developers, but I can't find a website for them. Nonetheless, I hope we see this project and many more like it. I think it's great.

^^ actually it has its own website. www.monmadison.com looks like it is a go.

Oldtown NEEDS to be redeveloped. It's basically a barren area. With what was there I can see a mixed use project there. Maybe even a community recycling station to boot.

Also that area betwee Woodberry and North Avenue (on the light rail) NEEDS to be redveloped. When you ride the light rail going south, you see a lot of vacant buildings that could be of use to businesses and/or home owners, i.e. the Mount Verning Lighting building. That place is nothing but empty and could/should be either reused or rebuilt.

Oldtown NEEDS to be redeveloped. It's basically a barren area. With what was there I can see a mixed use project there. Maybe even a community recycling station to boot.

Also that area betwee Woodberry and North Avenue (on the light rail) NEEDS to be redveloped. When you ride the light rail going south, you see a lot of vacant buildings that could be of use to businesses and/or home owners, i.e. the Mount Verning Lighting building. That place is nothing but empty and could/should be either reused or rebuilt.

I totally agree. It seems that things are slow to develop along the Light Rail Corridor outside of downtown, though there seems to be progress around some major projects like the State Center, Westport, and Clipper Mill in Woodbury. There would seem to be opportunities at the North Ave Light Rail Station if the parking lot and "air rights" above the tracks could be sold and developed...possibly as an continuing expansion of MICA. They are completing a nice facility next to 1-83 and Mt Royal. I also thought there was a development proposal for a project on the UB parking lot at the Mt. Royal Light Rail Station that included apt. and retail. Then there is of course my favorite stop (Coldspring) which is yet to reach its potential though it is certainly constrained. With all the investment that Loyola is putting into their new athletic complex next to the Northern District Police Station. I would love to see the creation of a small commercial node similiar to Mt. Washington Village or the small retail district along Coldspring in Roland Park created near the light rail stop that could serve both activities at the stadium and the surrounding communities.

I just love how the 21224 district is one of the largest in the city and yet, they have all these forgotten neighborhoods like O'Donnell Heights and Dundalk,where I live.They really need to put life around here because its so boring around here.I mean the diversity has sprung up dramatically over the years, since back than it was basically all old white people..but they need to develop something around here.Its just dead around here.I'd appreciate if they build a park or something!

Punctuating debate over Fells vs. Fell's Point
Jack Trautwein

By Rob Hiaasen | Sun Reporter
March 25, 2008

You can't keep a stubborn apostrophe down.

To this day, people milling about the funky waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point note for themselves the roving apostrophe attached to the town with the grammatically split personality. Consider: Fell's Point Visitors Center, Fells Point Development Corp., Society for the Preservation of Federal Hill and Fell's Point, Fells Point Historic District, and the Fell's Point Citizens on Patrol. What's a grammarian to do?

"It makes me wince because I'm an English major," says Ellen von Karajan, executive director of the Fell's Point preservation society. "We stick to the traditional apostrophe because to our way of thinking, it was the point of the Edward Fell family."

English Quaker William Fell sailed into Baltimore's Northwest Harbor 278 years ago (give or take a month) and bought the marshy land surrounding the point. His son, Edward Fell, carried on the singular family name by establishing the harbor area as a separate city in 1763. Hence, the cape was named after the Fell family. Fell's Point, right? It's always been Bertha's Mussels and The Cat's Eye Pub, after all.

But history does not always excel in English or, perhaps, the area's historic nomenclature was never intended to mark ownership. It didn't help the apostrophe cause when William Fell first named his purchase "Fells Prospect."

This is really old news.

"No, the issue continues to be raised, and I don't think the debate will end," says von Karajan. "Everytime we turn around, there's an omission of the apostrophe." To put an exclamation point on her point, an Interstate 95 sign at Exit 57 directs motorists south to Canton and Fells Point. The preservation society's director (and English major) winces at the sight of the highway slight. And she is not the only one.

Mark Walker is a community activist and writer for The Fell's Pointer newsletter, which is unapologetically pro-apostrophe. This past week, Walker dropped a bombshell on The Sun, which has consistently eschewed a Fells Point apostrophe.

"We now have proof," Walker said.

At a preservation society meeting in December, town crier and historian Jack Trautwein delivered a presentation on his preliminary research into a book about the founding Fell family. All very interesting. An hour or so into his speech, Trautwein tossed in a tantalizing aside. Trautwein (occasionally seen around the point, in costume, announcing news from 1812) found perhaps the earliest official mention of the area. In 1792, Edward Fell placed an ad in the Maryland Gazette for the sale of property in "Fell's-Point." Never mind the phantom hyphen, note the spelling of Fell's, Trautwein told the preservation society. He also produced Gazette ads from that era where the hyphen was dropped but not the apostrophe in question.

"We all laughed - then we applauded," Walker says. "We've been trying to put this to rest, and now it's definitive."

Definitively maybe. Jennifer Etheridge, then-president of the Fell's Point Homeowners' Association, shared a story on the town's Web site. When she moved to the area, she bought a tobacco jar-style lamp from Brassworks. The store asked if she wanted an apostrophe on her lamp. She consulted the preservation society, which strongly recommended the additional punctuation.

Etheridge bought the lamp and apostrophe.

"I was, and am, happy with my decision, as I believe proper usage of the English language needs to be preserved, not butchered," she wrote.

On Thames Street, Claudia Towles and her husband, Thomas, faced down the apostrophe issue before naming their business. A fact-finding Google mission ensued, then the verdict: In recognition of the Fell family, the Towles family named their toy store aMuse of Fell's Point. There, the dashing apostrophe! No community backlash lashed back at them, although amusing comments keep coming, Towles says. Seems there are two kinds of people in this two-named town.

"We're a neutral party. I don't advocate an apostrophe. I don't lose my mind like some people do if I don't see it," she says. "I'm just among those who tend to overanalyze and really think about things thoroughly."

But the devil remains in the details. Martha had her vineyard, and Fell had his point. In grammar, possession is also nine-tenths of the law - which doesn't settle the local matter one bit.

"You have to have a little controversy in life, don't you?" Trautwein says. "And this controversy will go on - but the other side of it doesn't have a leg to stand on."

