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Baltimore Development News 20

511K views 5K replies 128 participants last post by  jamie_hunt 
#1 ·
#3 ·
Who, here on this forum, lives in the Canton area?
If so, please read this e-mail I just recieved from Marco Greenberg. He's developing the "ICON" high-rise project in Canton.

This is his e-mail to me concerning the meeting:

Steve

Thanks for your inquiry. There was not a great turnout (on either side)
Thursday evening. The naysayers in the community gave their regular
speeches, and about a dozen supporters came to express their views.

One interesting point - traffic continues to be a "proxy" issue, as some
people quote traffic concerns as their reason for opposing the
development. However, the City's own traffic consultant has stated
publicly that our development would have a neglible impact on traffic,
particularly compared to other recently-approved projects. Of all the
potential uses of a site, residential development has the least impact
on traffic, especially peak hour counts.

There were names and faces at the meeting that I did not recognize - I
hope some of them were your friends. I have a sign-in sheet from the
meeting - can you share your friends' names with me? We've been accused
of bringing in "ringers", and I'd like to get an accurate idea of who
actually lives in the Canton area. I'd also like to add them to my
e-mail list if possible.

Thanks again for your inquiry - I'll keep you posted.

Marco



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

If you guys could help out or if you want to help out Mr. Greenberg, I can give you his e-mail and you can contact him or you can e-mail your e-mail address or whatever.
Just let me know asap.

BTW, even if you don't live there, I'm pretty sure he'd be very interested in talking with you.



Nate?......


mg@cignalcorp.com

^^Marco Greenberg's e-mail address ^^
 
#4 ·
Well, I'm not particularly enamoured with the Ikon project; highrises along the waterfront of a neighborhood of 2 story houses just looks goofy and awkward.

That said, I'm not generally with Cantonites when it comes to development. These days it seems they say they have enough development and that anymore would be overdevelopment.

I disagree. Baltimore is nowhere near that yet, not even Canton. Residents need to be very cognizant of all projects coming down the pike. What I think to gaurd against is bad development (out-of-scale, out of context, too suburban). We need more density. However, you don't have to have towers to have great density, as we've discussed before. The more quality designed development for Canton--the better. The denser, the better for rowhouse neighborhoods within the old City limits. More density means more services with shorter travel distances.

I'm not much on the traffic argument here. The City streets are designed to be quite high-capacity (thank Henry Barnes there). Boston St is practically a highway already--is was originally going to be one. It favors through traffic like nothing else. You can't even cross the street by the Sip n Bite--the traffic always gets the green! So I think they've got plenty of traffic capacity to absorb, but of course, my assessment is at least partially anecdotal here.

I'll consult with Gerry Neily, former City traffic planner, and on-line planner extraordinaire, who lives in Butcher's Hill. I'm sure he's got a more insightful thought on this.

Nate
 
#5 ·
And meanwhile, while we fight off a proposed acquisition by DC/MD Suburbs....

I used to work for the NYC Parks Dept. up in the Bronx, and one interesting initiative we were pursuing would work really well in Baltimore, I think. Don't know if anyone has heard of this before, but NY sponsored a tree census, and enlisted volunteers to take inventory of all trees and other wildlife in subsections of the city -- parks and streets. Companies sponsored the program in schools, but also as a fundraiser. Some donors would donate a nominal sum to the parks department or to a school for every tree counted. NY has several hundred thousand trees. Baltimore likely does, too. Why not have sponsors donate $1 for every tree counted to the parks department? Some of the proceeds could go to wildlife restoration, park improvements, etc. Heck, it could showcase our parks a little bet more. They're a truly undervalued asset in Baltimore
 
#6 ·
>>Its an art school. What do you expect. Baltimore needs bolder architecture anyway. No matter what someone thinks of this one, it will break people out of their shells in this city. How many more boring boxes can we stand to see in our skylines. Everytime I see that Marriott downtown, I just think to myself what could have been if someone actually used a little more "outside the 'box'" vision.

