Washington Village-Pigtown 21230 (Baltimore, Ridgely: 2011, apartments, crimes)

[baltimore's best]

Originally Posted by dojinick

Quick question to the locals. Is the real estate market in Pigtown slowing to a crawl? I was looking at some potential homes to move into and there is a large number of rehabbed houses (many of which seem to be abandoned at about 70-90% finished).

Also, asking prices seem a bit unrealistic given the overall... demeanor of the current state of the neighborhood combined with the mounting national collapse of the housing market.

Just wondering if there is still development in the neighborhood or if things have all but shut down.

Thanks,
--Nick

I've got a few re-habs going on in my neighborhood west of Patterson Park. Funny thing is they have been under construction for about two years now. I guess they are just doing a great job.

[Streetchie]

There are probably a hundred "rehabs" on the market right now in Pigtown. Most of them have been on the market for 2, sometimes three years. I would recommend renting, not buying. And stay away from the Camden Crossing development. I witnessed much of the construction and they are absolute garbage.

[Be More]

I live in Camden Crossing and they are anything but garbage. I also was able to inspect it 3 times during construction..with construction friends..and they liked what they saw. We are in the third phase..so I am not sure what phases one and two are like as far as construction. Aside from a couple of drywall issues, we have had zero problems. If you want to see garbage..check out many of the "rehabs" done around the city.

[Streetchie]

I'm not sure about Camden Crossing phase 3 either, but phase 1 was slapped together with fiber board, vinyl siding, cheap windows, cheaper doors, cheap carpet, lame decks and an alley fence that's already falling down. The whole development has been a disaster from day one. From the "architecture" to the land itself (it's a former industrial site.) Ever wonder why your house doesn't have a basement? It's because they didn't want to disrupt the toxic waste under your house.

[Be More]

I understand completely why it doesn't have a basement. I think people would be surprised just how much toxic waste is going on all over the city. Carpet is cheap if you want it cheap. Your choice to upgrade. Siding is fine although I would prefer brick. Alley fence is fixed in parts that were coming down. Can you point out some great architecture of new developments going up around the city that looks just like the surrounding neighborhood?

A disaster would be buying a "fixed up" rowhouse on a block that is crawling with criminal activity...and then have everything stolen from you.

[f7eleven]

Originally Posted by dojinick

Quick question to the locals. Is the real estate market in Pigtown slowing to a crawl? I was looking at some potential homes to move into and there is a large number of rehabbed houses (many of which seem to be abandoned at about 70-90% finished).

Also, asking prices seem a bit unrealistic given the overall... demeanor of the current state of the neighborhood combined with the mounting national collapse of the housing market.

Just wondering if there is still development in the neighborhood or if things have all but shut down.

Thanks,
--Nick

It may be slowing down, but I don't think the nearly finished houses have anything to do with that. When I first saw the house I bought last October it was also about 80-90% complete. I looked at other houses by the same contractor within that same range of completeness. He said they get them done enough to show and then wrap everything up by the inspection date. So when I first saw my house, the roof deck (and stairs to it), the basement, bathrooms and kitchen appliances were unfinished/uninstalled.

I'm still noticing rehabbing going on.

[f7eleven]

Also, some one was asking about the murder on James street in Pigtown last May... Here's the lastest I've heard:

Also on July 18, the grand jury indicted three people for the May 7 murder of Robert Johnson, a 39-year-old African-American man. According to the State’s Attorney’s Office, Tiffany Lowery, a 23-year-old African-American woman, and Paul Tenney, a 28-year-old Caucasian man, got into an argument with Johnson in the 1200 block of James Street in Pigtown. During that argument, Donnell Covington, a 22-year-old African-American man, allegedly came up to Johnson and stabbed him to death.

[Streetchie]

Be More, I'm glad that you're enjoying Camden Crossing. I personally am not impressed with the development but I don't have to live there. I will say this, CC is a hell of a lot better than the fenced off industrial site and falling down buildings that once stood there.

I remember when the sales office opened 5 years ago and pre-construction prices were $250k. I thought there was no way that anyone would pay that; they sold out phase 1 in a couple of weeks, then phase two. The sales agent would host a party at Patrick's on Pratt and tons of DC yuppies would come over and get drunk. Some moved in to their new CC homes, others just rented them out. Then the break-ins and home invasions started, cars started getting stolen and bbq grills disappeared. Then the real estate bubble burst. I don't see so many of the yuppie crowd around there anymore (thank god) and I presume that most of the units are rented to med-students.

[harbordog]

Originally Posted by f7eleven

Also, some one was asking about the murder on James street in Pigtown last May... Here's the lastest I've heard:

Also on July 18, the grand jury indicted three people for the May 7 murder of Robert Johnson, a 39-year-old African-American man. According to the State’s Attorney’s Office, Tiffany Lowery, a 23-year-old African-American woman, and Paul Tenney, a 28-year-old Caucasian man, got into an argument with Johnson in the 1200 block of James Street in Pigtown. During that argument, Donnell Covington, a 22-year-old African-American man, allegedly came up to Johnson and stabbed him to death.

Thanks for the update. A real shame.

[Woodlands]

Are there any RR excursions operating out of the B&O RR Museum up along the Gwynn Falls? I rode the excursion train before and it went up to Carrol Park before shuttling us back up into the terminal. I have to admit you had use your imagination along a stretch backing up to Wilkens Ave... but if one were able to continue on up along the Gwynn Falls and beyond (dont know where the track goes) it could make for a nice scenic RR especially during this time of year and bring addition visitors into the neighborhood.. I 'm sure someone has already thought of this, just curious on why it is not being pursued.