He wants to make "Fell's Point" official - maybe a town proclamation! Or, as the town crier also says, he might take the matter straight to Baltimore's City Hall. But the federal arbiter of all named geography remains a stickler for Fells Point. In fact, the little-known U.S. Board on Geographic Names has always discouraged the use of the possessive form.

"The Board's archives contain no indication of the reason for this policy," according to Frequently Asked Question No. 18 on its Web site. "Myths attempting to explain the policy include the idea that the apostrophe looks too much like a rock in water when printed on a map, and is therefore a hazard." Early cartographers didn't need the typographical hassle; neither did early boaters.

President Benjamin Harrison established the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 1890 to settle contradictions and inconsistencies of geographic names in the Western territories after the Civil War. In 1911, the board made national news by restoring the "h" to Pittsburgh. The board has also validated the name-splitting " Glen Burnie" and "Bel Air." Working with federal and state agencies, the Reston, Va.-based board continues to make binding decisions as the "central authority" for name problems and changes.

Since its inception, though, the board has approved only five apostrophes, including Martha's Vineyard ("after an extensive local campaign"), Ike's Point in New Jersey ("it would be unrecognizable otherwise") and John E's Pond in Rhode Island (because it would be confused as John S Pond). So, Martha, Ike and John get apostrophes but not William or Edward or any other Fell.

Oh, wouldn't things be so much simpler if it had been Edward Fells? Wait - the possessive would then be Fells' Point. Or, according to Rule 1 in The Elements of Style, the Baltimore neighborhood would be known as Fells's Point.

Try naming a toy store that.

The Greater Hillendale Community Plan

Are there things you want to see happen in Hillendale?

What would you like to change, preserve, or create?

Want to help improve your Community?

Then come get involved in the Greater Hillendale Community Plan!

First meeting will be Wednesday, April 2nd, 6:30pm at Halstead Academy in the Cafeteria, 1111 Halstead Road
Baltimore, MD 21234


Contact us for more details:

Michael Lynch: 410-887-2909, mlynch@baltimorecountymd.gov

Donnell Zeigler: 410-887-3480, dzeigler@baltimorecountymd.gov

BioPark drawing home buyers west
ROBBIE WHELAN
Daily Record Business Writer
April 1, 2008 7:22 PM
At the ceremony for the opening and groundbreaking for the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s two new BioPark buildings, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings recalled serving on the association board of the nearby Poppleton neighborhood, in 1979.

“Back then, the biggest fear was that the University of Maryland would come across Martin Luther King ,” Cummings, a Democrat, said Monday. “But then there came some visionaries. …There are visionaries on both sides of MLK.”

Ever since local developer Wexford Science and Technology broke ground on the BioPark in 2004, public officials, community activists and real estate agents have been asking questions about what the new development means for the blighted West Baltimore neighborhoods that surround it: Poppleton, Hollins Market, Union Square and Washington Village.

What will happen to real estate in the area? What kinds of new people and businesses will move there? Who, if anyone, will be displaced?

University officials expect the BioPark, when its 10 buildings are completed in 10 to 12 years, to create 2,000 jobs and generate about $500 million in capital investment, and much of it is expected to trickle down into the community.

Already, the university has signed deals with Baltimore City Community College and Goodwill Industries to provide educational and work force development services to benefit nearby low-income populations.

But for others, the BioPark means that wealthy, well-educated scientists, engineers and businesspeople will be moving to the area, and it may be a good time to buy and rehab a house or open a business.

Despite the soft residential market, local real estate professionals have seen a marked increase in home prices in Union Square and Hollins Market, including dozens of stately, Civil War-era brick row homes.

“I think that the housing was taking off regardless of the BioPark, and we first noticed that change around six years ago,” said Sam Bassi, a Hollins Market resident and property manager with Pantanel Properties, which specializes in real estate in the neighborhood. “But the BioPark accelerated that process. The fact that there’s going to be a consumer base of 2,000 employees is really going to accelerate the commercial activity in the area.”

Bassi noted that two restaurants — Zella’s Pizzeria and Baltimore Pho — have opened in the last year there, and that this month, UMB will begin running a shuttle service directly from the BioPark to Hollins Market.

Debbie Kuper, an agent with Prudential-Carruthers’ Federal Hill office, said that in 2001, she sold three adjacent rowhouses facing Union Square park, each in the $150,000 price range. Now, she said, the same houses average about $100,000 more.

“Housing is going to be an issue once biotech really gets moving,” she said. “People are feeling better about the neighborhood, thinking that there will be better people over there. … Everyone’s still a little nervous with the market, but the word ‘biotech’ is helping turn things around. A lot of people who come to me say they’re looking for a 10-year investment, and that’s smart.”

The value of homes sold in Union Square, Hollins Market and Washington Village has increased by an average of 53 percent since 2004, according to Live Baltimore, a nonprofit urban marketing group.

[b]But Poppleton provides the most stunning example of a housing market jump-started by redevelopment. Park Square, a city-subsidized mixed use development of more than 500 properties, is scheduled to break ground in 2009, and the Poppleton Co-Op, a 90-unit Section 8 housing complex adjacent to the BioPark’s north side, is undergoing a multimillion-dollar private renovation by the Hampstead Group, which will convert some of its units into market-rate homes.

Last year, four houses in a row on the 1000 block of West Fayette Street, less than two blocks from the BioPark, sold for an average of $371,000 apiece, helping to account for a 588 percent rise in the median home sale price in the neighborhood. In 2004, the median price of a home sold in Poppleton was $59,500.

Audrey Robinson, president of the Poppleton Co-Op, which is subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said local residents are already reaping the benefits of UMB’s investment in the neighborhood.

“We’re feeling so far so good, as long as we don’t become displaced,” she said.

But Robinson said that she and her neighbors have been treated “very well.”

“We are friends with the University of Maryland,” she said. “We have talked with them, and since the builders have been up there, we’ve had a lot of protection from the University of Maryland police department. They’ve treated us very well. That’s been a plus. … It’s cleaner, we have nicer people coming through here, there’s less crime.”

I'm really excited to see the rejuvenation of these West Baltimore neighborhoods. There are so many great areas in such a relatively small space that have been neglected over the years. It'll be great to see the improvement over the next decade.

