As someone who lives a block away from the future McHenry Row development, I have a natural interest in the project’s progress. Here’s a synopsis of what’s happened at the construction site since last October: NOTHING. Or at least not much more than nothing. I snapped the photos here back in October of 2008 – almost 9 months ago. If you drive by today, you’ll see not much has changed. Developer Mark Sapperstein ran out of financing back in the fall (BBJ article), and apparently is still working on the new funding.
I say the project’s a tease because the amount of buzz and excitement it has stirred up with area residents. Federal Hill and Locust Point desperately need a decent grocery store. Unless you have a special taste for moldy produce, the Shoppers at Southside Shopping Center comes no where close to “decent.” McHenry row promises to bring relief in the form of a sparkling new Harris Teeter.
Additionally, many of us are excited about other tenant names being thrown around like Panera, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and Greene Turtle. The latter two are both shown on the McHenry Row Website, so there’s likely already a deal in place with those two. But given the delays, those deals could fall through perhaps. Green Turtle is particularly exciting. Having a nice restaurant/bar with outdoor seating and parking in South Baltimore will be a unique luxury.
Hull Street Mews is a cool looking new townhome cluster in Locust Point. It’s coincidentally located across the street from the popular Hull Street Blues restaurant and bar. The design the builder used for the back of the homes looks really nice, and forms a sort of courtyard behind the two sets of houses. Is the starting price too high for this market?
Baltimore City recently announced it would fund a new dog park in Locust Point’s Latrobe Park. Read more about this in the Locust Point Civic Association’s October Newsletter. The park is the result of a lot of hard work by a group of dedicated volunteer neighbors who were able to raise $20,000 through fundraisers. But it seems some Baltimore Sun readers have a problem with it. Read their comments here. Most of them probably don’t know any of the details, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from throwing in their two cents. Here’s a link to the Sun’s original story on the dog park. I’m not a dog owner, but it seems there’s definitely worse ways to spend the city’s money. What I’m not clear on is the correlation of the $20,000 mentioned in the LPCA newsletter and the $150,000 mentioned in the Sun piece. Is the $20k part of the larger sum?
Grabbed this from the MD Daily Record article about the Promenade being nearly complete. Although on a bike I guess you would have to walk 1/3 of the way – through Harborplace.
I recently dug up this interesting rendering of “Tide Point Phase 2″ on the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) website.? I think it’s an old sketch, so it may have changed by now, but I was shocked at how modern the planned buildings looked in contrast to the existing brick buildings that currently? comprise the Tide Point Complex in Locust Point.?
Tide Point Developer Struever Brothers, Eccles, & Rouse were recently made to scale back the Tide Point plans due to community opposition.? See related articles.
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.
This may not come as a surprise to some of you, it certainly did not come as a surprise to me and my husband, but Nasu Blanca, the Spanish/Japanese restaurant in Locust Point on Fort Ave. has closed it doors. According to the Baltimore Business Journal, a voice mail message confirms it closure but gives no reason. I would suspect it was from a lack of patronage due to its high dinner prices (and the infamous $9 beer!!). My husband and I ate dinner there once. I got the rather expensive paella. It was pretty good, but not worth the price. I later knew it was overpriced when I went to an upscale neighborhood in San Francisco, CA and got a similar paella for $5 dollars less. I love Locust Point and all, but there is no comparison between Nasu Blanca in Locust Point, Baltimore and an indoor/outdoor restaurant on a beautiful street in San Francisco. Don’t get me wrong, the restaurant is beautifully done. And we had seen another higher scale restaurant success at the Wine Market (which I consider to be a better restaurant with better prices). But I thought Nasu Blanca totally outpriced its neighborhood. What finally turned us off from ever going again into the restaurant was when we stopped in for happy hour. I got a happy hour sangria, and my husband asked what kind of beer they had. The bartender offered him some beer on tap. He drank it. Got the bill for it and it was $9. Hello!! We are there for happy hour!!! That was our last trip to Nasu Blanca.
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!
*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…
The Baltimore Sun reports that Harris Teeter has signed a lease in McHenry Row, formally known as the Chesapeake Paperboard site in Locust Point. LP will finally be getting its high end grocery store that many of us have been waiting for!
To read more, visit the link below. The article says there will be curbside pick up for pre ordered groceries and will have a “sushi bar, pizza bar, artisan cheese selection and a healthy section of prepared foods.” It is just too bad it won’t open until 2010.
