Baltimore Grows

The recently erected tower crane on the site of Harbor Point is a good sign that construction is well underway.? Harbor Point is perfectly situated between Baltimore’s Historic Fells point and new hotspot Harbor East and will eventually connect the two neighborhoods.? Not to mention, Harbor Point juts into the Baltimore Harbor, providing panoramic views of nearly the entire shoreline.? The starting gun for construction was Morgan Stanley’s decision to relocate their Baltimore office to the new development.? Currently, Morgan Stanley occupies a floor of the Bond Street Wharf building in Fells Point.? Morgan Stanley will relocate their 450 existing employees to the new site, but will be adding up to 900 jobs over the next decade.? Morgan Stanley appears to be taking advantage of the Maryland Job market.? Maryland has the most educated work force in the nation but also a lower cost of living than other areas, particularly in? Baltimore.? A Morgan Stanley investment banker in Baltimore might have a salary almost two thirds to half of what? the employees at their New York headquarters would earn.? There’s no word whether jobs will be relocated from New York or if all of the positions will be new.?

Meanwhile, developers of other projects appear to be taking advantage of the situation.? The developers of the Marketplace at Fells point have revised their plans to include market rate apartments in lieu of the originally planned office building.? The developers will be marketing the project to many of the newcomers that will work at Harbor Point, which is a short walk from Fells Point.?

Rumor has it that Miss Shirley’s Cafe and Bakery will be opening a second location in the Constellation Energy building at 750 E. Pratt Street near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.? Miss Shirley’s current location,? a very? popular breakfast and lunch spot on Cold Spring Lane in Roland Park, will remain.? The new location would face south onto Pratt St. near the corner of President St.? No word on when construction will start or whether the format of the restaurant will be different from the original.? Keep posted for new information.? Visit http://www.missshirleys.com

I don’t know whether to laugh or be scared about this story. Today’s Sun has an article on a proposal to build a gondola that runs 1.3 miles from The Convention Center to Fells Point. The more mass-transit the better, but it seems a bit disjointed and disconnected from the existing mass transit that currently exists or is planned. If it did ever get built it would likely end up as a tourist novalty more than a solution for commuters or residents. Similar to the water taxi.? With Baltimore’s recent history of tragic and near tragic events surrounding non-traditional tourist attractions (hot air balloon and water taxi), some govt. officials likely have safety concerns in mind.? Some might not want to be dangling 95 feet above the city when a summer thunderstorm rolls through the harbor.

?

The Winsteads have spent the past several years promoting their vision of a $40 million privately operated system called Baltimore’s SkyLine as efficient and environmentally friendly and an ideal connector to light rail, shuttles and the proposed public transit Red Line. Since completing a $38,000 state-funded ridership study more than a year ago, they’ve lined up investors and put together a construction and design team.

Full article on Balt Sun

Fells Point community organizations are beginning to take a stand against the proposed Red Line Project, a 12 mile, east-west transit corridor connecting the areas of Woodlawn, Edmondson Village, West Baltimore, downtown Baltimore, Inner Harbor East, Fells Point, Canton and the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Campus.? ? The main issues revolve around the proposal to change the quaint Fleet and Aliceanna Streets into one way thoroughfares, eliminating parking, and adding the? surface transit line.? Fells Point residents also complain that there doesn’t even appear to be a stop planned for their neighborhood, with the closest stops being proposed at Central and Fleet (in the Harbor East neighborhood) and the Can Company Complex in Canton.? “The state and city are just planning to railroad? this thing through the middle of Fells Point”? asserted one Fells Point resident.? ? The proposed stops appear to focus on more? high-density areas such as Harbor East and Canton Crossing.? “We don’t want another Howard Street disaster” mentioned another, referring to the existing light rail line that runs north-south through the city down the Howard Street Corridor.? ? Proposals to run the Red Line underground through Fells Point and daylighting when it gets to Boston Street also concern residents who feel that it’s not realistic to dig a tunnel adjacent to buildings that are over 100 years old.?