Now this is a long-overdue comprehensive change in the city. Now I would be remissed if I didn't say that I'm sad that some buildings are on the way of oblivion (CopyKat/Station North). However the over progress and vision seems promising.

I really hope that there's some revitalization in that area on the light rail between Woodberry (Clipper Mill Park area) and North Avenue is redeveloped. That area has promise and seclusion all in same shot. With the shells of buildings that are there, there's a lot that could be done.

And speaking of shells of buildings, when is someone going to rehab/renovate that building before Tapas Teatro on North Avenue? And Penn Station could really use a MAJOR overhaul. The building overall, isn't used at capacity. A lot of wasted space and rotting flesh (in terms of building) is aiding in major decay in Baltimore.

Now this is a long-overdue comprehensive change in the city. Now I would be remissed if I didn't say that I'm sad that some buildings are on the way of oblivion (CopyKat/Station North). However the over progress and vision seems promising.

I really hope that there's some revitalization in that area on the light rail between Woodberry (Clipper Mill Park area) and North Avenue is redeveloped. That area has promise and seclusion all in same shot. With the shells of buildings that are there, there's a lot that could be done.

And speaking of shells of buildings, when is someone going to rehab/renovate that building before Tapas Teatro on North Avenue? And Penn Station could really use a MAJOR overhaul. The building overall, isn't used at capacity. A lot of wasted space and rotting flesh (in terms of building) is aiding in major decay in Baltimore.


I had read in the Sun and on the Baltimore Development Corp website that there were negotiations underway with Amtrak to do either a small hotel in the existing station and some retail on the adjoining parking lot north of the Station (see link below) there is also a project in the planning stages for the Bolton Lot owned by UB next to the light rail station. There used to be more info on both projects on the site now its just a vague project name. Anyone have more info?


http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/projectDetails.aspx?id=83&cd=Mixed%20Use

http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/projectDetails.aspx?id=288&cd=Mixed%20Use

Duplicate Post-deleted

I had read in the Sun and on the Baltimore Development Corp website that there were negotiations underway with Amtrak to do either a small hotel in the existing station and some retail on the adjoining parking lot north of the Station (see link below) there is also a project in the planning stages for the Bolton Lot owned by UB next to the light rail station. There used to be more info on both projects on the site now its just a vague project name. Anyone have more info?


http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/projectDetails.aspx?id=83&cd=Mixed%20Use

http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/projectDetails.aspx?id=288&cd=Mixed%20Use

The project slated for the UB lot next to the light rail is called the Fitzgerald at UB/Midtown. It's the first phase in a larger development, and it should break ground some time in the next few months, I believe. Google both the "Fitzgerald at UB/Midtown" and "Bolton Yards" (the project's former name) and you'll find tons of information - renderings, layouts, etc. - on the project. It will include a grocery store and a bookstore I believe, so it should be huge for the neighborhood. Very big project.

As for Penn Station, the idea of a hotel up there has been floated around for a long while. I can't remember where it stands at the moment, but I don't expect it to happen anytime soon. Not too long ago, the BDC hired a firm from Boston (the same guys who designed Harborplace) to put together a plan for the Station North district. One of their idea was to expand Penn Station with a new terminal on the Amtrak parking lot north of the current building. It was only a conceptual rendering, but it looked pretty sweet. It's definitely years off, but that is one aspect I hope they keep and run with.

....As for Penn Station, the idea of a hotel up there has been floated around for a long while. I can't remember where it stands at the moment, but I don't expect it to happen anytime soon. Not too long ago, the BDC hired a firm from Boston (the same guys who designed Harborplace) to put together a plan for the Station North district. One of their idea was to expand Penn Station with a new terminal on the Amtrak parking lot north of the current building. It was only a conceptual rendering, but it looked pretty sweet. It's definitely years off, but that is one aspect I hope they keep and run with.

They really need to do something on this. The main lobbies of Penn are OK but perpetually open windows piled with junk upstairs looks really bad for visitors and residents who ride the trains. Even if they just painted the window frames and moved the junk, it would look better. The problem with the building is that there just isn't any need for office space on the upper floors; in DC they handled this by turning that massive Union Station into a mall and food court.

I don't think they could do that here due to the relatively small size of the station, but couple dozen hotel rooms would seem to work for travelers who would appreciate the convenience. Who knows...maybe something like those micro-room hotels like they have in Japan, oriented toward short stays, would work.

http://blogs.mddailyrecord.com/ontherecord/2008/04/03/volunteers-needed-for-%e2%80%98rebuilding-day%e2%80%99/

Volunteers needed for ‘Rebuilding Day’
April 3rd, 2008 · No Comments

When you think of Home & Garden Television, you probably don’t think of residences in the city’s oft-forgotten areas of Pen Lucy or Waverly. However, HGTV and Rebuilding Together Baltimore are aiming to revitalize and renovate those areas — along with Baltimore County’s Turner Station — as part of Rebuilding Day 2008, also known as April 26.

Our city was one of five winning cities in an online contest through HGTV’s Change the World, Start at Home campaign. Now that the winners are announced, here comes the hard part — finding folks to do the dirty work. Whether skilled or unskilled (more my category), all volunteers are sure to be welcomed.

If anyone is interested, go here (http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_change_the_world/text/0,,HGTV_30676_65472,00.html)to start lending a hand.

From the release:

“Over forty-five additional homeowners will also receive assistance from Rebuilding Together on National Rebuilding Day. Several empty lots in the Pen Lucy neighborhood also will be restored and beautified and the nonprofit Community Mediation Program in Waverly will receive energy efficiency and handicap accessibility improvements to its building.”

FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.schools30apr30,0,2117050.story

Canton angry about school
Student crime tops concerns
By Sara Neufeld | Sun reporter
April 30, 2008

Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Text size: Fearful for their safety and property values, Canton residents are furious over a decision by the Baltimore school system to put a new middle/high school in their neighborhood.

Neighbors of Canton Middle School say its students have repeatedly attacked and harassed them, and they thought the trouble would be over when the school closes within the next year. Now, the system is planning to use the building to house one of six new combined middle/high schools run by outside operators.

