Downtown sneak preview (Baltimore, Barclay: sales, real estate, 2009)

[barante]

Those who think downtown is unsafe etc. can stop reading right now.
I spent an hour today on a guided tour through coming rental attractions downtown. We saw:
(1) The Abell Building, catercorner from the Hippodrome Theater at Eutaw and Baltimore streets. The onetime warehouse is being turned into rental units that are quite nice with sweeping views of downtown. The ground floor will be unspecified retail. Should be ready in the spring.
(2) The Gas and Electric Building at Liberty and Lexington. This was a near-skyscraper when it was built immediately after the 1904 Baltimore fire. I did not see any of the finished units but saw an unfinished penthouse, with original wood panel ing and other decorative touches (I think it used to be the boardroom). Incredible views, decorative fireplaces.
It's going to be the spiffiest of all the recent apartment conversions. The owner is Southern Management, which has some 15,000 units in the Baltimore-Washington area, including the old Hecht Co. department store building, now called the Atrium, on Howard Street.
(3) The old Stewart's Department Store on Howard Street. This is offices, not apartments. I had seen it during construction several years ago. When the Catholic Relief Services finally rented it, they put something like $15 million more in renovations, I was told. Those included a demolition job that created a center atrium. As a result, most offices have windows. And since CRS designed it to their needs, they have a health club for their employees, a childcare center, etc.
We had lunch at a Mexican place next to Starbucks at Eutaw and Baltimore. At lunch times they have lines stretching for nearly a block. I had a quesadilla. Tasty and not expensive.
I then walked to the new SupreFresh at Charles and Saratoga. Very impressive. Downtown folk finally have a good grocery store with good-looking meat, fish and vegetables.
Many Baltimoreans are totally unaware of what's going on in the area and spout the most ill-informed, negative bull that you can think of. It's gritty, it's urban and it's not for everyone. But the existing apartment buildings are doing well. Bank of America, which developed the Centerpoint, has sold it on to Avalan, a national opertor, making a lot of dough in the process, I was told. It's rented out.
With new stuff coming on line all the time, this area is going to be popular among young people who don't need a car on a daily basis. For example, Everyman Theater will be moving from its current digs next to the Charles Theater to the corner of Eutaw and Fayette in 2009.

[Oakback]

There is no question the Baltimore City has it's "trophy" neighborhoods that have proven the test of time. Such as; Bolton Hill, Federal Hill, Charles Village, Caton, Fells Point, Mt Washington,Hampden etc, Roland Park, Homeland, Guilford etc...etc.. The jury is still out if there is the significant mass of dedicated homeowners in many other neighborhoods to determine if they too have stabilized. Time will tell.
My issue is that Baltimore has yet to figure out what to do with the poor and unemployed that still make up a majority of the population. The policies of the past have been a failure.
A handful of neighborhoods improve and the poor residents are displaced around the them, creating a fort-like mentality for the "gentrified".
Hopefully the urban renewal you refer to,will not just be more of the same ole same ole

[barante]

For the most part this is private money. So somebody believes.
Your list is most interesting:
(1) Bolton Hill, which moniker did not even exist at the time, was largely a slum after WWII.
(2) Federal Hill, which moniker did not exist, was largely a slum after WWII.
(3) Charles Village started improving in the late 1960s.
(4) Canton was written off as an industrial wasteland until the 1970s.
(5) Fells Point was largely a Polish slum until the 1970s, when plans to demolish the waterfront for an expressway were finally canceled.
(6) Mt. Washington was the city's first rail commuter neighborhood (it wasn't even in the city at the time). It has always done well. but was "restricted" (see Roland Park).
(7, 8, 9) Roland Park, Guilford and Homeland were the city's choicest neighborhoods. Covenants barred blacks, generally accepted real estate policies prohited sales to Jews between the 1910s and 1960s.
As you see, lots of the revival neighborhoods had to be revived. So logic would suggest that similar revitalization is possible in our time. In fact, it is going on.

[balto charlie]

What I find really good about these recent renovations is that they are IN the city. I like Roland Park, Mt. Washington and other more suburban areas BUT you are not IN the city. If you are going to pay higher taxes, higher car insurance then one should be IN the city. This allows you to walk to most things easily. It's nice to see grocery stores popping up. I applaud the investors that are doing this. When people live in the city, then city will thrive. Over the last 5-10 years local events have grown so much that I always look for my entertainment in Baltimore. And I always find it!
FWIW: My wife and I are empty nesters and are truly tired of the suburbs. We are starting to look at downtown Baltimore for relocation. Thanks for posting this. Charlie

[Oakback]

"Fells Point was largely a Polish slum until the 1970s,"

Now it's what? Respectible? A good polish friend of mine grew up on south collington street. He has fond memories, and would take offense to his childhood neighborhood being classified as a slum. Back then, Baltimore was filled with blue collar working class neighborhoods such as his.

Charles Village, Bolton Hill, Federal Hill, Butcher's Hill etc.. all recieved Historical designations which jumped started the renewal.
The waterfront development will continue to take care of the harbor areas, which will now seem to extend into the area you referred to.
I still maintain that the "gentrification" of selective areas of Baltimore is a misguided urban renewal philosophy.
Look at whats happened to little italy. It's now inner harbor west.
With all due respect, I think we could use more of the polish ( irsh, italian, jewish, african american....etc)working class "slums"

[barante]

Oakback -- Unfortunately there is no one existing book that sums up the histories of the neighborhoods on your list. However, historic recognition came decades after revitalization efforts had started in places like Bolton Hill, Charles Village, Federal Hill, Butcher's Hill. Those very names were invented by preservationists -- Bolton Hill in the 1950s (it was the southern part of the Mount Royal District up to that point), Charles Village in the 1960s (it was Peabody Heights up to that point), Federal Hill in the 1960s also (it was just South Baltimore up to that point).
As to Fells Point, it was redlined in the federal government's 1937 residential security map, meaning that the lending industry classified it as a slum and did not issue regularl mortgages there. I'm sorry if that offends your friend, but that's the way it happened.
I am writing a real estate history of Baltimore that goes into all this. So I have plenty of documentation.

[Oakback]

I remember the condition of federal hill, hollins square etc.. before the rehabbers went in for the 25% tax credits. Just look at Hollins Market. Other than the area that is on the federal register. That area has been trying to stabalize for over 20years.
How about Barclay street, whitridge etc..., just outside the boundaries of Charles Village. It's more of the same.
Unless the developers dare to venture outside of the greater inner harbor, we are in for more of the same boom/bust cycle.
I have high hopes for the Bio Tech area. Time will tell.
And who knows, maybe slots will help the northwest side.
The North West part of the city, that's a whole other story on the waste of urban renewel money.