Baltimore Grows

The future Legg Mason / Fours Seasons project will command the highest rent of any property in Baltimore; likely $40+ per square foot. Prices at the current Legg Mason building (100 Light Street) are in the high $20s. It’s not surprising because the new Harbor Point project is should be pretty pimped out.

Once Legg Mason makes it’s move across town 100 Light street may have a hard time filling the 21floors vacated. Tenants may be looking for some more modern accommodations, which is why the building owners plan on some upcoming upgrades. But i’s hard to beat the location and views of 100 Light Street.

Read more on the MD Daily Record site

The Baltimore Business Journal noted? that the ongoing renovations to the Bagby Furniture Building (across from Whole Foods in Harbor East) will include ground level? retail and two restaurants.? The article also noted that a Panera Bread will be opening in Brewer’s Hill.?

Click HERE to read the article.

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

Teavolve, the Fells Point tea and coffee shop, recently opened its new digs in Harbor East.? Located on Aliceanna St. in the Eden Apartment Building, the new location is modern but comfortable.? It’s formal enough that you can have a nice breakfast or lunch served to you, but casual enough that you can bring your laptop to catch up on work.?

When I went to check out the place, it was on a Saturday Morning and I was starving.? I noticed that they had Belgian waffles (apparently they serve them all day) along with? selections of pastries, muffins, croissants, sandwiches, salads, and paninis.? The Belgian waffle was delicious…freshly made and delivered with steam coming off of it.? Service was a bit spotty and slow…I ordered a mocha, but it came as a regular latte.? I’ve heard from other people that service was great when they have been…so I’m definitely willing to go back another time.? Their tea selection was immense and their bubble tea looked delicious.? Teapots come with their very own candle to keep it warm.

http://teavolve.com/

1401 Aliceanna St. Baltimore 21231, 410-522-1907

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

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?”

Article link

In a recent poll of BaltimoreGrows.com readers the neighborhoods of Harbor East and Locust Point were voted the “Hottest neighborhoods in Baltimore.” 177 readers completed the poll.Baltimore neighborhoods receiving the most votes.

It’s not really Theory #23. It’s theory #1, I suppose. It’s been my theory at least since 1999, when I purchased a house in Baltimore City for myself and my family. The theory is simple and goes like this: Oil is a finite resource. Sooner or later, we’ll run out. There’s no viable alternative to gasoline, and even if there were, there’s already too many cars out there to replace. As gasoline prices rise, houses in the suburbs will drop in value. There will be a corresponding rise in the value of city real estate. Suburbia is predicated on cheap gasoline, whereas cities are from a time before gasoline. Cheap gas is a temporary phenomena. Buy city real estate and sell suburban real estate.

After eight years, it’s safe to say, “I told you so”. Now my theory has been borne out. However in 1999 I was the only one saying it. When I moved from DC to Baltimore in 1999, a real estate investor in the DC ‘burbs told me, “Don’t buy real estate in Baltimore City. It’ll never appreciate”! At the time, buying real estate in the city was risky. In the city you had to deal with crime, drugs, racial issues, bad schools, abandoned buildings, Mayor O’Malley, high taxes, etc etc. As recently as three years ago I posted to another blog about buying in the city and was jumped on by suburbanites. Within the past couple of years two of my neighbors bailed out* and moved to the ‘burbs. This was before $4 gas.

The neighborhood that I bought into has come back big-time since I bought in 1999. I don’t know if I could afford to buy my house if I had to buy it again now. However, there’s still “bad” neighborhoods in Baltimore City. They’re “bad” neighborhoods to some people. I’d say that one man’s “bad” neighborhood is this man’s sweet deal!

http://www.joshuaberlow.com/real2.htm

*In both cases, the houses sold immediately. The only house in the neighborhood that hasn’t sold immediately after being put on the market is one guy who’s holding out for $100K more than any of the others has sold for. Maybe he knows something…

A recent photo, presumably from the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, shows the progress of the future Baltimore Four Seasons Hotel and Legg Mason building in Harbor East.

A rendering of the completed project:

FreshFarm Markets has announced that they’re bringing their concept to Harbor East.? The market will operate on Saturdays from June 14th to October 25th, 9? AM to 1 PM.? FreshFarm Markets operates farmer’s markets around the Chesapeake Region, including Annapolis, St. Michael’s, Silver Spring, and Dupont Circle.? The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times of London have named the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market one? the best in the country.? Hopefully the one in Harbor East will rank as high.? Read More…

jeffcantonite@yahoo.com

The recent announcement of a proposed Hyatt Place and Summerfield Suites at? the Baltimore Citycenter Complex adds to the growing list of hotels proposed or under construction in the Baltimore Area.? Baltimore may owe the boom to an increase in domestic tourism (thanks high gas prices) and higher demand for business accommodations due to Baltimore’s growing economy among other things.? Here’s a list of some of the hotel projects planned or underway.? I’m sure I’ve forgotten a bunch of them, so please leave a comment of any that I’ve missed.

PROPOSED:

1. & 2. Hyatt Place and Summerfield Suites at Baltimore Citycenter

3. Aloft Hotel? – Fells Point

4. Cambria Suites – Downtown

5. Inn at Penn Station

6. Sleep Inn – Oldtown/Fallsway

7. Four Points by Sheraton – Downtown

8. Lifestyle Hotel – Downtown

9. Hotel Monaco – Downtown

10. Holiday Inn Express – Oldtown/Fallsway

UNDER CONSTRUCTION:?

1. Hilton Convention Center Hotel

2. Four Seasons Hotel Harbor East

3. Hotel Indigo – Downtown Baltimore

4. Staybridge Suites – Downtown

5. Fairfield Inn & Suites – Jonestown/President St.

6. Red Roof Inn – Downtown

7. One East Redwood? – Downtown

8. Quality Inn – Downtown

RUMORED

1. W Hotel – 10 Inner Harbor – Rumors have been flying that W Hotels is eyeing? the hotel portion of the proposed 60 story 10 Inner Harbor project at 414 Light St.

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