City Councilman James B. Kraft, who represents the area, is so angry about the decision -- which he said was made with no community input -- that he is threatening to hold up the school system's budget when it comes before the council for approval. He said a majority of council members have agreed to support him.

"This is absolutely absurd," said Kraft, who has called a community meeting for Thursday night. "It was pledged to the community that there would be no school on that site."

The school system made plans under previous administrations to close the several buildings as it strives to operate more efficiently in the face of declining enrollment. But as city schools chief Andres Alonso aims to create two dozen combined middle/high schools as part of a strategy for reform, he decided to keep some of the buildings under system control. The goal is to create high quality schools to reverse the enrollment decline, Alonso said.

At a news conference yesterday, system officials announced that philanthropists have donated $4.4 million for the creation of the first batch of middle/high schools, scheduled to open this summer. All will operate in buildings that were previously slated to close.

Alonso said the initiative is designed to offer more high-quality choices to parents who often feel they don't have a good option in public education after their children finish elementary school.

"Every single child in the city deserves a great school regardless of who their parents are, where they're born, what their economic situation is," Alonso said. "Let's make no mistake about it: This is about social justice."

Last fall, Alonso began to approach local and national foundations seeking $25 million to open two dozen combined middle/high schools in the next few years. In March, the school board approved the creation of five schools and allowed an existing charter high school, Baltimore Freedom Academy, to add sixth through eighth grades.

Twelve Baltimore-based philanthropic groups, including the Open Society Institute, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Abell Foundation, are giving $3.3 million for the first batch of schools. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $1.1 million. All of the money was previously designated for high school reform in the city, but the funding was frozen in recent years as the initiative stalled under Alonso's predecessors.

Most of the middle/high schools will open with classes of 80 sixth-graders and 80 ninth-graders, adding a middle school grade and a high school grade each year until all are served.

In Canton, the Friendship Public Charter School company plans to open the Friendship Academy of Science and Technology. In addition to sixth and ninth grades, it also might absorb the final class of eighth-graders at Canton Middle, at 801 S. Highland Ave.

That doesn't sit well with some residents of the gentrified neighborhood, many of whom do not send their own children to the school and say students have caused repeated problems.

"There's groups of children that wander up and down the alleys. They crawl under people's decks and smoke pot," said Susan Colligan, a pediatric social worker who lives a half-block from Canton Middle. "At the bus stops when the children leave school, there are many observed incidents of the children in groups assaulting innocent bystanders."

Colligan said residents have made Canton "a very healthy, clean part of the city."

"Houses that used to go at public auction for a dollar are now going for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and we're giving the city a lot of revenue," she said. "We don't want to feel unsafe in our neighborhood, and we don't want to lose the ability to sell our homes at fair-market value."

Residents have brought their concerns to city police, who said this week that they would have an officer stationed near the school on weekday afternoons. Maj. Roger Bergeron, commander of the Southeastern District, wrote in an e-mail posted on a community LISTSERV that "the issue with the school kids is quite serious, and the Police Department is attempting to identify those involved."

Officials from Friendship, which runs five schools in Washington and was recently recognized by the College Board for its students' success on Advanced Placement tests, emphasized that their school will be different than what's been there before.

Patricia Brantley, chief operating officer, said the company runs "a very rigorous academic program" with an emphasis on values and integrity.

"We are looking to put something completely new and different in that building," said Jerry Haley, a spokesman for Friendship, which also will open a school in Northeast Baltimore in the building once occupied by Dr. Samuel L. Banks High. "We've had some tremendous success working in urban environments."

i used to live in canton before moving to columbia, and the children at that school were ridiculously rowdy. i'm not sure if closing it is the best option however.....

Yeah, I hear you. On the one hand, I'm thinking, "How can you possibly oppose new school construction?" On the other hand, when high schools lets out in Baltimore City, it can be chaotic.

Also, Canton is home to so many young families, as well as young people who will likely have families of their own in a few years, is a neighborhood school not of concern for them?

A while back in this thread, I believe someone found a 6-7 story luxury condo planned for Lombard and Central, just across the street from Lenny's. Walking by this vacant lot the last two days, I have noticed a fence go up and people starting to work on the grounds and I'm guessing this is for that condo project. Can anyone confirm?

Hmmm. Lotta permits have been pulled recently in Jonestown, but none for that site...

http://www.baltimorehousing.org/CELS/TL_TM_Map.aspx

A while back in this thread, I believe someone found a 6-7 story luxury condo planned for Lombard and Central, just across the street from Lenny's. Walking by this vacant lot the last two days, I have noticed a fence go up and people starting to work on the grounds and I'm guessing this is for that condo project. Can anyone confirm?

I don't recall such a project, but I was never able to keep all the Central Ave. projects straight anyway. If you get a chance, maybe you could ask one of the workers at the site what's going on :)

Nevermind. Found it. The discussion is on page 53 of the Baltimore Development News thread. You can see a rendering on page 12 of this (http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/files/print_materials/newsletters/2007_spring.pdf). It's the Saval Foods site proposal. Looks pretty good, glad to see it's starting.

Yeah, it is a good looking project. I'd guess developer Larry Silverstein is putting in a parking lot to serve his other nearby projects (such as Mustang Sally's in the Tack Factory) rather than getting started on the condo development.

BTW: here's the correct link to the permits page: http://www.baltimorehousing.org/index/permits.asp

I plugged in "Jonestown" for the neighborhood; lotta permits, but none for this site (that I could find).

baltimoresun.com
Festival grows along Charles
Artscape to expand, boost Station North arts district in city
By Stephen Kiehl

Sun reporter

May 30, 2008


Artscape will expand onto Charles Street this year in an effort to boost the Station North Arts and Entertainment District and bring more people to the galleries, restaurants and shops in Midtown Baltimore's designated arts area.

The arts festival, set for July 18-20, will continue to be centered in Bolton Hill along Mount Royal Avenue. But this year the festival will also occupy Charles Street from Mount Royal north to Lafayette Avenue, with a music stage, food court, street performers and other activities.

Station North, a 100-acre swath north of Penn Station that received city recognition as an arts district in 2002, is working to raise its profile in Baltimore and beyond. While many are familiar with the Charles Theatre and Tapas Teatro restaurant in the 1700 block of N. Charles St., galleries and stores in the area have not received as much attention.

