Baltimore has and has had a lot of big development and redevelopment proposals on the table over the years. They have delivered results beyond the expectations of officials on both the private and public sectors. Now these results are in some cases only limited to the land the new development sits on or in some cases has produced massive reinvestment and redevelopment in neighboring blighted communities. Here I intend to examine each monster development past present and future to see if it produced or will produce a catalyst for its surrounding neighbors.
The Inner Harbor is the mac daddy of them all. We all know that its surroundings far and wide have benefited spectacularly from its transformation.
The Hippodrome, the whole Westside of Downtown's transformation in my opinion can be attributed to its renovation and reopening. Not Camden Yards.
HOPE VI developments, not so much in fact they have had the opposite effect. Displaced public housing residents flooded the surrounding neighborhoods creating more blight. The exceptions are Albermarle Square, Broadway Overlook, and the soon to be Orchard Ridge.
Canton Crosssing, so far the First Mariner Bank Tower has been the only completion of this but Canton had already made a comeback when Canton Crossing began.
Camden Crossing, well someone had to take the risk and move development west of MLK Boulevard and into Pigtown. Pigtown or to the yuppies Washington Village has made an amazing turn around in the past few years and Camden Crossing with the combination of Washington Boulevard a main street and being voted the best neighborhood in the city have played a big part in it.
Mount Clare Junction Shopping Center, although mere blocks west of gentrifying Pigtown the mixed use development has not spurred much investment in the Mount Clare neighborhood. In fact the shopping center itself has struggled with vacancies and low attendance.
East Baltimore Biotech Park, they have hit the nail right on the head with this one. From Middle East, to McElderry Park, to Old Town Mall there has been interest in development and rehabbing.
State Center Redevelopment, with the demolition of McCulloh Homes, the joining together of Upton, Madison Park, Bolton Hill, and Mount Vernon with a brand new transit oriented mixed income development I don't see how it will fail. I have hopes that this will spur revitalization of Pennsylvania Avenue as a vibrant cultural and retail district.
West Baltimore MARC Station, when the red line is built when it intersects with the West Baltimore MARC Station there will be a huge demand for Transit Oriented Development. This is currently a blighted area that may be a hard sell but you know what they say; location location location. It's currently located right in between Downtown and the new Uplands.
Station North, just label a blighted area an "Arts and Entertainment District" and watch the gentrification begin. Artists get tax breaks to work in abandoned buildings and they put in the sweat equity to raise property values. There is however, a double edged sword to Station North. Gentrification has been so swift that the artists who put in the sweat equity and turned this neighborhood into a cultural destination are now priced out and the yuppies are moving in. Just look at the $400,000 town homes being built on Calvert St. The good news is, Baltimore has many blighted areas that can be dubbed "Arts and Entertainment Districts."
Vistas on the Lake, new upscale condos in Reservoir Hill overlooking Druid Hill Park. This is the first time upscale and Reservoir Hill were mentioned in the same sentence. Although it has some of Baltimore's prettiest row homes the neighborhood, although gentrifying by "a new generation of urban dwellers" has a huge of amount of land and buildings that have federal subsidies on them that can hold back additional development on the scale of "Vistas on the Lake."
Westport, Patrick Turner set his sights on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River with a plan. The plan, is to duplicate the investment, development, and gentrification of the Inner Harbor. It seems easy enough, Westport was once just like the Inner Harbor. They were both industrial waterfronts. Industry has abandoned Westport leaving room for new residential, retail, office, and hotels. Patrick Turner will do just that. As far as existing Westport residents, investors and rehabbers have been knocking on their doors getting them to sell low so in a few years after the gentrification they can sell high and make a fortune. My advice to existing Westport residents would to hold on to your homes as long as you can because you will be rolling in the cash in a few years.
Photo From Developer Website
Waterview Overlook, Cherry Hill has a much smaller piece of developable on the waterfront land than Westport. Even though Cherry Hill consists almost exclusively of public housing and low income housing there is a waiting list to pay for $300-400k to live in Cherry Hill.
Montgomery Park, this Baltimore land mark that was a warehouse for Montgomery Ward has been lovingly restored and put to productive use. Sadly it stands alone as far as investment goes. The Carroll Camden Industrial Park is as blighted as ever.
Gateway South, between the Carroll Camden Industrial Park and Pigtown and their surounding highways this will be a slam dunk and may spur redevelopment of the Carroll Camden Industrial Park that Montgomery Park hasn't been able to.
