[Chat] Fw: Why not be optimistic about a housing revival in Baltimore

[Brad Schlegel]

 This story was sent to you by: Brad Schlegel

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Why not be optimistic about a housing revival in Baltimore
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Jacques Kelly

May 7, 2005
I NEVER thought I'd read that city planners would propose turning the city's 
schools headquarters into an apartment house, but then I never thought that 
the kind of people with the money to pay the rents envisioned would want to 
live at Calvert and North. But five decades of observing Baltimore have 
taught me not to be surprised.

And, if I had any ability to predict the upward swings of Baltimore real 
estate, I'd have bought the houses in Federal Hill my brother suggested 
nearly 30 years ago.

I'll give the city's Planning Department credit for a bold, pre-emptive 
assertion that the North Avenue building, which I persist in calling Old 
Poly (for Polytechnic Institute, where my namesake uncle was a graduate), 
ought to be a subject of an eye-catching makeover.

Why not be optimistic? Baltimore has dazzling 19th-century housing stock 
that if treated properly, buttressed by sensitive planning moves, could be 
the basis of a remarkable revival. I'd like to see Mount Vernon, Penn 
Station, Old Goucher, Barclay, Midway and Charles Village knitted together 
into one fine address.

I say this because I watched it fall apart -- and believe there is no reason 
why it cannot go the other way, in time.

That said, there is plenty more work to be done in this neighborhood, many 
vacant houses to be renovated -- and credit given to the good people who are 
trying their best around Barclay and 22nd streets.

I often walk to work straight through this 1880s and 1890s neighborhood only 
a short distance from Pennsylvania Station. When I first began these treks, 
I thought the neighborhood would be rough and unfriendly, possibly hostile. 
As I was wrong on forecasting real estate, I was wrong again. I get nods of 
kind recognition, even if some of my greeters seem to be saying, "Are you 
lost?"

I often observe the unnamed individuals who sweep their pavements and keep 
at the mountains of trash that can build up in these parts. I'm swept over 
with hope when I see a renovator working on homes in the 1600 block of N. 
Calvert St. I look at the community gardens on the vacant lots here and 
cannot help feeling that someone truly cares about the neighborhood.

I also see the bad side here too, the rats, the vacant houses and the 
tenacious prostitutes who sometimes are still working at the Sunday hour 
when I'm heading downtown to church.

So how long would this take? Well, I was in college when the first buildings 
started coming down in the Inner Harbor and good Federal Hill rowhouses were 
routinely selling for $4,500.

The point is, the city has created a blueprint, the kind of document that 
builders and developers like. And over the years I've learned to trust my 
instincts. I see the pieces fitting together, the willingness to take these 
neighborhoods seriously and a demand for city housing -- even in places 
considered sketchy today.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Baltimore Sun

Link to the article:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/lifestyle/bal-to.kelly07may07,1,418840.column

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