"One of the things that we realized is, some of the folks who come to Artscape maybe only come into the city a few times a year, and this gives them the sense there are other places they can come to in the city," said David Bielenberg, executive director of Station North Arts and Entertainment Inc., a nonprofit that manages the district. "We saw this as a great opportunity to reach some new audiences."

The nonprofit approached the city last year and asked to be included in Artscape, the largest free arts festival in Maryland. Artscape was looking to expand because a large parking lot that had been used as a food court is now the site of construction for apartments and a parking garage.

Expansion onto Maryland Avenue was considered, but development might soon complicate that location, and officials were looking for a more permanent home. Meanwhile, Station North establishments such as the Everyman Theatre offered to help with space and programming for the festival.

"We thought Baltimore's premier arts festival should be on one of its premier streets," said Bill Gilmore, executive director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. "It's definitely going to boost Station North and that community. We want people to park in those neighborhoods, walk in those neighborhoods and become familiar with them."

Since its designation as an arts district, Station North has quietly attracted artists and nurtured the openings of restaurants, galleries and other businesses. But the area has not garnered the kind of fanfare attached to upscale developments such as Harbor East.

"It makes perfect sense that Artscape would expand into our district," said Vincent Lancisi, artistic director of the Everyman Theatre. "I think the street will be filled with art-seekers, and it will invigorate our area for a weekend."

On the Saturday of Artscape, the Everyman stage will be used for a jazz competition. And while the theater does not have a regularly scheduled performance for the Artscape weekend, it will consider staging a show during the festival next year, Lancisi said.

To facilitate Station North's growth, the city is creating a vision and development plan for the area, bounded by Greenmount Avenue on the east, 20th Street on the north, Falls Road on the west and the Jones Falls Expressway on the south. Baltimore Development Corp. has hired planners and architects to guide development.

Initial ideas include a 60-story tower with "live-work" condos, blocks of small shops and artists studios, and shops and outdoor cafes along the distressed North Avenue corridor. But for now, business owners say they are thrilled to play host to Artscape this year.

"We're all very happy that Station North is being recognized as the arts and entertainment district that it is, and this is the first really good acknowledgment of that fact," said Suzannah Gerber, curator and events and exhibitions coordinator for Load of Fun Studios at North Avenue and Howard Street.

While Artscape will stop a couple of blocks short of her studio, she hopes that in future years the festival will expand to include most of Station North. Such an expansion could help dispel people's fears about North Avenue.

"I think there's still very much a stigma about North Avenue, which is largely fictitious at this point," Gerber said. "I don't know whether Artscape will have a positive effect on that or not."

Load of Fun will offer live performances and workshops concurrent with Artscape. And on the Friday and Saturday nights of the festival, Load of Fun will host performances by Annie Sprinkle, a feminist performance artist as part of its Baltimore Erotic Arts Festival.

The official Artscape schedule of events will be announced Wednesday.

stephen.kiehl@baltsun.com

Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun

-------------

baltimoresun.com
Festival grows along Charles
Artscape to expand, boost Station North arts district in city
By Stephen Kiehl
Sun reporter
May 30, 2008
Artscape will expand onto Charles Street this year in an effort to boost the Station North Arts and Entertainment District and bring more people to the galleries, restaurants and shops in Midtown Baltimore's designated arts area.

The arts festival, set for July 18-20, will continue to be centered in Bolton Hill along Mount Royal Avenue. But this year the festival will also occupy Charles Street from Mount Royal north to Lafayette Avenue, with a music stage, food court, street performers and other activities......------------

I was wondering how they would handle the coming project at Bolton Yards. Closing off Charles St sounds pretty radical though. I'm eagerly awaiting the music schedule. Pretty much every year they seem to feature somebody that I've really wanted to hear.

Yeah, it is a good looking project. I'd guess developer Larry Silverstein is putting in a parking lot to serve his other nearby projects (such as Mustang Sally's in the Tack Factory) rather than getting started on the condo development.

BTW: here's the correct link to the permits page: http://www.baltimorehousing.org/index/permits.asp

I plugged in "Jonestown" for the neighborhood; lotta permits, but none for this site (that I could find).

Thanks for the insight. While a parking lot isn't as good as a condo, I guess it's better than a vacant lot.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-re.insider27jul27,0,5106435.story

Eclectic and appealing
By Brad Schleicher | Sun reporter
July 27, 2008
Originally a community that housed blue-collar mill workers in the early 1800s, the Woodberry neighborhood has developed into an eclectic area with diverse housing styles while still retaining most of its original charm.

"It's as if rural America was dropped right in the middle of the city," says Dr. Claudia Brown, a former school principal, 34-year Woodberry resident and member of the Park Hill/Edgegreen Community Association. "The residents used to be more blue-collar, but now it's a more cosmopolitan area with residents coming from remarkably different backgrounds."

One reason for the change, according to Tracey Brown, vice president of the Concerned Citizens of Woodberry, was the redevelopment of Clipper Mill, which initiated a rapid change in the neighborhood's housing prices.

"Woodberry was a very insular community," says Brown, "but the redevelopment of Clipper Mill has brought a lot of attention to the area, making home prices rise."

With five different enclaves in greater Woodberry, housing options and prices differ, depending on the location. Throughout the neighborhood, a variety of styles can be found, from rustic stone houses and wooded cottages to rowhouses and loft condominiums.

According to Christine Thomas of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Roland Park, it's possible to find a house in Woodberry that's priced anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000 or more.

Brick Hill, located on the southeast end of the neighborhood overlooking Meadow Mill and backing up against Druid Hill Park, is on the National Historic Register and has more than a dozen duplex homes that date to the late 19th century.

Park Hill/Edgegreen, in the southwest corner of the neighborhood, is largely composed of bungalow houses that were built in the 1930s and 1940s.

In the northwest corner of the neighborhood, the Greenspring Trails enclave comprises eight single-family homes. Built in the 1940s and 1950s, the houses are surrounded by plentiful woods and open space.

Clipper Mill, the most recently developed area of Woodberry, is made up of a variety of buildings that contain small business offices, condominiums and loft-style apartments. There is also an area containing attached, three-story, three-bedroom townhomes and a new development of detached "green" duplexes.