As far as the original question I posed Will big projects produce catalysts for surounding neighborhoods, well it depends on the project and the neighborhood. Sometimes you just have to be at the right place at the right time.
The Rouse Company built this mall in 1956 just as Urban America began to crumble. As you'll soon see Mondawmin Mall has more lives than a cat. When General Growth bought the Rouse Company in 2004 for a deal worth $12 Billion Mondawmin Mall came with the package. Almost immediately after the ink was dry General Growth began a strategy to renovate this mall.
General Growth is planning a $70 million renovation to one of America's first suburban shopping malls in a big city.
Mondawmin Mall opened in 1956 in Northwest Baltimore to a rapidly changing Baltimore both racially and economically. Mondawmin Mall mimicked suburbia almost from the get go with surface level parking spaces and wide pedestrian unfriendly roads that seperate the mall from the communities it serves. Sears was the mall's only anchor. Like I said earlier Urban America was begining to crumble and in 1973 Sears closed its doors. Whether the Sears space was demolished or turned into additional mall space I have no idea but that was a big blow for Mondawmin and the communities it serves. Rouse did a modest renovation to the mall in 1981 but the biggest boost was the Metro Subway Station that opened in 1983.
As more the subway expanded in length (from Owings Mills to Johns Hopkins) more foot traffic past by the mall. The subway is also a transfer point to for bus riders making Mondawmin even more visible. As far as attracting another department store anchor to replace Sears that proved to be a difficult sell. Non traditional mall tenants began to show up and that actually boosted foot traffic more so than one would think. I write for Dead Malls.com on occasion and when non traditional tenants show up that signals the death of a mall. Mondawmin prooved to be the exception to the rule. The MVA opened a branch on a pad lot near Tioga Parkway. In the mall non traditional tenants include Social Services, Total Health Care, U.S. Army Recruiting Station, a rehab center, a parole center, and a Bail Bonds Center. These are vital community resources that add foot traffic to the more traditional mall tenants. They include Rainbow, New York & Company, Radio Shack, Ashley Stewart Woman, and Foot Locker.
With the exception of the 1981 renovation Rouse barely touched this mall. With General Growth as the new owners they are bringing in the in the big guns. Food Fare, was demolished to make way for a new Shoppers Food Warehouse, Target, and Marshalls. Two sit down restaurants are in the works as well. The mall will receive a complete makeover with new floors , lighting, and exterior facade. All this investment would be great for a suburban mall but we're in the city and Mondawmin, General Growth and the City need to realize this.
What's I'm proposing is a comprehensive Master Plan that includes Mondawmin Mall, Mondawmin, Liberty Square, Burleigh-Leighton, and Parkview Woodbrook. The new big box stores would remain intact and would have frontage to Liberty Heights Avenue and the subway stop. The mall would be transformed from an indoor complex to an outdoor lifestyle center not unlike what was done at Hunt Valley Mall. There would be a small surface lot just inside Liberty Heights Avenue but almost all parking for the mall and everything else I'm proposing would be underground. The mall has a huge surface parking lot that is dead real estate. The lots facing Gwynns Falls and Tioga Parkways would be developed into condos or apartments with ground floor retail. Warwick Avenue would be extended north of Gwynns Falls Parkway and cut through the new development and meet Liberty Heights Avenue. Speaking of Gwynns Falls and Tioga Parkways they're too wide for the urban development I'm proposing. Both roads would be narrowed and integrated into the neighborhoods that surround through sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes.
The neighborhoods surrounding Mondawmin Mall will instantly transformed be into sought after real estate gold. It's already happening whether anyone knows it or not. The neighborhood of Mondawmin has a healthy neighborhoods initiative that will give home owners low interest loans to renovate their homes and it's being taken advantage of. In the neighborhoods surrounding Mondawmin Mall the housing stock needs work but it doesn't need to be demolished and redeveloped. Slowly renovating row homes takes more time than tearing and rebuilding but housing stock should be saved whenever necessary. Healthy neighborhoods should be extended into Parkview Woodbrook and Burleigh Leighton to aid in their transformation. In these neighborhoods there is ample land for additional development that will be of a higher density than its older cohort but it since it's near the Mondawmin Metro Stop it will pay off.
After World War II during the flight to the suburbs, like most American cities tried itself to suburbanize. This can not be more true for Mondawmin Mall. But with new high density urban investment and development in almost all areas surrounding it would be detrimental for Mondawmin Mall to remain stuck in the suburbs.
