Liberty Heights Redevelopment II Forest Park Town Centre

Just a few short blocks east of Howard Park Town Centre lies Forest Park Town Centre. The execution of this plan will be a lot more involved than that of its neighbor to the west. Forest Park Town Centre is located at the poorly planned intersection of Liberty Heights, Berwyn, Forest Park Avenue, and Garrison Boulevard. Along with redevelopment and improvements to buildings, the traffic patterns will be adjusted to ensure a smoother traffic flow.

The Retail selection in Forest Park lackluster at best. Then again the adjacent housing stock is distressed at best. This post is not dedicated to the housing stock, it is about the Retail selection and the need for improvement in the blocks surrounding Liberty Heights Avenue and Garrison Boulevard. The residences that are distressed along Liberty Heights however will be discussed.

The only way to make sense out of any redevelopment plan is to look at the roads and see if changes will be made there. In this case, changes will be made to the roads in question so they will be discussed first. Berwyn Avenue will not go below Liberty Heights as it does now. Garrison Boulevard will be the only way to get to Liberty Heights. If travelling north on Garrison all traffic will bare right to stay on Garrison as Berwyn will now be closed. Also Forest Park Avenue will be realigned to make for one intersection at Garrison instead of the two not being even like they are now. By simplifying the traffic pattern in the heart of Forest Park it will flow much more smoothly.

Another casualty of the traffic reconfiguration is Liberty Elementary School. As part of my plan to introduce New School Construction to the City while reducing the surplus of seats will be tear down the current building and rebuild the School (renamed Forest Park Elementary) on Liberty Heights where its current intersection with Berwyn Avenue is. Forest Park Elementary will house the population of Liberty Elementary and two other Neighboring Elementary Schools and will look like the above photo.

Most existing Retail will be torn down as it is dated and blighted. In order to introduce New Retail to Forest Park the buildings that house it must also be new. The new Walgreens is a perfect example of this. In addition to new Retail, there should be apartments located above. New Retail should be include but not be limited to; Starbucks, Bob Evans, Pizzeria Unos, Banks (not check cashing). a Dry Cleaners, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Five Guys, Ritas, and Dollar Tree. In other words convenience Retail. The Rite Aid and GNC will be located in New Buildings.

Also to be included with the residential redevelopment is Liberty Post Apartments and a few stray garden Apartments along Liberty Heights between Howard Park Town Centre and Forest Park Town Centre they will be replaced with more fitting higher density Apartments. If there is a concentration of Single Family Homes along Liberty Heights that have gone vacant, they can also be torn down and redeveloped with a higher density Apartments as well.

Well that concludes my plan the Forest Park Town Centre, keep in mind this is a very focused area this post concentrates on and this isn't all that needs to be done in Forest Park. There will be future posts regarding the Forest Park area as a whole and redevelopment that needs to take place. Stay tuned!

Liberty Heights Redevelopment I Howard Park Town Centre

For thoroughfares that run through the outskirts of the City, I find it best to think of them as small towns and said thoroughfares as the "Main Street" of those small towns. Enter Liberty Heights Avenue, the perfect example of a Main Street that runs through a cluster of Neighborhoods in Northwest Baltimore in a manor that mimics Suburbia. This is the first in a series of three posts that will tackle Liberty Heights each post dedicated to a little "Town Centre" that will be developed or redeveloped to serve the needs of each Neighborhood Cluster. This particular post is dedicated to Howard Park.

Howard Park, as far as Liberty Heights is concerned is the closest to the City/County Line. Out of the three clusters, Howard Park has the best "bones" to work with, in other words redevelopment here will be minimal. The housing stock in Howard Park is also the most suburban of the three.

The "Howard Park Town Centre" got a shot in the arm when it was announced that at long last the addition of a full service grocer will be opening by 2013 in the form of a Shop Rite. The Shop Rite will be located on the site of the former Howard Park Super Pride at Liberty Heights and Gwynn Oak Avenue which will be torn down to make way for the Shop Rite. Liberty Heights between Gywnn Oak and Hillsdale will be the core of Howard Park Town Centre.

The Shop Rite will definitely be largest Retail Change to the area but there should be another redevelopment project across Hillsdale Road. In my ever lasting crusade to bring new School Construction to Baltimore City, I'm proposing that Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary be torn down and rebuilt with the population of itself and two other neighboring Elementary Schools to cut down on the surplus of capacity City Schools face.
The front of the "new" Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary (which will be renamed Howard Park Elementary) will face Liberty Heights Avenue rather than Hillsdale like it currently does.

