Too Many Row Homes (Baltimore: best city, real estate, condos)

[rhemy1]

Does any one else think that Baltimore has too many row homes. Why not knock some of them down and build new kinds of housing. Successful cities have way more variety within their city limits. Baltimore seems to just have row homes. And when new developments go up they seem to focus on building new row homes or condos. With so few people, Baltimore should take the opportunity to redirect some of the abandon space to create properties with more green grass, etc... thereby making the city more livable for families. Why should people feel the need to leave the city just because they want more backyard space for their kids, etc.. Eventually all the row homes here just start looking like projects. Just a thought.

[jonjj]

With gas hitting 4 bucks a gallon this year and some saying it could be as high as five by the end of the year, Baltimore and other denser cities may be appropriately set up for the future. Long daily commutes by car are going to cost big time for the average earner. There were reasons why many older cities were built so dense and those same reasons (more or less) may become a priority once again.

[rhemy1]

i dont mean making the city less dense. i mean getting rid of some of the housing. Boston has a dense population, but it also has varied housing options.

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by rhemy1

i dont mean making the city less dense. i mean getting rid of some of the housing. Boston has a dense population, but it also has varied housing options.

Almost all of northern Baltmore city are single family homes.

Northeast Baltimore:
3118 Tyndale ave baltimore - Google Maps
Northwest Baltimore:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...=12,61.25,,0,6
North central Baltimore
392 Rosebank Avenue, Baltimore, MD - Google Maps

However i dont think your argument holds much water. Philadelphia has a greater ratio of rowhouses than Baltimore. Their other most common residential style is dense duplexes which isn't common in Baltimore. Philly is successful i think, at least growth-wise, it has gained within the last ten years.

[Vision6800]

I don't mind the row homes, but come on...a $200k row home that is 9 feet wide? Or the ridiculously small rooms in these places. No thanks.

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by Vision6800

I don't mind the row homes, but come on...a $200k row home that is 9 feet wide? Or the ridiculously small rooms in these places. No thanks.

Locaton, location, location. There's a large, three story rowhouse up in reservoir hill for $14,900. Or, there is a house the same size you speak of on winchester street going for $3,000. (this comes from a quick real estate search)

[rhemy1]

Originally Posted by Vision6800

I don't mind the row homes, but come on...a $200k row home that is 9 feet wide? Or the ridiculously small rooms in these places. No thanks.

That's some of what I'm talking about. I don't mind the row homes either. In fact Baltimore has very many beautiful and historic row homes. Even some of the new ones look fantastic! It'd just be nice to see some variety in housing options within the city. Not only would it make city living more livable for families; it would also make the remaining row homes more valuable to those who would love living in one. At the very least making the row homes wider would definitely make the city more inhabitable. I don't think Baltimore should be using Philly as a blueprint of what is and is not appropriate for a city.

Baltimore has way better raw fundamentals than Philly. It should be using cities like Chicago, Boston, and Sf as blueprint of how it should lay itself out. By varying housing, Baltimore could provide more options to people who want to move to the city. I currently live in Boston and one of the things I love about Boston is the variety of its housing options. The row homes are fantastic, the condos are fantastic, There are even large detached homes close to/in the city center. Yes they cost millions upon millions of dollars. But people who can afford the space tend to want the space, and in Baltimore city that means living outside the city in the surrounding areas or living in a penthouse. Just my thoughts.

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by rhemy1

That's some of what I'm talking about. I don't mind the row homes either. In fact Baltimore has very many beautiful and historic row homes. Even some of the new ones look fantastic! It'd just be nice to see some variety in housing options within the city. Not only would it make city living more livable for families; it would also make the remaining row homes more valuable to those who would love living in one. At the very least making the row homes wider would definitely make the city more inhabitable. I don't think Baltimore should be using Philly as a blueprint of what is and is not appropriate for a city.

Baltimore has way better raw fundamentals than Philly. It should be using cities like Chicago, Boston, and Sf as blueprint of how it should lay itself out. By varying housing, Baltimore could provide more options to people who want to move to the city. I currently live in Boston and one of the things I love about Boston is the variety of its housing options. The row homes are fantastic, the condos are fantastic, There are even large detached homes close to/in the city center. Yes they cost millions upon millions of dollars. But people who can afford the space tend to want the space, and in Baltimore city that means living outside the city in the surrounding areas or living in a penthouse. Just my thoughts.

Reread my first post. Baltimore has large swaths of single family homes. you seem to say Baltimore is unsuccessful due to only having rowhouses, which is not only incorrect, but is also a poor argument, when compared with philly, who has less varied housing options yet continues to grow. Nobody said Baltimore is using Philly as a blueprint; i simply used it as an example of how having less varied housing options does not equate to an unsuccessful city, which was your argument.

[Billiam]

Here is some new housing in Baltimore City btw

orangeville baltimore - Google Maps

Bolton Hill - Google Maps

Balimore - Google Maps

Heritage crossing baltimore - Google Maps

Johns Hopkins Baltimore - Google Maps

Johns Hopkins Baltimore - Google Maps

[rhemy1]

Originally Posted by Billiam

Almost all of northern Baltmore city are single family homes.

Northeast Baltimore:
3118 Tyndale ave baltimore - Google Maps
Northwest Baltimore:
3553 Denison Road - Google Maps
North central Baltimore
392 Rosebank Avenue, Baltimore, MD - Google Maps

However i dont think your argument holds much water. Philadelphia has a greater ratio of rowhouses than Baltimore. Their other most common residential style is dense duplexes which isn't common in Baltimore. Philly is successful i think, at least growth-wise, it has gained within the last ten years.

Billiam those homes are completely lackluster. People with real money don't live in those kind of houses or neighborhoods. The homes or variety in housing shouldn't be geared toward the middle class, but people with real money. People who could easily afford to live on the harbor but want a yard for their kids, trees for shade, an in ground pool of their own. By keeping those people in the city center, Baltimore could also grow its tax base and attract more retail of all kinds. People's property values in the city will increase because there will be fewer homes for those who want to live in the city, and ultimately the city should become safer.

Also it wouldn't be too crazy to think that phillys pop. would grow over the last ten years. People who want to live in city's on the east coast don't have too many options.

There's Boston, New York, Philly, Baltimore, DC, and maybe ATL. ATL doesn't have an east coast city feel to it. Boston, NY, and DC are terribly expensive. That leaves Philly and Baltimore, and currently Philly would tend to win hands down. It's close to NY (which is way better than DC), has more people than Balt. (I believe), is a larger city with more things to do, and in most respects is a larger more east coast feeling city than Baltimore. However, Baltimore has way better fundamentals if it could just right it's ship. There's a reason speculators and investors were all over Baltimore way more than Philly during the housing boom.

Philly is unwieldy with very little ability to grow or change. Baltimore is a more nimble (largely due to it's declining population and emtpy spaces). In many ways its like when the city of Sanfran fell or the city of Chicago burned. People took the opportunity to rebuild better than before. If Bmore can get its subway system in place, open up better opportunities for its poorer residents, attract more business, and provided a reason for the states richest residents to chose city life over country living (which is very possible), Baltimore could be the second best city on the east coast.