I don't like the design completely myself, but I like the statement it makes. Baltimore isn't going to be a city of the world's tallest skyscrapers. But we can be a city with strong forward thinking designs.

and again.. its MICA.. what do you expect. We're lucky to have them. UB too.<<

I like freewheeling architecture and I love MICA's other new building (the one with all of the glass). The residence building, however, is just plain ungainly and disproportioned, but not in a pleasing way. I wouldn't want a real tall building on Mt Royal but I think they could have done better.
 
#8 · (Edited)
And meanwhile, while we fight off a proposed acquisition by DC/MD Suburbs....

I used to work for the NYC Parks Dept. up in the Bronx, and one interesting initiative we were pursuing would work really well in Baltimore, I think. Don't know if anyone has heard of this before, but NY sponsored a tree census, and enlisted volunteers to take inventory of all trees and other wildlife in subsections of the city -- parks and streets. Companies sponsored the program in schools, but also as a fundraiser. Some donors would donate a nominal sum to the parks department or to a school for every tree counted. NY has several hundred thousand trees. Baltimore likely does, too. Why not have sponsors donate $1 for every tree counted to the parks department? Some of the proceeds could go to wildlife restoration, park improvements, etc. Heck, it could showcase our parks a little bet more. They're a truly undervalued asset in Baltimore
Contact the Parks Bureau Chief, Christopher Carroll. Try (410) 396-7939, that should get you close to his office. He's new and eager to change things up.

Nate
 
#12 ·
And meanwhile, while we fight off a proposed acquisition by DC/MD Suburbs....
Riiiiight....if anything we're the ones being acquired. We have one page and you guys have 20. Barring any catastrophic event (see: The Sum of All Fears), Baltimore will never be "acquired" by DC. I don't think you guys realize that this is the creation of a whole new subforum, not a consolidated thread. That means Baltimore would be in the same category as New York City, LA, Chicago, Toronto and Miami on the elite list of cities with so much development that they get their own subforum.


GUYS, WE'RE GETTING A PROMOTION TO METROPOLIS HERE. LETS NOT REJECT IT!
 
#14 ·
Ritz-y living in demand
Luxury condos going up at Inner Harbor are pulling in buyers

By Lorraine Mirabella
Sun reporter
Originally published January 17, 2007

Move over, Boardwalk and Park Place.


The swanky Ritz-Carlton condominium project rising at Baltimore's Inner Harbor is pulling in buyers as fast as units are released for sale, and the first two mid-rise buildings are expected to be just about full when they open in the fall.

The developer credits the cachet of the luxury Ritz-Carlton brand and the project's prime waterfront location for the strong demand, even as the housing slump has stalled condo sales in Baltimore and elsewhere.

When the last batch of five were put out for sale in mid-December, including a penthouse with a price tag north of $5 million, all were gone in a day. All three of the $5 million-plus penthouses have been sold.

And despite earlier projections that it would be Washington money moving in, it's mostly Baltimore's well-heeled who are lining up for the $1.5 million-and-up residences.

About 75 percent of the buyers are "notable Baltimoreans," said Jack J. Cayre, a principal with the project's developer, Midtown Equities LLC.

"They want to live near people they're associated with - or would like to be associated with," Cayre said yesterday, as the developer marked the midway point in completing the project, placing the final steel beams on two of the buildings.

"The key that ties everyone together is lifestyle. They're looking for that lifestyle," Cayre said.

Though Cayre won't disclose the number of units sold, the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore estimates that 125 of the 192 units have sold. Cayre said he expects most of the 100 units in the first two buildings to be sold when those buildings are finished later this year.

Buyers have been a mix of local celebrities and county dwellers who want to scale down or have a place for their boats, said Michael Yerman, a broker with Long & Foster Real Estate hired to handle sales for the project.

