Baltimore Grows

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

There was a recent article on multi-housingnews.com about the Silo Point development in Locust Point.

According to Turner, the development is being constructed in four phases. The first broke ground in May 2005 and has already been completed. It consists of 120 townhouses. The second phase, slated for completion in May 2008, is currently under construction and will include 229 high-end traditional and loft-style condominiums and ground-level retail inside the site’s grain elevator. The third phase will feature additional townhouses and apartments.

So what’s phase 4? Retail?

“Baltimore’s appeal as a residential community extends to individuals and families who work in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area but are priced out of D.C.’s housing market,”

I doubt the people being priced out of the DC market are looking for small condos from the upper $400,000s or larger condos up to $5 million.  If they can afford half a million or more in Baltimore they can find something in DC.

“The current Locust Point residents love the new interest in their community,” Turner adds. “For those of them who do want to sell, their property values are soaring.  And others, who want to stay in the neighborhood, aren’t being pushed out.”

Ahhh… not so fast.  For many residents rising property values are a good thing.  However, anyone that has spent time in a Locust Point Civic Association meeting knows that soaring property values are a problem for many residents.  Rising property values lead to increased taxes for low income families or older residents on fixed incomes.  It’s a concept that escapes many new residents, and that many developers choose to ignore.  Many Locust Point homes have been in the same family for generations, and they have no intention of selling. 

While people such as myself like to see new development in the area - this project has been very controversial and Turner and Sapperstein have drawn a lot of fire from some residents.

I’m not sure if this will be the nicest penthouse in all of Baltimore - but if not, it has to be close.  The 16th story penthouse unit of the soon to be built Pinnacle Tower in the Harborview Community off Key Highway, is simply bad ass.  Covering 7,560 sq. ft. (5,850 indoor and 1,710 off terrace space), and necessities such as 5.5 baths, 4 separate terraces, an outdoor spa, a fitness room, and a screening room.

Today’s Baltimore Sun article discusses the latest controversy surrounding the upscale South Baltimore Harborview community.  Harborview - nestled along Key highway between Federal Hill and Locust Point currently contains the Harborview Tower, The Pier homes, and Harborview town-homes.  These properties are some of the most exlusive in all of Baltimore, and developer Richard A. Swirnow is looking to build even more.  Construction is about to begin on the 17 story luxury Pinnacle Tower - with top units commanding as much as $7 million dollars.  The latest controversy is over the proposal to build two additional 27 story towers.  This would dramatically alter the look and feel of that stretch Key highway.  But then again, it’s already been altered.  The huge Ritz Carlton condominiums project sits adjacent to the Pier Homes and has dramatically reshaped the look of the area.

Federal Hill residents are already steamed over the Pier Homes construction which broke height restrictions and blocked the water views of many existing homes.  The new towers threaten even more views.  I’m not necessarily opposed to the towers.  Obviously if they affected my view I would be more concerned.  The larger concern for me - and hopefully most area residents - is what the added density will do to rush hour traffic along Key Highway. I’m already seeing an increased backup along Lawrence street and Fort avenue as a result of more people living in the area.  The new BP/Quiznos is also backing up traffic because the left lane heading out of the city is now used as a turn lane into the station. 

Once the Shoppes at Fort are built it will cause even more bottlenecks.  The traffic along Key highway will certainly be painful in a few years.  The new towers do offer some potential benefits for us.  Much of the Key Highway stretch is a bit run down and dilapidated.  And overall there just isn’t a lot of foot traffic.  Added density, brings residents, which brings business, restaurants, and in the end hopefully a more vibrant community.

Silo point - the new development converting an old grain elevator/silo into luxury condos in Baltimore’s historic Locust Point, is well under way, and has been for a couple years now.  However their official website still is nothing more than a placeholder.  I keep waiting for some worthwhile information, but as of now there is only a brief introduction and a contact form for those interested in purchasing.

The development has been an extremely controversial project in the traditional, quite, community of Locust Point.  The luxury townhomes built adjacent to the grain elevator have had residents for over a year.  But it seems that they are still building more.  Apparently there has been renewed interest, because for a while it seemed they were having trouble selling the last few units.  Apparently silo point is the place to be. 

It will be interesting to see if the premium condo units and penthouses (if there are any) sell as quickly as the Ritz Carlton development at the foot of Federal Hill.

The following photos show the current status of the Silo Point construction.  The first one is a great illustration of contrast - new vs. old, large vs. small, luxury vs. modesty.  The 2nd photo shows some of the remaining grain silos. There was a lot of controversy over whether the silos should be preserved. For some reason some neighborhood residents wanted them saved.  The developer agreed, but after engineers assessed the building it was determined that most of them would need to be torn down.  Apparently the construction wasn’t strong enough to support Silo Point’s new parking garage.

The 1st photo below shows some of the Silo Point condominium units under construction.  Looks like they will have a lot of glass.  One of the concerns of those owning row homes adjacent to the development - was that the new condominiums would be looking down onto the backs of their houses.  The developer and architects told residents that this would not be the case - but in the end it looks like that’s what will happen.

New condos in Baltimore are cropping up left and right.  New buildings are going up all around the inner harbor - from Canton crossing, to Fells Point, to Downtown, to Federal Hill, to Locust Point.  Some project are now being scaled back due to concerns over a declining market.  The condo market in Baltimore has traditionally lagged behind other metropolitan areas, but the city is certainly making up for lost time.  Despite some of the concerns for future demand, many of these new condo pojects are under way or have already been completed.

LiveBaltimore.com has a list of some recent new condos in Baltimore.

Two of the most exclusive new condo projects in Baltimore are the Ritz  Carlton Residences and Silo Point.