Aside from the old Super Pride that's shuttered, perhaps the biggest eye sore in the Howard Park Town Centre is the old Ambassador Theatre. I don't have much knowledge of this once vibrant epicenter of Howard Park but what I do know is that it is currently shuttered and there aren't any plans to revive it. Luckily my plan does include a revived Ambassador. One shortage that's painfully obvious in all of Baltimore is the lack of first run Movie Theatres. One should also note that large Cinema Multiplexes in the Suburbs show the same Movie on Several Screens. This proves that any new Movie Theatre should have fewer screens and maximize profits that way. The Ambassador fits the bill perfectly. Although it's a one screen venue currently, it has a seating capacity of over 1,000. The inside could easily be renovated to make way for five to seven screens each with a seating capacity between 100 and 200 per screen. With a smaller foot print, profits can be maximized without showing the same movie twice while still showing a good number of first run Movies. Whichever Theatre company takes over ownership of the Ambassador must restore the Vertical Marquis of the Ambassador to its former glory.

The last large piece of the Howard Park Town Centre includes what looks like a vacated iHop from the color scheme outside. This will not torn down but it will be backfilled by a Sonic. Judging by the volume of business at the only area sonic in Randallstown, I think this will be a winning venture.

Those are the biggest changes put forth in my Howard Park Town Centre Plan. I think these additions will encourage better Retail options than what is currently there. Additional Banks, Dry Cleaners, a Subway, Starbucks, and Sit Down Restaurants. In addition existing store fronts will be upgraded to include better signage and elimination of metal pull down gates and bars on windows to make for a more pleasing atmosphere.

Well that's my plan for the Howard Park Town Centre, the new Shop Rite makes for an excellent building block to set other things in motion and hopefully such a synergy can be acheived. Stay tuned for future posts regarding Liberty Heights as this is the first in a series.

Howard Park Super Pride: The End of an Era

On Saturday September 10th, the Howard Park Super Pride Pride Sign came down signaling the end of the Local Chain's tenure in Baltimore. Actually, the store has been closed for 11 years, it's just that it's taken that long to remove the sign. I don't see what the big deal was, it was done in a matter of hours. I just happened to be there at the corner of Liberty Heights and Hillsdale Road as it happened.

The fate of the Super Pride was sealed as "Neighborhood" Supermarkets began to expand to sizes that were up to three times that of the Super Pride. The Supermarket mentality has been go big or go home. I guess Super Pride swallowed its Pride and went home.

Howard Park began as a few estate homes that lined Liberty Heights Avenue at around the turn of the Century. Back then this was still the County. I believe Howard Park was part of the 1918 annex (correct me if I'm wrong). Howard Park acted as a flight to the suburbs before there were real suburbs. Howard Park, to the naked eye looks like a Suburb being that it's located on the extreme outskirts of the City.

Between World War I and the Great Depression Howard Park saw unprecedented growth. The stately Victorians that line Howard Park's Main Streets were joined by small bungalows, duplexes, and a few row homes and Apartments. Liberty Heights Avenue quickly became the Neighborhood's Make shift Main Street. The Retail has always been Liberty Heights and Gwynn Oak and the blocks immediately surrounding the intersection.

The Grocery Store located at the corner of Liberty Heights and Gwynn Oak showed that Howard Park was indeed a suburb. Although located in the City, the Corner Store that to this day so many Baltimorons depend on were absent. Instead what was then a large suburban style Grocery Store was built. As cars became the norm, this new Grocery Store became a magnet for all of Northwest Baltimore.

I couldn't find much information about Super Pride itself so I pieced together what little information I had in hopes that someone who reads this has more info and can fill me in via the comments field. Super Pride was the Grocery Store by the 1970s. The little building that housed the Super Pride has three spaces. Eventually the Super Pride had expanded into all three spaces. This was the beginning of the go big or go home mentality. Business had slowly begun to dwindle as newer and therefore bigger Grocery Stores and Northwest Plaza (Food King) and Reisterstown Road plaza (Giant) had opened.

The Super Pride had become compromised as Convience Stores and large Drug Stores that were almost equal in size begun popping up along Liberty Heights Avenue. Eventually in 2000, the Super Pride shut its doors and pulled down its metal latch for the last time. The once proud suburban Grocery Store that was Super Pride had become a vacant eyesore although the sign remains. At least one interim business took space in the old Super Pride. Around 2008-2009 a Tennis Shoe Warehouse took the space and there are still signs advertising it although the business is shuttered.

