What's going on in Park Heights/Pimlico? (Baltimore, Columbia: townhome, neighborhoods)

[Woodlands]

Is anything happening in Park Heights/Pimlico? I live in a neighborhoods just across Greensprings from Park Heights for about two years. I travel through the area often going to/from the western suburbs. I have read various plans about how the area will be redeveloped with new commercial nodes at Coldspring and Park Heights Ave and Park Heights Ave and Belverdere. Part of the plan even calls for the "redevelopment" of Pimlico Track should it close down. All seem quite promising until some informed me that some of these plans have been in place for 30 years!!!! So my question is..is this the beginning of the beginning or the beginning of the end for this area? I have not lived here long enough to get a sense of which way its going......

[barante]

I don't have a crystal ball, but here is my take.
One, I skip all the plans because, as you point out, there has been no shortage of plans over the past several decades.
I think the key to Pimlico is the Jewish community, which abandoned residential blocks below Northern Parkway in the 1960s and 1970s. What we have now is a growing Orthodox community. And while some are well-to-do, many are not and are in need of affordable housing near the Jewish Community Center on Park Heights Avenue and a bunch of synagogues.
Therefore, I would not be surprised if Jewish residents might gradually "take back" some blocks between Northern Parkway and Belvedere. I am basing this on the fact that blocks behind the JCC on such streets as Narcissus, Jonquil and Gist have been gradually reverting from black to Orthodox. Also, on weekends you see a lot of foot traffic on Park Heights between Northern Parkway and Belvedere, with many Orthodox walking from having visited someone at Sinai Hospital.
The Jewish community has spent millions in recent years to update and expand the Jewish Community Center. The expansion will continue, with the replacement of other nearby community service buildings. Meanwhile the Beth Jacob Congregation across the street has gone out of business and the scuttlebutt is that the JCC has an option on it. (I think a religious school is now using it as a temporary facility). And the city high school next door is going to be something else.
So there are many pieces to this puzzle. Whatever happens will not happen quickly. But I see continuing demand for low-cost housing for Orthodox families who are priced out from Cheswolde, Mount Washington, Fallstaff and Summit Park.

[Woodlands]

Park Heights appears to have a good foundation in terms of style of homes(small yards with porches), though many blocks are in disrepair, it is near the Coldspring Metro, Mondawmin Mall, and it is in between the Mt. Washington and communities above the Parkway that you mentioned, Druid Hills Park, Ashburton/Arlington, and Coldspring-Woodbury. As I understand it the City owns alot of the vacant land and homes in the area and I guess is "land banking" them for developers. IMO, rather than redeveloping a block(s) in the heart of Park Heights, they should start on the edges and work in. Working in from Northern Parkway and also in from Cylburn, which is a nice quiet stable neighborhood between Greenspring, Coldspring, Pimlico Rd, and Belverdere. There is also a nice new townhome enclave called Cylburn Meadows, just off of Greenspring in Cylburn.There is also some nice housing stock along Druid Hill Park Drive at Greenspring near Woodbury. I think far to often cities will build affordable housing mixed with market rate in the middle of an area that needs to be revitalized hoping to spur revitalization of the surrounding areas. They either become an island oasis unto themselves or Forts underseige for those who live there because they are surrounded by blight. You can see the "edge in" process working in Patterson Park where things are happening block by block north of the park. I wouldn't imagine that anyone would rush 10 blocks north of the Patterson Park, buy and rehab a home and wait for everthing else to catch up, so why would the city use the same approach in these other areas?

[Woodlands]

This is an excerpt from the City's web page released some time ago concerning Park Heights. Here it announces that the City intends to allocation $3 million for the development of a mixed use development project and a town square somewhere in park heights. It will be interesting to see if this project gets off of the ground and where it will be located

Another top priority for Mayor Dixon is the full-scale and multi-year revitalization of the historic Park Heights community. Home to nearly 2,000 vacant lots and having lost population at twice the rate of the city, this is a neighborhood in need of assistance. In response to these challenges, residents of Park Heights and the city created a comprehensive master plan to guide the physical development and human service resources for the neighborhood. To move the master plan forward Mayor Dixon is requesting $3 million to assist with acquisition of property to create a mixed-use town center. State funding to assist with the commercial acquisition would allow the residential and commercial components to move forward consecutively.

