Today’s Baltimore Sun featured an article about how the declining real estate market has put some of the city’s most notable potential construction projects on hold.  While it’s true that many developers are truly bleeding, in Baltimore, it may not be as bleak as the Sun article made the situation out to be.  True, the projects that the Sun mentioned are stalled, however, most of them have been stalled for years, before the economy made a turn for the worse.  While developers across the country are abandoning projects, many of the projects in Baltimore will still happen, but just in a different format.  For instance, the Marketplace at Fells Point project was to originally contain a component of condominiums.  However, the developers are in the process of revising the PUD to include apartments in lieu of the originally planned condos.  All of this switching around requires approval by the neighborhood association, the architectural committee, the city…etc., and all of this takes TIME! 

 The good news is that there are many projects to keep our attention in the meanwhile.  Projects that have the city’s backing (usually in the form of incentives) like Harbor Point, Four Seasons/Legg Mason, Westport, West Side, and projects associated with institutions like Hopkins and University of Maryland, are still underway, and will drastically change the city’s landscape.  Ironically, it’s the privately funded projects that are taking a little time.  But there’s good news here too.  Insiders say that 10 Inner Harbor, which the Sun said was stalled, is still undergoing preconstruction work.  RWN, who owns the parcels on Guilford, isn’t letting the property rot.  They’re leasing out the old Hammerjacks as a new club called Bourbon Street Live.  Eventually, real estate will bounce back, and the financial institutions will start lending again.  Baltimore is in a good position for continued growth, but we must remain patient. 

That being said, growth is not always measured in gleaming condo towers. It is measured in reborn communities with rehabbed houses, new coffee shops, restaurants and stores…things which continue to pop up in Baltimore every day.   

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

Baltimore’s development arm, the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) recently released a snapshot of their master plan for the Charles North Area, AKA Station North, north of Penn Station. 

While the plan calls for higher density high rises, including a 60 story building, it seems unlikely that any of those would come to fruition in the near future, although the BDC has plans to acquire about 18 properties to start the revitalization process.

 The most tangible aspect of the plan could be the addition of a boutique hotel to the top three floors of Penn Station in conjunction with a renovation/expansion of the train station and concourse as reported in the Baltimore Business Journal.  http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2007/10/15/story7.html

 I’m curious to hear what people think about a potential 60 story building in this neighborhood.  Add your comments or shoot me an e-mail.

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

Today’s Baltimore Sun article discusses the surplus of condos on the market.  However, out of the 5,091 vacant condos in the Baltimore metro area, only 865 are in Baltimore City. This is surprising given the number of large-scale condo projects underway. Read the rest of this entry »

Staying on the Silo Point theme…  Jeff was kind enough to share theses great pictures that were taken from the top of Silo Point during the initial demo/pre-construction.  These give you an idea of the great views that these condos will have.  And I assume the top units will have even better views.  Interesting seeing these “aerial” views of Locust Point.

Read the rest of this entry »

I took these updated shots of the Silo Point development in Locust Point.  I found the first one ironic. You can spend a million dollars to live in one of the nicest properties in Baltimore, but you can’t get rid of the graffiti covered train cars parked in your front yard.

Article from The Examiner about new development in Mount Vernon 

Part of Mount Vernon is getting a makeover, thanks to a pair of developers with big plans.  Two large buildings at the north end of the 800 block of Park Avenue are the targets of new development projects. One, the historic Brexton Building, will be turned into a boutique hotel. Across the street the Waxter Center, a senior center, will be rebuilt at an adjacent site along with a 600-unit apartment-condominium complex targeted to young professionals and grad students.

Full article

Baltimore Business Journal article about the delay of the 414 Water Street condo project. 

Delayed from last spring, developers of a 31-story residential tower in downtown Baltimore now plan to start turning over the first of their 312 condominium units to new owners this fall, one of the project’s developers said.

Mayor Dixon has blocked the developer’s plans to build two additional 26-story towers on the HarborView site along Key Highway in South Baltimore.  Many have been worried about blocking views and cluttering the skyline.  To me - the main problem, should those towers be built, is traffic. Key Highway leaving the city in the morning would be maxed out.  But I’m not opposed to the height necessarily. The slim towers would actually preserve more water views than if they built a wider, less tall structure.  Just look at how much water view the new Ritz Carlton ate up.

To the relief of many in South Baltimore, Mayor Sheila Dixon has blocked a plan to build two more waterfront towers at HarborView.

Faced with intense community opposition, the mayor pushed HarborView’s developer, Richard A. Swirnow, to rescind his request to the City Council that would have enabled him to keep building even though he technically had exhausted his construction options.

“I have decided to withdraw [the bill] and instruct the Planning Department and Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods to bring all parties together to find common ground,” Dixon wrote in a letter to a community leader who opposes the proposal.

Full article

Came across this “newish” condo project in Mount Vernon. The 1800’s building is an apartment-condo conversion that now houses 18 units.  7 of the 18 units are still for sale.

http://www.madisonflats.com