Howard Park Residents in the first part of the 21st Century worked tirelessly to get a new Grocery Store and redevelop the site of the old Super Pride. Sadly there were no takers. During the O'Malley years a Strategic Neighborhood Neighborhood Action Plan (SNAP) that includes Howard Park and a redevelopment scenario for the intersection of Liberty Heights and Gwynn Oak that calls for a new Grocery Store and additional Retail Space as well as the demolition of the Super Pride.

Well here we are in late 2011 in the middle of the worst economy since the great depression. Against all odds Howard Park has landed a new Grocery Store. Up & Comer Shop Rite has decided to open up shop at the site of the former Super Pride. The announcement came just three days before the City Primary Elections in a very public spectacle with City Officials including the Mayor. Congressmen Elijah Cummings even showed up and spoke. How do I know? I was there. The highly puclicized event inluded the demolition of the Super Pride sign (that had still been up 11 years after its closure) and the unveiling of the Artist's rendering of the Shop Rite.

The demolition of the old Super Pride sign signaled the end of an era although said era ended in 2000 when the aforementioned store actually closed but with addition of Shop Rite it also signals the beginning of a new one.

Uplands: Where's the Retail?

Where's the Retail? That's a simple question right? The problem with a simple question is that they don't always have a simple answer. Such is the case with the new Uplands Development and its relationship (or lack there of) with the Community and responding to requests Community Members whether they're prospective buyers or residents in adjacent Communities. I can't really answer the question of where the Retail is but what I can do is make a good case for adding to make ALL parties happy.

Uplands has a very interesting history and hopefully a future that is equally interesting. Uplands grew up with the Edmondson Village Community as an all White Garden Apartment Complex that was meant to be a stepping ground for upwardly mobile World War II Veterans . In the early 1960s Uplands went from all White to all Black as did the greater Edmondson Village Community as a whole. I know in other rental Communities, to speed up the blockbusting process, evicted all White Residents and replaced them with Black Residents. Whether or not this was done with Uplands I don't know, I haven't found evidence to support either scenario.

The Greater Edmondson Village Area went into decline in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was at this point that Uplands became a Public Housing Project that the City turned over to the residents as an attempted Co-Op. This did not work as the distressed Uplands grew more and more crime ridden and vacancy rates rose. Uplands was eventually turned over to HUD where the dilapidated were emptied out by the few remaining Residents and were boarded up.

In 2004 the City decided to turn Developer and they set their site on the vacant Uplands Complex. They acquired it from HUD either free of charge or an amount very small like $1. The City envisioned turning Uplands into a mixed income Community of more than 600 units featuring all housing types. The City then realized that if the property of New Psalmist Baptist Church were to be added, another 400+ plus units could be added to the redevelopment, the grand total of new housing units would be bumped up to 1100. The acquisition of New Psalmist was a success and the total number of units is now 1100.

In 2008 demolition began on the entire Uplands Neighborhood. Once demolition was complete work began on upgrading the infrastructure in preparation for the new development. The official groundbreaking was on October 1st, 2010 and Phase I is just now getting underway at Edmondson and Athol Avenues. Apartment and Condo Buildings will flank Edmondson Avenue in keeping with the philosophy that higher density housing should be near the busy streets.

Upon glancing at the Master Plan, I noticed that something was amiss; Retail! Where is it? Surely a development of this size would warrant it right? Well I think so. Apparently the City and the Developers don't. They seem to be promoting Edmondson Village Shopping Center as the "Premier Retail Destination" for the new Uplands Community.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Edmondson Village, it's one of my favorite Neighborhoods from a Researcher/Planner's stand point. The Shopping Center on the other hand, is not conducive to Uplands or Edmondson Village itself for that matter.

I think that the new Apartments along Edmondson Avenue in the new Uplands should include Ground Floor Retail that is more upscale because the new development as well as existing developments more than warrant it. I'm not suggesting a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse but I'm also not suggesting a Family Dollar.

Good Tenants should include but aren't limited to; Starbucks, Coldstone Creamery, Walgreens, Dry Cleaners, Wine& Spirits Shop, Five Guys, Mens Warehouse, Quiznos, Pier 1 imports, and a Bank.

I know that the relationship between the Developer and the Community is not optimal. The Community feels that the Developer is taking their money and running and that the Developer is not listening. Keeping that in mind, I would like to speak to the developer in their own language; money.

Uplands as is will be a big pay day for you, but selling privately owned homes will only be a one time payment. Allowing for Retail will be the gift that keeps on giving. Charging rent to Retail Tenants in what will be a prime location after the Red Line is built will literally take you to the Bank. Not only that, with a good selection of Retail Tenants, you can raise the home prices and the rents for the Market Rate Units.

Like I said at the beginning, Retail at Uplands will make all parties happy. And I never had an intention to renege on it.