Baltimore Westside Downtown Redevelopment

7/27/2019 Baltimore Westside Downtown Redevelopment

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Baltimore West Side Revitalization Initiative

Jason Matthew BootheUP 353, fall 2000

A29626628September 20, 2000


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The ideals of downtown redevelopment are back into full swing in the city of

Baltimore. Following on the footsteps of the Charles Center and Inner Harbor projects of

the 70s and 80s, several new projects have stared in the 90s and have continued into

the new millennium. Some of these projects are Camden Yards, sports complex, The

Power Plant, retail / entertainment / office, and Inner Harbor East, retail / lodging /

entertainment. But the one project has been making waves thought the community over

the past several years, that being the proposed Downtown-Westside redevelopment.

The West Side redevelopment primarily focuses on the Howard Street corridor on

the west end of downtown Baltimore. The central area situated between Charles Center

on the east, a major business district, and University Center on the west, a major

medical / academic / research center highlighted by University of Maryland at Baltimore

(UMAB), and the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), is bounded by

Lombard on the south, Park Avenue on the east, Eutaw on the west and Saratoga on the

north, was once the primary shopping district in the city. It has also served as a cultural

district as in the past it served numerous persons with its variety on nightlife as well as

theater and restaurants. It also includes Lexington Market, one of the oldest continuing

markets in the United States, which began its operations over 218 years ago in 1782.

Like many other districts of the city, the Westside has been affected by the flight of

people out of the city and into the suburbs, causing the area to decay and blight to set in.

All of the major department stores in the stretch, Hechts, Hochildes, Kresges,

Stewards and others had closed their doors by the mid 80s as well as a numerous

amount of smaller retailers. The area over the years had been noted for its crime as well


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as its grime. Its had become a haven for bootleg shops as well as ethnic retailers that

mostly pertains to monitories. The only stable retailing site was that of Lexington Market.

Over the past several years numerous proposals have come to about on how to

redevelop this corridor, and make it a more viable part of the city. This was pressed even

more with the opening of the Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, as well as the

completion of the Central Light Rail, line which traverses Howard Street from Mount

Royal/Cultural Center area north of the Howard Street redevelopment area to Camden

Yards south of the Howard Street redevelopment area. Also major facility improvements

and expansion in the University Center area, has increased the visibility of high tech

medical and research centers in the downtown area. This is also along with a resurgence

of business into the downtown area has increased the numbers of companies the city as

well as decreasing the amount of usable office space, this is especially the case in the

Charles center area of the central business, which borders of the redevelopment zone and

is also undergoing its own redevelopment. With this renewal the city hopes to link the

two sections together, creating greater strength and stability in the area, creating over 700

new apartments, 1,400 new jobs, and approximately $2 million more annually in taxes for

the city.

The redevelopment, in its early stages, is primarily focused with the properties in

areas bordered by North Liberty, North Howard, West Lexington and Clay Streets, and

North Eutaw, North Howard, West Baltimore and West Fayette Streets. Each of these

areas includes several projects, along with one centralizing anchor project in which the

local development will be focused around. One of the proposals that have come about has

been from the Weinberg Foundation, for the area bounded by Howard, Clay, Liberty and


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Fayette Streets. This multi-million dollar proposal calls for the development of a

retail/entertainment complex that includes new apartments, office/retail space, a

multiplex movie theater and parking. The Stewarts Department Store Building will be

rehabilitated, into high tech office space, as part of this project.

A proposal for the block bounded by North Eutaw, West Baltimore, North

Howard and West Fayette Streets; adjacent to the proposed Hippodrome Performing Arts

Center By Banc of America Community Development Corporation in and the Atlanta

based Harold Dawson Corp. Their proposal would convert this section of the West Side

Redevelopment into approximately 330 new apartments, 55,000 square feet of retail

space and would include a 400+ space parking garage, which would help in alleviating

the downtown areas lack of parking problems. Currently underway in this area is the

transformation of the shuttered Hippodrome Theatre into a theater complex for large-

scale Broadway productions, the state has pledged $1.7 million toward planning costs and

is working jointly with the University of Maryland at Baltimore, the owners of the

Hippodrome, with the developing and rehabilitation of the old vaudeville theater

(Baltimore Development Corp. 2000).

