Baltimore Grows

 Tom Clancy plopped down 12.6 million for three condos at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Baltimore and the three units will be combined into one mega-condo.  The sale sets a record for the most expensive condo ever sold in Baltimore. 

The sale is also a huge boost to the developers of the project who have been dogged recently with liens resulting from unpaid construction bills.  Only around 20 of the Ritz’s 190 condos have gone to settlement so far.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bal-bz.ritz19nov19,0,4991403.story

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

We’re happy to have another guest post today courtesy of Urban Discoveries Living Blog. Check out all their great content.

The State Center was supposed to be one of those far-sighted projects that would help transform Baltimore into the vibrant, accessible city of the future. Though it wasn’t scheduled to be completed until 2018, even just the vision had a lot of people excited. The idea:  to redevelop and reshape the 28 acres around the current State Center, an area that currently includes huge city offices, a light rail stop, and… a lot of parking lots and chain-link fences. The State Center development was supposed to change all that, reconnecting neighborhoods and creating a vibrant livable community. But problems have cropped up—new legislation, worrisome language in the state budget—that have some people worried that Baltimore is just going to end up with more of the same.

Why spend so much time and money on the area anyway?  Well, there are plenty of assets not being taken advantage of here, is the thinking—not only does the area already boast a much-used transit hub (both the light rail and the subway stop here), and it’s here that vibrant neighborhoods (Mt. Vernon, Seton Hill, Bolton Hill) would come together, if there was anything there worth coming together for. So the stuff is there, for the most part; it’s just not connected well at all. Continue Reading »

What might be the first project already underway that has been scaled back due to the economic downturn, the condominium portion of the Four Seasons/Legg Mason towers in Harbor East has been delayed.  The 256 room/18 story hotel portion of the project will still be constructed along with the neighboring 24 story Legg Mason Tower.

Click here to read the article

Although rumors of the delay have been circulated for the past few weeks, the news came to a major blow to many who wanted to see the 44 story tower rise at the waters edge.  The building would have been the city’s tallest, exceeding the existing Legg Mason tower by 4 stories.  According to the article, the condos will be built atop the hotel when the market improves. 

When you look at the big picture, this news is really not a surprise considering similar situations in other cities across the country.  According to The Sun, only 14 buyers out of the 113 contracts for Ritz Carlton condos across the harbor have gone to settlement.  This is remarkable, considering the hefty deposits that are typically required to reserve these condos…meaning a lot of people walked away with a lot of money on the table.  The Four Seasons would be similar development to the Ritz.  On the bright side, Baltimore’s existing condos may have a better chance of holding their value, since the condo market is not as overbuilt as in other cities (think Miami and Houston).  Let’s hope the market improves more quickly in Baltimore as well!

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

The Ritz-Carlton Residences in Baltimore, Maryland recently began welcoming the first homeowners. The project is being developed by New York based RexCorp, after changing hands because of some legal troubles during the construction process. The Baltimore project is the first ever condo project with no hotel component that will be branded and operated by the Ritz-Carlton.

“Baltimore has never seen anything like this,” said Kurt Hornig, sales consultant at the upscale development. “It’s like living in a Ritz-Carlton Hotel without all the guests.”

View of Ritz-Carlton Residences from Harbor East neighborhood

To read more CLICK HERE

414 Water Street is a 31-story condominium near Baltimore’s inner harbor that was built above an existing structured parking garage owned by Baltimore City.? The building was recently completed and is about 50% sold and occupied according to McWilliams|Ballard, who is handling the condo sales.? The Bush Companies, developer of the project, worked out a long term lease with the city to reserve the top floors of the 9-story parking deck so residents can lease parking month-to-month.

414 Water Street offers one-bedroom, one-bedroom with den, two-bedroom, and two-bedroom with den floor plans.? Sizes range from 654 square feet for the smallest one-bedroom to 1,460 square feet for the largest two-bedroom with den.? Select units offer balconies and the views looking south to the harbor and across to Federal Hill are stunning.? Prices start at $217,900 for a one-bedroom and $339,900 for a two-bedroom.? Click to read more and view price sheet at CondoAuthority.com…

The sales prices of condominiums and coops appear to be holding up better in Baltimore than many might think based on our recent analysis of thousands of transactions entered into the multiple listing service. We exported and analyzed every condo and coop transaction from 2000 through July of 2008 from MRIS (Metropolitan Regional Information System), which is the multiple listing service used by Baltimore area real estate agents. The jurisdictions included in the data analysis were Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel, Howard, and Harford.

While everyone knows prices are not increasing like they were in the first half of the decade, sales prices for existing condominiums in and around Baltimore are not declining much on average.? The average sales price for condos in Baltimore City was $278,482 in July of this year, which is basically unchanged from $278,417 in July of 2007.? The prices used for this analysis are net of any seller subsidy (closing cost contribution, etc.). While the average sales prices can be somewhat erratic from month to month, the general trend is pretty flat.? Even the metro area including the counties mentioned above has only shown a decline of 4.3% year-to-date through July compared to all of 2007 and this is mostly attributed to declines in Howard and Anne Arundel counties.? And, this is after a 4.4% increase of the average metro area price in 2007.

View the full article including graphs and tables HERE

Yesterday’s article in the Baltimore Sun on the proposed Westport development was interesting.? It was a good article about the city’s push to include moderate & low income housing in the new project.? What I found funny was the accompanying artist rendering of the project? which features a Porsche, BMW (I think), Starbucks, Westport Bistro, and Whole Foods.? Perhaps the low-income residences are tucked just out of view around the corner.

The Gateway at Washington Hill, a project once thought to be dead, appears to be back on the table…this time with even more retail.? The project, just south of Hopkins Hospital, was once the site of the Chapel Hill NDP housing project.? Those were torn down a couple of years ago and the gateway project has been in the works ever since.? ? The land had been for sale ever since one of the partners had backed out a few months ago.? It seems that David Holmes, the lead developer, has a new partner and the project is a go again.? ? While the residential and some retail has already been approved, the team is apparently beginning the process for approval of a larger retail portion…enough to house a grocery store.?

Click Here to Read the Article

Click Here to View the Original Plan
jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

Article in today’s Baltimore Business Journal

Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc. drops the number of planned residences after much resistance from the Locust Point community.

Development presentation

There’s an interesting article on the MD Daily Record site about the Ritz-Carlton development adjacent to Federal Hill.

? “[Our residents] are very busy people,” said Gabe Pasquale, head of sales and marketing for the development. “They’re very active. They’re captains of industry and very engaged in their business. The concept here is anticipating their needs so you can simplify their lifestyle.”

Condos start at $1.3 million and peak at $5.5 million for one of three 5,000-square-foot penthouses, all of which have been sold, according to RexMidtown.

“We have sports figures, people of the arts, people who don’t want to be bothered taking care of themselves,” Rechler said. ”This is a product that Baltimore does not have.”

“Without Ritz-Carlton, without Silo Point, I’m not sure Harris Teeter would come,” Harrington said, referring to the Virginia-based grocer that recently announced it will expand into the Baltimore area. “That’s an upscale grocery. Why would they come if they didn’t think it was an upscale market?”

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