In lieu of the proposed Red Line project, the Fells Point community appears to favor the alternate “Green Line Expansion” which would essentially extend the existing Metro Subway.? The Metro would continue past the current end-of-line at Hopkins Hospital, daylighting just east of the hospital.? ? The Green Line would then extend to the Hopkins Bayview Campus and the Canton Crossing project using many existing railroad rights-of-way.? An extension of the Metro on the West Side of the city would reach Woodlawn and West? Baltimore.? Fells Point residents also favored a more traditional “trolley” type system to cover the Harbor East and Fells Point areas to ease congestion there.? The trolleys would run with the normal pace of traffic.? The community believes that this would achieve the same goal as the Red Line but alleviate some of the problems associated with building mass transit through a historic neighborhood.? The community argues that the Green Line could foster growth in East Baltimore, a community in much more need of development than Fells Point.?

This is not the first time that the Fells Point community has opposed a major transportation project.? In the late 1960′s a proposal to build I-95 through the neighborhood was successfully thwarted.? One of the leaders of the I-95? revolt was Barbara Mikulski, who would go on to become a Senator from Maryland.

For those who wish to share their opinion with the government, there will be a community meeting on May 10th, 2008? from 9am to 1pm at the Baltimore Convention Center.?

To learn more about the Red Line, visit http://www.baltimoreredline.com/

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

Story from the City Paper Website

A multibillion-dollar Baltimore-based housing finance company appears to be in trouble. Municipal Mortgage and Equity LLC has seen its stock price drop by 80 percent over the past year or so, and in February the New York Stock Exchange delisted the stock. Shares now trade on the “pink sheets” over-the-counter market. Several class-action lawsuits have been filed against the company by shareholders, claiming securities fraud.

Many Locust Point residents are up in arms over Struever Brothers? proposal to build a major new mixed use project? at the? Tide Point location.? Roughly 250 concerned residents showed up at last Wednesday’s special neighborhood meeting. Struever’s plan would have added up to 1,200 residential? units to Locust Point.? This would be in addition to the two large residential projects currently under way in the community – Silo Point and McHenry Row.? Based on the community outcry the plan has already been reduced in scale and is likely going back to the drawing board once again.

“..Struever Bros. has already agreed to significant reductions in the scope of its plans. Among them, the number of residential units was reduced from about 1,000 to 644 units, a 26-story building was scaled down to 15 stories and the amount of office space was reduced from about 300,000 square feet to about 200,000 square feet. ”

City Council Vice President Edward Reisinger, who represents South Baltimore, said he will not endorse the project as it stands now. “If you don’t want this to go through, it’s not going anywhere, it’ll die,” said Reisinger, chair of City Council’s land use committee. “I’m listening to you, and that is what’s going to happen.”

Recent Coverage from Baltimore Business Journal 3/6/08 and Baltimore Sun 2/29/08

Fells Point may start to feel a little more like Greektown, with two new Mediterranean style restaurants and a Greek themed Bed & Breakfast in the works.

Miss Irene’s – Fells Point Bistro – 1738 Thames St. which originally closed in 2004, has reopened with a Mediterranean style.? The new restaurant will be upscale, a far cry from the bar once named the “best bar for hardcore drinking” by the city paper.

Meli (1636 Thames St., 410-534-6354) which means “Honey” in Greek, is? the third restaurant in the Kali’s? Restaurant group.? The recently opened restaurant will have global cuisine prepared with French techniques.? The best part about it is the patisserie attached to the dining room and lounge.? Apparently the patisserie will be open for late night coffee and dessert for times when a hot dog pretzel from the stand on Broadway just won’t do.

The owners of the Black Olive, which opened in 1997 and has consistently been one of the best restaurants in Baltimore, are building a Bed & Breakfast called the Vineyards at the Black Olive on Caroline St.? Although the project has been in planning stages for a few years now, plans are supposedly being finalized? for the 7.5 million dollar project? and a permit for the foundation has been obtained.? The foundation permit is only supposed to be good through the end of March, which may be a concern because work hasn’t started yet other than the arrival of a construction trailer.? However, permits can be extended by the city upon request.? Apparently the construction is expected to take 8 months once it begins.? ? The hotel is to be modeled after the Black Olive Family’s former hotel in Constantinople and is to have a LEED Platinum rating.
jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

After years of disinvestment and urban flight, East Baltimore is starting to show signs of life.? ? Much of the the development is largely thanks to? massive investments by Johns Hopkins Hospital.? The area around Hopkins Hospital, with all of the construction and tower cranes,? likens itself more to Dubai than the East Baltimore we’ve known for a long while.? While not talked about nearly as much as development around the harbor, the changes going on in? East Baltimore? are probably more vital and important to Baltimore’s future than the addition of another condo or hotel downtown…bringing high paying jobs and catalysts for future development.? While Hopkins is the main impetus behind the development, there are other projects in the works as well.