In order for these developers to go ahead and start these proposed plans they must

have these properties vacated, which is where the city comes into play more specific the

Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) under the authority of the City of Baltimore.

In May of 1998 the City Council and the Mayor, at the time, Kurt L. Schmoke approved

and signed into law a bill that would appropriate $350 million dollars for the West Side

Redevelopment, this would make it the single biggest commitment the city had made to a

development since the Inner Harbor (Gunts 2000 June 18). This law would give the BDC


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the authority to obtain 110 properties in the designated area in order, by means of

negotiation with tenants or condemnation, to facilitate the needs of the developers to

redevelop the area. BDC has sent letters to property owners and tenants offering

assistance and advising of impending negotiations. The City has promised that no

business will be relocated until after the 1999 holidayseason, as to work in with thescheduling of the developers and to give the properties in the area time to prepare for the

relocation. The plan is the latest amendment to the Market Center Urban Renewal Plan,

born in 1977, to redevelop the Howard Street area into an art and cultural center (Glenn

2000 June 18).

Several problems have arisen, testing this time line, mainly in the area of

argument over compensation. One resent case is that of the El Dorado strip club located

at 322 W Baltimore. The problem mainly has arisen with the proposed sites of relocation,

in which many City Council members have backed out with the Not In My Back Yard

(NIMBY) ideal, one proposed site, a move several blocks north of its present location to

300 N Howard, would require the city council to make a zoning change for the building,

which has drawn the eye of developers in the area who do not particularly which a strip-

club built near new apartment and retail areas epically with the stigmatisms of hookers

and drugs that it brings along with it. Advocates for the 26-year-old lounge are

threatening a lawsuit they say could cost city taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars

or more - the owners claim the earning potential of the business makes it worth $2.3

million - if the family-owned club is forced to close (Pelton 16 Oct 2000). Delays like

thats have drawn the BDC to the attention of developers concerns that this could

jeopardize the proposed developments all together.


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Even with all the hassle that has been brought recently with the relocation of

businesses, developers dont really see any major progress getting under way in

redeveloping these sites into their final forms until some time next year. And several

developers have said that they dont expect completion until some time in 2003 or 2004

depending on the progress of a number of factors. Other proposals have come about as

well, including one that would make a urban jazz, night club and restaurant district

between Mount Vernon, on the far north and, and Charles Center, on the south end.

Another proposal that has be brought up by some is the leveling of the current Baltimore

Arena, and replacing it with a modern new arena in order to attract a professional hockey

or basketball team. Any how it will be time that will tell if and when this section of

downtown Baltimore can become viable again, and return to its glory days as a shopping

and cultural center, or just continue as a blighted urban wasteland.


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Bibliography

Baltimore Development Corporation. (2000) Baltimore Development Corporation: AreaTeams: West Team. http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/pages/area_west.htm(October 18, 2000)

Glenn, Karen A. (1998, May 29). Baltimore City Readying West Side Development.Baltimore Business Journal, Volume 16. (Issue 1), page 5.

Gunts, Edward. (2000, June 18) Rethinking the West Side.http://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150350202828

Maryland Stadium Authority. (1999) New Projects: Hippodrome Performing Arts Center.http://www.mdstad.com/projects/hippo.htm (October 19, 2000)

Pelton, Tom. (2000, October 16) Displacing strip club could expose city to political, legalcomplications. http://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150490212129(October 16, 2000)

West Side Is A Good Bet. (1999, December 31) Baltimore Business Journal. Page 28(September 8, 2000)
http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/pages/area_west.htmhttp://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/pages/area_west.htmhttp://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150350202828http://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150350202828http://www.mdstad.com/projects/hippo.htmhttp://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150490212129http://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150490212129http://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150490212129http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/pages/area_west.htmhttp://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150350202828http://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150350202828http://www.mdstad.com/projects/hippo.htmhttp://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150490212129http://www.sunspot.net/content/archive/story?section=archive&pagename=story&storyid=1150490212129

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Baltimore Westside Downtown Redevelopment