Rentals
According to Richard Kaminski of Woodberry Properties LLC, rentals in the area are also diverse. Most two-story, two-bedroom single-family rowhouses will run between $850 and $1,200 a month. Although they are fewer, three- and four-bedroom detached townhomes can cost up to $2,000 a month.


Crime
According to Community Relations Officer Jon Walter of the Baltimore Police Department's Northern District, crime in Woodberry is low compared with other areas of the district and the city. "Most of the crime is property-based and nonviolent," Walter says.


Kids and Schools
Starting this fall, the Hampden School, formerly Hampden Elementary, will accommodate students from Robert Poole Middle. The area is also served by Medfield Heights Elementary and Roland Park Elementary/Middle schools.

High school students in the area are served by W.E.B. DuBois and Reginald F. Lewis high schools.

The magnet high schools in the area are Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, the all-girls Western High and the Academy for Career and College Exploration.

According to Maryland state data for 2007, all of the above mentioned schools passed state proficiency levels for reading and mathematics with the exception of W.E.B. DuBois and Reginald F. Lewis high schools, which failed to meet proficiency levels in reading or mathematics, and the Academy for Career and College Exploration, which failed to meet proficiency levels for reading.


Shopping
Woodberry is a short drive from an eclectic mix of shops on the Avenue in Hampden and shops downtown.


Transportation
According to Tracey Brown, most residents travel by car, but the light rail and the Hampden Shuttle bus are other options.


Nightlife
Mobtown Theater is nearby in Meadow Mill shopping center. Otherwise, nightlife options in Woodberry are slim, but it's a short drive to area bars and downtown.


Dining In
The two grocery stores are the Giant Food on 40th Street at the Rotunda and the Super Fresh on 41st Street in Hampden.


Dining Out
The only restaurant in the neighborhood is the Woodberry Kitchen in Clipper Mill. However, restaurants in surrounding neighborhoods and downtown are a short drive away.


Recreation
Rockrose Park is a small open space in the heart of TV Hill that is mostly used for dog walking. There's also easy access to Druid Hill Park, which offers picnicking, a disc golf course and walking trails.


Woodberry by the Numbers
ZIP code: 21211

Houses on the market: 6

Average sale price: $210,950

Average days on the market: 108

Information based on sales during the past 12 months, compiled by Christine Thomas of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Roland Park at Wyndhurst Station

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.regionbriefs090oct09,0,4301611.story

Charles Village in top 10 'Great Neighborhoods'

October 9, 2008

Baltimore's Charles Village is one of the top 10 neighborhoods in the nation, according to a designation by the American Planning Association announced yesterday. The APA chose Charles Village as one of its 10 "Great Neighborhoods for 2008," a part of the Great Places in America program, which recognizes the role planners and planning play in creating communities of character. Originally known as Peabody Heights and connected to downtown Baltimore by streetcar, Charles Village was built at the turn of the 20th century.

Lorraine Mirabella

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.regionbriefs090oct09,0,4301611.story

Charles Village in top 10 'Great Neighborhoods'

October 9, 2008

Baltimore's Charles Village is one of the top 10 neighborhoods in the nation, according to a designation by the American Planning Association announced yesterday. The APA chose Charles Village as one of its 10 "Great Neighborhoods for 2008," a part of the Great Places in America program, which recognizes the role planners and planning play in creating communities of character. Originally known as Peabody Heights and connected to downtown Baltimore by streetcar, Charles Village was built at the turn of the 20th century.

Lorraine Mirabella

Wow. I've always liked Charles Village but never really thought of it in "top 10" terms. I checked out the article and see that Main St in Annapolis also was among the top 10 streets. Another one of the places I have thought about moving to in the past, Salem, Mass, also made the list for the same reasons why I liked the place. Truthfully, I think if CV made their top 10, there are also other neighborhoods in Baltimore that could qualify too. The should give us some validation that we're moving in the right direction.

http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2008/11/10/story1.html?b=1226293200^1729149

Friday, November 7, 2008
Patterson group hurt by market
Nonprofit that revived city area now trying to save itself
Baltimore Business Journal - by Daniel J. Sernovitz Staff

The Patterson Park Community Development Corp. has dismissed its executive director and is selling a large portion of its real estate portfolio to shore up its finances and shed nearly $20 million in mortgage payments.

The organization, credited with helping to reverse years of decline and blight in Baltimore’s Patterson Park neighborhood, has taken those steps to combat a number of problems tied to the housing slump, including declining property values, mounting deficits and a significant drop in home sales, its primary source of revenue.

Real estate development firms and community development corporations across the country are dealing with similar issues given their reliance on market demand to rehabilitate and sell property. With the market’s downturn, many CDCs are left holding onto inventory they acquired and had hoped to sell.

“They had to act like private developers, without the considerable profit that a private developer would make,” said Bill Ariano, deputy director with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s Community Development Administration. “What [the Patterson Park CDC is] going through is actually kind of a microcosm of what’s going on in the markets overall.”

A drop in grants and government subsidies forced many CDCs to be more aggressive with their acquisition and rehabilitation programs, and many CDCs found themselves holding on to those properties when the market slowed, banks tightened their lending standards, and first-time homebuyers who turned to CDCs to buy homes in the past were shut out of the market.

The Patterson Park CDC is considered by many to have been one of the most successful community developers in Baltimore City, and its challenges signal the next wave of the housing slump that forced individual homeowners and speculators out of the market or into foreclosure in significant numbers across the country.

“We want to do anything we can to save this group; they have been one of the most successful CDCs in the city,” said Baltimore City Councilman James Kraft, whose district includes Patterson Park. “We may not be able to help them, just due to the extent of their needs. But they have been a model for other development corporations in the city.”

In 2006, the CDC made about $8 million from sales, but ended the year with a deficit of about $400,000. Business picked up for the CDC by June 30, 2007, when it made about $11 million from home sales, but it ended the year with a deficit of about $1.6 million.

During that three-year span, its outstanding mortgages increased from about $12 million in July 2004 to about $19 million in July 2007. The nonprofit owns 250 properties.

