Baltimore's projects

[Bmorehusky]

Only High-rise projects 12 floors and up.
Two 60-story condo and apartment high-rises in the Guilford Avenue corridor downtown planned by Potomac developer Richard W. Naing.
No pictures yet or address

10 Inner Harbor 59 floors (Proposed)
http://www.arcwheeler.com/projects/414lightstreet/414lightstreet_2_lrg.jpg

300 east pratt st 50 floors (proposed)
No new pictures yet (old proposed project got scaled up from 34 floors to 50 floors)
http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/files/pdf/rfp/upload/300-E-Pratt.jpg

Port Discovery Balloon Redevelopment 34 floors (approved)
http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/files/pdf/rfp/upload/701_east_baltimore_street.jpg

Vue Harbor east 32 floors (under construction)
http://baltimore.condodomain.com/files/developments/1062/main_tmb.gif

414 Water St Tower 31 floors (under construction)

http://baltimore.condodomain.com/files/developments/1057/0_tmb.gif

Icon at Canton Residential Tower 25 floors (proposed)
No pictures yet

Greektown Tower 1 23 Floors (proposed)
No pictures yet

Greektown Tower 2 23 floors (proposed)
No pictures yet

Four Seasons Baltimore tower 1 22 floors (approved) the two towers to the left
http://www.harboreast.com/images/aerial_1.jpg

HarborView Phase 3 22 floors (proposed)
No pictures yet

Hilton Hotel 21 floors (under construction)
http://www.rtkl.com/images/portfolio_images/Baltimore%20Hilton_cropped.jpg

The Zenith 21 floors (under construction)
http://www.marks-thomas.com/project_imgs/ontheboards/boards_zen1.jpg

Four Seasons Baltimore tower 2 18 floors (approved) the two towers to the left
http://www.harboreast.com/images/aerial_1.jpg

Pinnacle 17 floors (proposed)
http://www.dcestonian.com/baltimore/innerharbor/harborview/pinnacle/view_sm_2006a.jpg

Icon at Canton hotel 15 floors (proposed)
No pictures yet

Greektown Tower 3 13 floors (proposed)
No pictures yet

Greektown Tower 4 13 floors (proposed)
No pictures yet

701 South Eden Street 13 floors (under construction)
No pictures yet

New Johns Hopkins Patient Towers 12 floors (under construction)
No pictures yet

Harbour's Edge Building 12 floors (proposed)
No pictures yet

Charles Commons Charles Street Building 12 floors (under construction)
No pictures yet

[ablarc]

I guess this’ll get rid of some of those depressing parking lots that make Baltimore so unrewarding for walking. Hope they don’t migrate someplace else to supply the demand; that will necessitate demolition of even more fine-grained urban fabric. Run down? Fix it, don’t tear it down.

The buildings in the rendering look harmless enough. They make a streetwall of sorts; everything will depend on their ground floors. They need to put in solid retail to get people to walk there --and they need pedestrians to support the solid retail. If they phase it, folks are apt to think it’s hopeless –in which case that’s exactly what it’ll be. Need to get that walkable link to Fells Point. President Street is much too wide and ill-defined; it’s really not a street at all, more like a clogged highway.

Baltimore: a once-great city. In 1950, the country’s sixth largest. Great past, disappearing fast. Great potential future, uninspiringly realized. Every time I visit, I hope to find it dramatically improved, and every time I find dramatic changes but not much genuine improvement. Seems like the planners don’t know how to do it. They spend plenty of money on infrastructure, it just seems to come to nought.

With fast train service to Washington's Union Station it could become a big Washington suburb with its own downtown.

[Bmorehusky]

Construction pictures of 414 water st
http://www.baltimoreguy.com/images/Photographs%20414%20Balto%2029.jpg
http://www.baltimoreguy.com/images/Photographs%20414%20Balto%2028.jpg
http://www.baltimoreguy.com/images/Photographs%20414%20Lockwood%2029.jpg
http://www.baltimoreguy.com/images/Photographs%20414%20Lombard%2028.jpg

[pianoman11686]

Oh my, look at that huge hulk of a parking garage. Truly despicable. And right next to a historic building no less. Ablarc, you can commence your bombardment of urban parking garages and automobile use...

