West Baltimore MARC station real estate trends (Rosemont: middle-class, appointed)

[philsphan]

Any information on Commercial/ Retail/ Industrial/ Real Estate trends in any of the ten neighborhoods surrounding the West Baltimore MARC station is very useful and much appreciated!

[kinkytoes]

I visited that area a few months ago because it's near a train station and I thought it might be a good place for a rental property. There were some available properties, and they looked close to the station on the map, so I wanted to visit the area. I left a bit disappointed and decided to put my money elsewhere. I thought the neighborhoods with available properties in my price range looked dirty and rundown with lots of boarded-up buildings. Having said that, I did see a couple of other people driving around and looking at houses, too.

I think it would take a concerted effort to fulfill that area's potential. It would also be difficult to get rid of the entrenched violent crime, low income housing and group treatment facilities that--knowing Baltimore Housing--are probably in the area. The train station also seemed a little remote from the residential areas, so it would be kind of an iffy walk from any of the areas that I toured.

Maybe once we legalize drugs, the area will become safer. Right now, I believe some of the areas in the vicinity are the most violent in the city. If you are brave and can get a house for under 10K as close to the station as possible, you may want to go for it. Because of the station, you will have a better chance of renting to a person who is gainfully employed even if the economy worsens.

Again, I saw some interest, but I did not see much development activity.

Hopefully that was helpful.

[barante]

I think kinkytoes sums up the situation nicely.A thought occurs to me.
When the subway was constructed, everyone expected big things around the Metro stations. Along Pennsylvania Avenue, the Metro made no difference. Yes, the rent on the Kentucky Fried Chicken at North and Pennsylvania was astronomical, butit had no inkblot effect. All the other corners were dismal. Similarly it may be that the MARC will have as little effect on the surrounding West Baltimore neighborhood as it has to this point, which is nil.
These are tough neighborhoods. Not tough in physical sense but because they are in the grips of an uncertain transition. Rosemont and a few blocks along Fayette Street were stable middle-class domiciles of African Americans who started moving there in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Those pioneers are disappearing now quickly, and that has an impact on the neighborhood. Renters replace homeowners.
I'd like to be optimistic about the area. Someone will make money there eventually -- particularly if the planned development connected with the red line miraculously takes place. But in a marketplace full of risks this area's risks seem greater than in many other places.