The organization lost much of its leadership in the past year, including Executive Director Ed Rutkowski, its director of planning and design, and its sales and marketing manager. The board recently dismissed Rutkowski’s replacement, Mark Tough, who previously served as the organization’s chief operating officer.

Tough declined to comment.

The board has appointed Charles Goldstein as the CDC’s chief restructuring officer. Goldstein is managing director of financial consulting firm Protiviti’s Baltimore office and head of its corporate restructuring and recovery practice.

In a statement, the CDC said Goldstein has been appointed to “lead efforts to restructure the organization’s finances and operations in response to the weakening housing market and economy.”

Neither Goldstein nor board president and state Del. Peter A. Hammen could be reached for comment.

Baltimore City Councilman Bill Henry, who resigned as Patterson Park CDC’s director of commercial development when he was elected to the public office, said he is worried about the group’s future. Henry said the CDC had a history of over-extending itself by acquiring large numbers of properties to maximize the impact it could have on the neighborhood. During the height of the real estate market, the method worked because homes were selling at a rapid pace and the group had steady income from home sales.

The CDC’s model of buying, rehabilitating and reselling homes was successful because it helped reshape a neighborhood after years of decline, said Charlie Duff, former chair of the organization and now executive director of the Midtown Development Corp. in Baltimore. Duff said the risk Patterson Park ran with that model is it was dependent upon a healthy real estate market.

“The downside of that is when the market stops working, that market-driven business gets hammered,” he said. “Markets are cyclical, and people who are market-driven get hammered.” But he noted that prior to its current troubles, the Patterson Park CDC was able to create nearly 5,000 homes for area residents at little to no expense to city taxpayers.

“You look at that and you say maybe those guys did something wrong. But then again, maybe they did something right,” he said.

Founded in 1996, the Patterson Park CDC has invested more than $70 million in that neighborhood.

I totally agree. It seems that things are slow to develop along the Light Rail Corridor outside of downtown, though there seems to be progress around some major projects like the State Center, Westport, and Clipper Mill in Woodbury. There would seem to be opportunities at the North Ave Light Rail Station if the parking lot and "air rights" above the tracks could be sold and developed...possibly as an continuing expansion of MICA. They are completing a nice facility next to 1-83 and Mt Royal. I also thought there was a development proposal for a project on the UB parking lot at the Mt. Royal Light Rail Station that included apt. and retail. Then there is of course my favorite stop (Coldspring) which is yet to reach its potential though it is certainly constrained. With all the investment that Loyola is putting into their new athletic complex next to the Northern District Police Station. I would love to see the creation of a small commercial node similiar to Mt. Washington Village or the small retail district along Coldspring in Roland Park created near the light rail stop that could serve both activities at the stadium and the surrounding communities.

Just thought I'd rehash this as I was on the light rail.

Just thought I'd rehash this as I was on the light rail....."I would love to see the creation of a small commercial node similiar to Mt. Washington Village or the small retail district along Coldspring in Roland Park created near the light rail stop that could serve both activities at the stadium and the surrounding communities."

The problem with the Cold Spring stop is that it is down in a hole relative to the surrounding area and is mainly used only by Poly/Western kids. There's plenty of retail a short distance away in Hampden and Cross Keys, but, unless you go there deliberately, retail in the LR area would be practically invisible from the street level. Also, that's down in the Jones Falls Valley and a lot of the land around there is flood prone and probably off limits to development (as is Mt Washington village, which has been flooded several times). Even the LR tracks themselves are somewhat at risk.

The problem with the Cold Spring stop is that it is down in a hole relative to the surrounding area and is mainly used only by Poly/Western kids. There's plenty of retail a short distance away in Hampden and Cross Keys, but, unless you go there deliberately, retail in the LR area would be practically invisible from the street level. Also, that's down in the Jones Falls Valley and a lot of the land around there is flood prone and probably off limits to development (as is Mt Washington village, which has been flooded several times). Even the LR tracks themselves are somewhat at risk.

This area is actually being explored in earnest. The Roland Park neighborhood is doing a Master Plan for their area that will be presented to the City for adoption later this summer. They identified the Coldspring Light Rail Stop as an area that need additional pedestrian enhancements and possibly some development.. The 'redevelopment' section that was discussed was actually along Coldspring Lane.. where there are several warehouses/industrial buildings on the southside of the street on the highground above the station..so it wouldnt necessarily be 'down in the hole'. I think with neighborhoods like RP behind it.. it may get some attention. They are also exploring the resurrection of an old MTA plan that involved the creation of a park and ride lot on the site currently occupied by the old green gas tower. It was scuttled because of issues with BG&E but now they are apparently willing to come to the table and resume conversations.

http://www.rolandpark.org/MasterPlanMetaBlog

This area is actually being explored in earnest. The Roland Park neighborhood is doing a Master Plan for their area that will be presented to the City for adoption later this summer. They identified the Coldspring Light Rail Stop as an area that need additional pedestrian enhancements and possibly some development.. The 'redevelopment' section that was discussed was actually along Coldspring Lane.. where there are several warehouses/industrial buildings on the southside of the street on the highground above the station..so it wouldnt necessarily be 'down in the hole'. I think with neighborhoods like RP behind it.. it may get some attention. They are also exploring the resurrection of an old MTA plan that involved the creation of a park and ride lot on the site currently occupied by the old green gas tower. It was scuttled because of issues with BG&E but now they are apparently willing to come to the table and resume conversations.

http://www.rolandpark.org/MasterPlanMetaBlog

This would really be a challenge. Cold Spring west of Falls Road is one of the bleakest city streets I can think of. It's like a really slow highway, all concrete and ramps and way too wide for the traffic and nothing to look at. It's kinda ironic that the RP people are promoting retail in a hole that's in a flood zone. Usually they react with horror at the thought of retail development outside the little strips that already exist in RP, but I guess if you put it in a hole with the threat of floods, that's far enough from the sacred warrens of Roland Park to be OK. I can't imagine why BGE would not want to get rid of the property with the gas tower. It's been derelict and on the tax role for decades. The topography seems to be the tail that wags the dog here. There's a series of pedestrian ramps that goes up to Cold Spring from the Light Rail stop now but there really doesn't seem to be anything there that isn't either at risk or up on that concrete mess.