"The Ritz is like saying Rolls-Royce," Yerman said. "We've had a lot of inquiries from around the country and from the immediate area because it's a Ritz-Carlton."

That name and all it promises meant everything to Ray Ferguson, a retired director of a lab equipment company from Annapolis, and his wife, Jan, a retired owner of an interior plantscape firm. When they didn't find what they were looking for in Annapolis, the Baltimore natives looked at the Ritz, then looked no further. The couple will move into a first-floor, two-bedroom condo at the Ritz with a private lawn.



A lifestyle choice
"From a lifestyle standpoint, I don't think there's anyplace like the Ritz that would offer this kind of lifestyle - pools that I don't have to clean, hot tubs I don't have to clean, a concierge, valet parking, maid service if we need it, restaurants you can get to without getting your umbrella out, parking under our unit and getting into a private elevator," said Ferguson, who will sell a single-family home in Annapolis.
"We travel an awful lot, and when we have to leave our present house, it's a chore and when away, worry about it. This way, it's a lock-and-leave situation," he said.

So far, Midtown Equities' strategy of gauging demand and releasing only a handful of units at a time to a competitive pool of buyers is paying off. None of the released units remain unsold, Cayre said.

Midtown is betting that demand will continue to build to the end, bringing higher prices than if the units were all put up for sale at once, Yerman said

Housing experts credit the fast pace of sales to the relative scarcity of comparable upscale waterfront housing and a small percentage of available condos in an area the size of metro Baltimore.

"If you really look at the numbers, we don't have a big condo market here at all, even with the new projects coming, based on the size of the metro area and the number of new condos," said Robert Aydukovich, vice president of economic development for the Downtown Partnership. "What's available currently is a small percentage in this population."

Market seems strong
Aydukovich said sales of condos in the $200,000 to $500,000 range have been strong in new projects such as 414 Water Street downtown and The Vue in Harbor East, which has sold out.




Aydukovich believes the market for high-end condos will also remain strong in projects such as the Ritz and a comparable project set to begin construction this year, The Four Seasons Resort and Hotel. The latter is to include 104 condos but has been delayed as developers consider including a commercial component along with the hotel and condos.

Aydukovich said the partnership's research shows Baltimore's condo market is not becoming overbuilt.

The Downtown Partnership estimates downtown can absorb an additional 7,400 townhouses, condos and apartments over the next five years.

Still, the slowdown in the housing market has affected Baltimore, said William Rich, a vice president of Delta Associates, which tracks the multifamily and condo housing markets.

In the fourth quarter of 2006, Baltimore and the surrounding metro area had only 74 condo sales, compared to more than 400 in each of the previous three quarters of 2006, he said.

As a result, some developers have had to change course.

Wood Partners, developers of Avalon Village Green, a garden-style apartment complex in Pikesville that had converted to condos, switched back to rentals, he said. "I think there's more than seasonal [fluctuations] going on," Rich said. "It's a larger increase in the pipeline of condos in the market, it's over-saturated" and condos are seen as a riskier investment.

Even so, Baltimore's condo market has not suffered nearly as much as those in cities such as Washington, Miami and Las Vegas, where the condo boom was fueled by speculators before prices began to decline, Rich said.

He said the Ritz has benefited from having little competition, as other developments are still in the planning stages.

"I think the difference is that the Ritz really is just a different animal than your average condo in Baltimore," said Grant Montgomery, a vice president at Delta Associates. "And it's that it's targeted toward a particular niche of the market - and the fact that that niche has not been addressed before."




lorraine.mirabella@baltsun.com
 
#16 ·
Bill could alter railway structure in Baltimore


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Dave Carey, The Examiner
Read more by Dave Carey
Jan 17, 2007 3:00 AM (2 hrs 12 mins ago)
Current rank: # 190 of 15,664 articles

BALTIMORE - The Department of Homeland Security has its sights set on making railways across America more secure, and it could mean a major facelift for railroading in Baltimore.


