Lots of Pics: Downtown Baltimore's Westside and parts of City Center

[waj0527]

The Westside Initative (http://www.downtownwestside.com/) is probably Baltimore's largest redevelopment effort since it developed its Inner Harbor.

The Westside is home to some of Baltimore's most unique and stunning architecture. Not too long ago, this area of Baltimore was THE place to be. It was the premier district in the city for shopping and entertainment. Department stores, resturants, theaters, specialty stores....everything.

But, like in most other city's, white flight and the birth of the shopping mall reduced this once thriving district into THE mecca of Dollar Stores, wig shops, sneaker stores and locally owned CD shops. I'll be honest, lots of redevelopment has already taken place, but for the most part, this is still a very seedy part of town.

But its getting better. Developers are buying everything. Apartments and condos seem to be the most popular type of development. Some properties have been redeveloped into office and retail space. University of Maryland at Baltimore and the UM Hospital and Medical System are located here and their presence has certainly been a driving force in redevelopment.

To be fair, I walked (and took shots of) about 30-40% of the Westside. This is the way I walk to work.


The Zenith is the tallest residential-only tower built in Baltimore since the late 80s/early 90s. Its gonna be across the street from Oriole Park.


Apartments on Pratt Street


Forgot to mention, the University of Maryland's downtown Baltimore campus is located on the Westside

My personal favorite UM Building


UM School of Medicine






Maryland Shock Trauma Unit


Newly constructed student apartments (building in the center)


UM School of Nursing


New UM School of Denistry building


UM School of Social Work


a public plaza


University of Maryland Hospital




UM School of Law


random building


More apartments


Shot of Redwood Street






More UMMS offices


Entrance to an apartment building


This monstracity is called the Abell Building, it was recently purchased by PMC who plans to covert it into either apartments or condos with ground level retail.




Entrance to anotther apartment building


This shot was supposed to be of the apartment building ABOVE the parking garage. (It was early....)


Baltimore's France-Merrick PAC is a westside fixture. It opened in 1914. After years of being vacent, finally reopened about a year ago. Broadway shows and other performances are performed in the Hippodrome theater here. The Miss USA pagent was filmed here too. The entire project spans an entire city block and encompasses the original theater and two old bank buildings.









A parking garage and lofts


These lofts will be online soon.


A 7-11


The VERY old First Mariner Arena (Baltimore really needs a new arena)




A nearly finished apartment building




When I came to work in the morning, these guys were just starting to rebuild the sidewalk.....when I walked past coming home, the sidewalk was done.


22 S. Howard St. (the red building in the center) was recently purchased by New York developers. They plan to turn the building into condos.


Entrance to Bank of America's Centerpoint, a $80 million luxury apartment complex



Theres a huge tower component, but I didnt get a shot of it, heres the rendering though


The Westside has lots and lots of development opportunity...


An office building...


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These are shots parts of City Center

A public plaza


Mechanic Theater, its closed now, but a developer recently purchased it with plans to turn it into a movie house


Side entrance to the Radisson


Starbucks and another entrance to the Radisson


The World Relief Headquarters




Johns Hopkins Downtown Center

[Furiine]

Great pics! I love the picture "series" you're showing of all the areas around town. All the redevelopment going on is really exciting. Though I have only been to the west side a few times, the more I see it, the better it seems to get. The last time I was there (last winter), I attended a symphony at Meyerhoff with my dad. On the way home, we drove around west side (but it was at night and hard to see of course.) I saw a scaffold around an old building around Greene Street, so my dad then told me a story about the time my godfather was moving from around Greene Street to Potomac Street on the east side in the late 80s. While they were unpacking, a kid came up to my godfather and asked, "Hey mister, are you going to sell that tie?" [apparently he had some clothes spread out....] lol..anyways, that always reminds of the westside. Not that it's a good or bad thing, but it's just the nature of it all. Greene Street has always given me the impression as one of the most hard hit areas in west side. It's such a shame that you really don't have to go far from all the glitzy office buildings to end up in one of the areas needing the most improvement...Lexington Market..etc. Somewhere I heard Baltimore was building its ways out of its problems. By building more, it's really beginning to eradicate its problems. Maybe that was on this forum, but anyway, I think that is the case. Baltimore has become synonymous with redevelopment.

[jaysonjaz]

waj0527, if thats the way you walk to work everyday, you must live near me. What neighborhood do you live in?

btw: you got all of the umaryland buildings except the one I go to :-P
The school of pharmacy may not be an impressive building but we are one of the top 10 best schools of pharmacy in the country.

[StevenW]

AWESOME PIX!!!

[JivecitySTL]

I love B'more. Downtown looks a lot cleaner than in years past.

[waj0527]

Originally Posted by jaysonjaz

waj0527, if thats the way you walk to work everyday, you must live near me. What neighborhood do you live in?

I actually commute to Baltimore daily using the MARC train. I use Camden Station. Sometimes I walk this route, sometimes I use the sky walks, sometimes I go behind the convetion center toward the inner harbor. Depends on how Im feeling and what I would like to see.

[Brian21]

awesome pics

the downtown JHU pic is cool, that where I take some of my classes

[micrip]

Great Shots. Those billboards on the Arena are pretty tacky looking, BTW. I can see what some people were upset about. Maybe they are better looking at night.

[waj0527]

They look a little better under the night lights, but....they really just need to tear down that place and build another arena elsewhere.

[Hood]

What great photos. The west side is still very shady in places, but with the UM campus being a rock solid anchor, its bound to get better. That you for such a treat. Where do you work in down town? I work in Fells point and I love my commute when I decide to not be lazy and bike in. As I did this morning. hat a great city we all get to spend time in.

[waj0527]

I work in City Center opposite City Hall and the War Memorial Plaza.

[Hood]

In the benton building? I practically live there