If there is any development along there, it would be quite a challenge to a planner to figure out how to make it work.

Those buildings in Woodberry really are being redeveloped. I'm wondering how they are gonna look.

Wow! Great thread! I'm looking into buying a house in the city by years end. I am thinking the Pig Town area.

looks like it's been ignored ever since PeterSmith stopped posting.

There are definitely some good deals to be had in Pigtown. Definitely some characters over there, but pretty safe for the most part. It is definitely improving, not as fast as people hoped, but soaring prices in fed hill, an improved main street, and momentum from the UM Biopark will all help. Here are some articles on Pigtown.

http://southbmore.com/category/pigtown/

There are definitely some good deals to be had in Pigtown. Definitely some characters over there, but pretty safe for the most part. It is definitely improving, not as fast as people hoped, but soaring prices in fed hill, an improved main street, and momentum from the UM Biopark will all help. Here are some articles on Pigtown.

http://southbmore.com/category/pigtown/

Tonight I was in SoWeBo, At the Mencken house, such potential in that area!

Yes, Union Square has made a nice comeback. Some of the best maintained homes in the city. The area between Union Square, Hollins Market and Barre Circle gets spotty, but it's definitely improving and one day will be a big cluster of nice real estate.

Here is a good Union Square article.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-10-19/entertainment/bs-b-urban-pioneers-20111009_1_vacant-house-number-of-vacant-homes-pigtown

Yes, Union Square has made a nice comeback. Some of the best maintained homes in the city. The area between Union Square, Hollins Market and Barre Circle gets spotty, but it's definitely improving and one day will be a big cluster of nice real estate.

Here is a good Union Square article.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-10-19/entertainment/bs-b-urban-pioneers-20111009_1_vacant-house-number-of-vacant-homes-pigtown

Good article, and true! About every two weeks I am in Union Square working on a photo documentation project. The more time I spend there, the more enamored with it.

Good article, and true! About every two weeks I am in Union Square working on a photo documentation project. The more time I spend there, the more enamored with it.

Buyer beware...Union Square definitely has its photogenic aspects, but living there is also a bit of the Wild West. I know people that have spent a lot of years there and the urban aggravation quotient is quite high. They have been robbed, had cars stolen, had their gutters and downspouts looted ($$ copper is required by the historic code) and most amazingly, several times,,,had flower plants stolen from their garden, after they chained down the pots that replaced pots which also had previously been stolen. One neighbor spent a terrified hour under her bed while intruders stripped her house and sexually "defiled" her underwear drawer. It appears that many of their lower income "neighbors" regard the yuppies of Union Square as fair game.

¿is the union square area where the film "Avalon" is supposed to take place? i never heard of it, having moved here 3yrs ago, but it looks nice in pictures. not sure about being a "pioneer" in an "up and coming" area.....

Buyer beware...Union Square definitely has its photogenic aspects, but living there is also a bit of the Wild West. I know people that have spent a lot of years there and the urban aggravation quotient is quite high. They have been robbed, had cars stolen, had their gutters and downspouts looted ($$ copper is required by the historic code) and most amazingly, several times,,,had flower plants stolen from their garden, after they chained down the pots that replaced pots which also had previously been stolen. One neighbor spent a terrified hour under her bed while intruders stripped her house and sexually "defiled" her underwear drawer. It appears that many of their lower income "neighbors" regard the yuppies of Union Square as fair game.

I dont know what the future holds for that area.. Alot of 'clinics' and related substance abuse centers are moving into the area south of there near Hollins Market.. That may increase some of the foot traffic and other aggravating urban issues caused by some substance abuse users and sellers/traders that may loot the surrounding areas to supply their habits. Stealing flowering plants??? that is pretty low but I guess to a crack head anything is fair game...

I dont know what the future holds for that area.. Alot of 'clinics' and related substance abuse centers are moving into the area south of there near Hollins Market.. That may increase some of the foot traffic and other aggravating urban issues caused by some substance abuse users and sellers/traders that may loot the surrounding areas to supply their habits. Stealing flowering plants??? that is pretty low but I guess to a crack head anything is fair game...

I've been in several of the rehabbed houses in the square and they are real classics, many with original floors, moldings, hardware, doors, etc. (those houses were never in bad shape and are fairly intact). The problem is that people in those houses seem so conspicuously more affluent than many of the nearby blocks, that they just seem like meat on the table. And...yeah, flower pots and/or the flowers in them. I couldn't quite get that, but it happened more than once. Somehow it seemed like a metaphor for life on the square.

To give a sense of that affluence gap - this home at 1420 Hollins is currently for sale a half-block from the square: http://www.trulia.com/property/3033412661-1420-Hollins-St-Baltimore-MD-21223

Travel one more half-block on the same street, and you'll find this home at 1330 Hollins for sale: http://www.trulia.com/property/3078771866-1330-Hollins-St-Baltimore-MD-21223

Well, those houses probably take 200k to renovate, so if a shell is going for $50kish, that seems about right. They've done a nice job around the square and leading up to Hollins Market, but a couple blocks north is West Baltimore Street which is an absolute disaster. Just a ghost town of boarded up businesses and some shootings here and there.

The area has definitely made a lot of progress, and seemingly against all odds when you think about what that location was like 10 years ago. If you look at the area around the Hollins Market on Google Maps and look at it now it is a huge difference.

To give a sense of that affluence gap - this home at 1420 Hollins is currently for sale a half-block from the square: http://www.trulia.com/property/3033412661-1420-Hollins-St-Baltimore-MD-21223

Travel one more half-block on the same street, and you'll find this home at 1330 Hollins for sale: http://www.trulia.com/property/3078771866-1330-Hollins-St-Baltimore-MD-21223

That's what I'm thinking of, the houses I've been in were vintage Guilded Era right across the block from...

http://thumbs.trulia-cdn.com/pictures/thumbs_3/ps.45/0/2/a/a/picture-uh=35b2c5c03b6b6492ed5cf68bb36bbb66-ps=02aadddea4eac49a78696f8723a8188.jpg

That's what I'm thinking of, the houses I've been in were vintage Guilded Era right across the block from...



The homes in that neighborhood are so cool! Thanks for sharing!