A view of the Johns Hopkins Hospital campus shows the skyline dotted with tower cranes.? There are currently four projects under construction on the Hopkins medical campus, including the $950 million dollar double clinical patient tower (Adult Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower and Children’s Tower) scheduled to be completed in 2011.? Other projects under construction are the Wilmer Eye Institute and the Hackerman-Patz Patient and Family Pavilion.? A new building for the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing is in planning stages.

Above, the East Baltimore Biotech park is well underway with the first phases opening up soon.? Swaths of run down row houses? north of the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus? were demolished to make way for this ambitious $200 million dollar project which will also include some residential and retail around the 22 acre biotech park.? A rendering shows the final product.

?

Above, another photo of the $950 million dollar double clinical patient tower (Adult Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower and Children’s Tower).? This is one of the largest hospital construction projects in the country and the largest in the history of Maryland.

Humanium, a Columbia Md non-profit, has recently secured $22.5 million for renovations of the American Brewery Complex into their new headquarters.? Baltimore city recently approved the building permit and work is beginning.? The American Brewery is situated in the center of one of East Baltimore’s most blighted neighborhoods.

Local developers Kenneth R. Banks and Martin P. Azola acquired the former Hendler Creamery? ice cream factory, at 1100 E. Baltimore St., in July 2006, after four years of negotiations with the city.?

The sale of the adjacent warehouse on Fayette Street to Banks, Azola and new partner LaRian Finney completes a deal that is expected to add about 50,000 square feet of mixed-use office and retail space to the historic Jonestown neighborhood of East Baltimore.

Azola said tenants are expected to include The Daily Record, which would house a new printing facility in the warehouse, and Finney’s multimedia marketing and event-planning company, Visionary Marketing Group.

Wire mesh fence was recently erected around the blighted Somerset? Courts Public Housing Project, signaling its impending doom to the wrecking ball.? There’s no word what could replace Somerset Courts.? Other housing projects in the area have been replaced with mixed-income communities.? Somerset? Courts is near Oldtown mall, which Baltimore City has been attempting to redevelop for years.? Past plans to build a Safeway at Oldtown mall have fallen through.? However, Baltimore City issued an RFP for Oldtown mall redevelopment earlier this year.

There have been setbacks.? Prior plans to construct a 1.96 million square foot mixed use project south of the Johns Hopkins Medical campus have fallen through.? The site is currently for sale.

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

The pace of development for the Marketplace at Fells Point project seems to be heating up.? Recently, the developers announced that they had hired Josh Neiman, a former executive at Struever Brothers, to help them finalize plans.? The $50 million dollar project includes the renovation of the Broadway Market (potentially adding a second floor), the construction of a parking garage, office space, and retail along the 500 and 600 blocks of Broadway.? Demolition has been completed for the parking garage and office building and the design is apparently being finalized.

A series of community events is being held this month to discuss the plans:
* Fells Point Community Organization: Mon. March 10th, 7pm at Louisiana’s
* Fells Prospect: Wed. March 12th, 7pm at Holy Rosary Church hall
* Upper Fells Point Improvement Asoc: Tues. March 18th, 7:30pm at St. Patrick’s Church hall

A late night coffee shop, something Baltimore needs more of, has just opened up in Hampden.? “El Rancho Grande”, which is supposedly the antithesis of the average coffee shop, is open Monday through Friday from 6pm to 2am and from 3pm to 9pm on Sundays.? ? Don’t look for fancy latte’s here and I wouldn’t expect it’d be the type of place to study or flip open your laptop to catch up on e-mails, as El Rancho is supposed to be relatively bohemian in nature.? Looks like it could be a great place for a low key evening out on the town or a unique finish to one of Hampden’s off-center restaurants and cafes.? Look for the turquoise, orange, and purple facade (since there’s no sign).? ? Also look for an occasional music act.? ? If anyone makes it over there, please post a comment and let us know how it is.? ? http://www.myspace.com/itsabigranch

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com