A proposed bill, the Surface Transportation and Rail Security Act of 2007, if passed, will provide hundreds of millions of dollars to Amtrak and other transit services to update and better secure transportation routes.

This proposal calls for widened and expanded Amtrak tunnels in Washington, D.C., New York City and Baltimore that serve both business commuter travelers and commercial train traffic.

The draft legislation calls for fire and life-safety improvements in the system of tunnels.

The bill “is fundamentally about the reauthorization of Amtrak and developing a federal-state partnership on funding the [Northeast] Rail Corridor development,” said Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Rail Passengers. “The whole issue with Baltimore is another matter. That is, we’d like bigger tunnels for freight to get through, but definitely there is funding and there would be funding in [the bill], if it was appropriated.”

According to Capon, this bill and its proposed rail security measures already have been approved in previous sessions of the Senate. The bill, however, has died in the House of Representatives.

The proposed work to the tunnels running under Charm City would split money allocated for the Northeast Corridor. This would be $63.5 million in 2008, $30 million in 2009 and $30 million in 2010. Capon told The Examiner that much of the money would go to enlarging the size of the tunnels. That would allow larger freight cars and make it easier for passengers and emergency crews to move through the tunnels in case of emergency.

Amtrak declined to comment.

dcarey@baltimoreexaminer.com
 
#18 · (Edited)
Since no one said "NO", here they are.

We'll start with the "high road".






And continue to the party!





Looking north.



And south.



My "stump" of a building.



Yes folks, if mass transit RUNS WHERE PEOPLE WANT TO GO, they use it. The trains bring the faithful. All the people you see actually got off that train.



Lastly, some city pride!

100 East Pratt Street.



The Mechanic Theater Stage.



McKelden Plaza during the game. Everyone was watching TV but me. I couldn't take it!



OUCH!
 
#19 · (Edited)
Abandonment Issues: JHU Policy Students Get Handle on Baltimore City's Vacant Property Problem
Here is the link to the article.
http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2007/16jan07/16aband.html


A trio of abandoned houses in a 'micro' neighborhood studied by one student team.
By Kevin Sottak
Institute for Policy Studies

In 1950, Baltimore was the sixth largest city in America, with a population approaching 1 million. Today, Baltimore is the nation's 18th largest, with a population just over 600,000. The good news for residents and city officials is that the city's decades-long population decline has recently abated; the bad news is that the physical scars of this exodus — boarded-up homes, shuttered commercial buildings and junk-strewn vacant lots — still pockmark the city.

Five years ago, Mayor Martin O'Malley, in an effort to accelerate the healing process, launched Project 5000 with the explicit goal of reclaiming title to a portion of the city's stock of abandoned properties and putting them back into productive use. However, as often is the case with public policy challenges, there is a disproportion between the scale of the problem and the resources available to combat it.

From the start, city officials have faced questions about where to focus their efforts to get the greatest return on a limited investment. Should they concentrate on neighborhoods with relatively few abandoned units, in hopes of shoring up seemingly more stable neighborhoods? Or should they instead focus on the most blighted neighborhoods with the highest concentration of abandonment, where entire blocks might be acquired and put to better use? What other neighborhood characteristics — parks, school quality, homeownership rates — are important correlates of a neighborhood's health?

This fall, in an effort to assist Project 5000, first-year master of public policy students undertook the first systematic neighborhood-level study of Baltimore's abandoned properties and neighborhood health. The project was undertaken as part of the course Policy Analysis in the Real World, taught by Sandee Newmen.

"The primary purpose is to give our graduate students real-world exposure to the challenges of analyzing a complex policy issue with limited data, statistical sophistication and time," said Newmen professor and director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies. "At the same time, this study provides city officials with a much more complete and detailed picture of this tenacious problem."