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[Woodlands]

Things may be slowly starting up in Park Heights. The City is having several rezoning and property disposition hearings concerning the newly created Park Heights Urban Development Plan. What's interesting about this plan, which appears to take over where some of the others left off is that is actually shows land that the City has acquired and/or will acquire as part of the implementation. There is a huge swath of properties in Central Park Heights and commercial block at Coldspring and Park Heights Ave that are listed for acquisition and disposition... presumably in a similiar manner as what has been done in Howard Park on Liberty Heights.. where demolition has already begun and a proposed grocery store willl rise in that community. The City often offers these properties via Request for Proposals to developers on condition that they implement their projects per the approved plans.Only time will tell if there is enough interest......

Should Pimlico host its final Preakness next year or so and the track is redeveloped.. the City should consider working with the B'more Blast to build a facility on the grounds as part of the redevelopment plan for the track. It would allow the opportunity for an nice entertainment venue that could include housing, retail, office, and concerts/entertainment to happen on the site that can be well designed. Many of these elements are already included in a conceptual plan for the track, adding the Blast may give the plan more teeth assuming that Hale goes along with it....otherwise they may be lost to the County and surrounding burbs. Oh well, I will continue to dream.

http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/planning/downloads/0708/Postcards%20-%20August%207,%202008%20mtg%20(one%20page).pdf (broken link)

http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/planning/downloads/0708/PH%20URP%20Introduction%20with%20maps.pdf (broken link)

[Woodlands]

Apparently the Virgin Music Festival was a success.. Most of what I have read has been positive about the event, venue, traffic, etc. Hopefully it will continue to come to Bmore and use Pimlico though I am surprised that no Downtown Boosters have tried to ferry it away to Camden Yards or the Inner Harbor. Bad News it appears that the horses will no longer be living at Pimlico.. which may be the beginning of a slippery slide towards the ultimate closing of the track...I have mixed emotions. I recognize the history and MD Heritage that the track represents, but if it does close and the site can be redevelop.. I obviously would do wonders for this section of the City.Magna suffers $4.4M loss -- baltimoresun.com (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horseracing/preakness/bal-sp.racing07aug07,0,6511441.story - broken link)

[Woodlands]

I was out and about over the weekend and notice that Park Heights Ave is being resurfaced. Most of it was completed from Coldspring Lane down to Druid Hill Park. Based on the Mayor's Program "Operation Orange Cone" I believe that Park Heights Ave, up to Belverdere in addition to other side streets in the area are being resurfaced, new sidewalks, curbs, gutters, ADA compliant crossings..etc are being installed. Belverdere has been paved (bike lane added) and trees installed in the median. I also read a report that as part of the proposed planning efforts for the redevelopment of the commercial district at Coldspring and Park Heights Ave. The City will be installing new streetlights/fixtures in this commercial district as well.

[Woodlands]

Looks like more money is going into Park Heights. I am not sure if building new parks in "park" heights is the answer. New and mixed income housing would go along to support new businesses would be step in the right direction. Its all uphill especially if the RaceTrack remains. There are concept plans out there to convert the track into the city's largest intown mixed use development to include office, retail, and housing. Its on the shelf now because the City doesnt own the track. I would like to see them move the track down to Westport and/or near the casino and implement this plan. Maybe they could incorporate the existing grandstand into some for of pavillion like the one in Columbia, MD and build around it thus retaining its historic character. To me, that is the only way you can really jump start the redevelopment of Park Heights.. otherwise it will look like the Hawaiian islands.. Some nice little developments surrounded by an ocean of blight


City presents $2M plan to spend slots revenue near Pimlico - baltimoresun.com

[KLynch10]

I think moving the Race Track would help two neighborhoods. It would help Park Heights because it would allow them to put something nice there, leading to further improvements in the neighborhood, and it would help it's new neighborhood, Pig Town or Westport by putting an anchor for new development around it. Obviously the new track would be nice.

Here is the problem. The owners of the track and horse racing make Peter Angelos and Dan Snyder look like good owners. They have driven it into the ground, gone bankrupt, but refuse to sell to someone who cares and will take care of it. A year ago, Kevin Plank from Under Armour, David Cordish and several others were willing to take it off their hands but they pulled it off auction, teamed with Penn National, and used all their money to stop Cordish from building Arundel Mills..... back to square one. So until they sell, the track will always be a dump, and always be in Park Heights.

[Woodlands]

While I am glad that some things are starting to happen.. I can agree with some of the residents on the fact that a park may not need to be the first project that is funded by the slot funds given the level of needs in the area..... but I guess its a start..

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