Over a 12-week period, teams of students analyzed several decades' worth of census and city administrative data, and conducted interviews and street-by-street observations in five Baltimore neighborhoods in an effort to understand whether there was a consistent link between levels of abandonment, the neighborhoods' underlying health and the specific features of the abandoned properties.

The neighborhoods studied were selected for their geographic distribution and demographic diversity and because each encompasses areas of both concentrated and dispersed abandonment. Often, the patterns occurred in close proximity; in one case, the width of a city street was all that separated areas of high and low levels of abandonment. Unlike previous analyses that aggregated results at the neighborhood or census tract level, this study examined abandonment within small, two-to-three-block "micro" neighborhoods.

The students examined the relationship between abandonment and an array of indicators of neighborhood health, such as property values, homeownership rates, crime, private investment and the presence of amenities such as parks and stores. Their preliminary findings, reported in December to an audience that included members of the Baltimore City Council, city housing and planning officials, community organizations and concerned citizens, offered some surprising insights. Most notably, no consistent link was found between higher levels of abandonment and other neighborhood health measures, such as housing prices and trends. Rather, the relationship appeared to be heavily tempered by other considerations, including the style and age of the local housing stock. The students concluded that the number or concentration of abandoned properties in a neighborhood is a poor targeting criterion for Project 5000 resources.

David McIlvane, a real estate agent involved with Project 5000 who attended the presentation, said he was surprised that the housing stock and age were such strong correlates of abandonment. "The data presented were very compelling," he said.

Another key finding was the discovery of "hot spots" — small areas of higher levels of abandonment, increased crime and depressed property values — within two apparently stable neighborhoods. The students suggested that these hot spots may be good targets for Project 5000 remediation, since they are already surrounded by healthier areas. The students also found evidence that dead-end streets, impassable lots and other features seem to serve as buffers, preventing the spread of crime and other problems.

Newmen said that the richness, range and detail of the database developed for this analysis provides a more nuanced picture of the relationship of abandonment to neighborhood health. For example, in two apparently stable neighborhoods, the students discovered troublesome "hot spots" of high levels of abandonment, increased crime and depressed property values. Conversely, at least one apparently struggling neighborhood contained a several-block-long "enclave" of well-maintained homes with relatively high property values and homeownership rates.

"The students walked every block of the neighborhoods they studied, Newmen said. "They were able to capture features of the problem that were hidden at the neighborhood or census tract level."

Student presenter Wesley Tharpe, a member of the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello study team, noted that he was struck by the discrepancies between residents' perceptions of the cause or impact of abandoned properties in their neighborhood and what the data said. For example, many residents attributed the deteriorating housing to an increase in younger, more transient residents, but this was not supported by the objective census and administrative data. "One of the most important lessons for me was learning how to square what we saw and heard with what the numbers were telling us," he said. "In our analysis, we tried to tell a coherent story that wove together all of the different information we analyzed."

Michael Bainum, assistant commissioner for land resources in the city's Department of Housing and Community Development, echoed the comments of many in the audience when he praised the students for their thoughtful analysis and new ideas, calling the presentation a "breath of fresh air." He added that he "hopes that this experience gives the students a sense of the frustration, and also the adrenaline rush," that public officials experience in trying to solve pressing policy issues.

Student Ami Patel said she chose Johns Hopkins in part because it was the only program that offered first-year students the opportunity to do meaningful policy research. "After the presentation, City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke spoke to me and some of my classmates and told us that the presentation really helped her to understand what was happening in parts of her district," Patel said. "Knowing that our work was actually being listened to by policy-makers — to me, that was the most rewarding part."
 
#20 ·
As a heads up, a Sun article today notes plans to fix Amtrak's tunnels under Baltimore. Has the railroad or anyone from DOT/FRA come up with an idea of where a new tunnel will eventually be?

The last, and it should still be available on line from December 2005. I'll find the link if anybody's interested, or e-mail me, I've got it on my system.

Nate
 
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