[ablarc]

I don't mind garages if they have ground floor shops.

Helps if they're handsome and hold street and cornice lines. Motor Mart Garage in Boston is exemplary, and South Miami Beach is full of them.

[Bmorehusky]

Oh my, look at that huge hulk of a parking garage. Truly despicable. And right next to a historic building no less. Ablarc, you can commence your bombardment of urban parking garages and automobile use...

Thats a ten story garage that a 22 story condo high-rise is being built on top of it's 414 water st.
http://baltimore.condodomain.com/files/developments/1057/0_tmb.gif

[lofter1]

That is one FUGLY mother ^^^

[Bmorehusky]

Another skyscraper proposed (65 story tower)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/reale...iness-headlines (http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-te.bz.westport12aug12,0,447608.story?coll=bal-business-headlines)

[bkmonkey]

I dont think Baltimore will ever be a suburb of Washington, especially since it is bigger than Washington in population. Baltimore has a STRONG identity. i.e. people will never think of John Hopkins as a washington area school. Baltimore and Washington are twin cities

Having lived there for a month, I think Baltimore has strong potential. It has a great downtown area despite the parking garages. The inner harbor area is vibrant and lively. However, the areas surrounding it area very sketchy. There are no reallly cool neighborhoods besides the inner harbor. Infact most of the neighborhoods are downright sketchy. Baltimore needs to invest more money in transportation. It is really hard to travel around the city. There is a small one-line subway, but it is inadaqute for the city. If Baltimore had a subway, and poured money into the neighborhoods surrounding downtown (as nyc, washington, philly and boston have) then you will see a true great city

[Bmorehusky]

I dont think Baltimore will ever be a suburb of Washington, especially since it is bigger than Washington in population. Baltimore has a STRONG identity. i.e. people will never think of John Hopkins as a washington area school. Baltimore and Washington are twin cities

Having lived there for a month, I think Baltimore has strong potential. It has a great downtown area despite the parking garages. The inner harbor area is vibrant and lively. However, the areas surrounding it area very sketchy. burbThere are no reallly cool neighborhoods besides the inner harbor. Infact most of the neighborhoods are downright sketchy. Baltimore needs to invest more money in transportation. It is really hard to travel around the city. There is a small one-line subway, but it is inadaqute for the city. If Baltimore had a subway, and poured money into the neighborhoods surrounding downtown (as nyc, washington, philly and boston have) then you will see a true great city

I agree with Baltimore will never be a Washington suburb. For all the reason you said and also the port of Baltimore and the people in Baltimore most of them don't even go down to DC.

And also I don't know when the last time you where here but they're working on the neighborhoods around dowtown. On the east and west of downtown they built alot of new homes.

[ablarc]

I dont think Baltimore will ever be a suburb of Washington, especially since it is bigger than Washington in population. Baltimore has a STRONG identity. i.e. people will never think of John Hopkins as a washington area school. Baltimore and Washington are twin cities.
That's only true of city-limit population, which is not very meaningful; Washington's SMA population is over twice Baltimore's --and that's what partly reveals their relative magnetism --plus the obvious fact that it's a huge and growing employment center and national capital. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore-Washington_Metropolitan_Area

San Jose's city-limit population is higher than San Francisco's, and yet it's part of Metropolitan San Francisco.

[Bmorehusky]

Here's and picture of the westport project.
http://images3.fotop.net/albums3/jeremai/General/Westport.jpg

[Bmorehusky]

westport project
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/reale...iness-headlines (http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-te.bz.westport12aug12,0,447608.story?coll=bal-business-headlines)

[Bmorehusky]

The second westport tower is going to be around 45 storys.

[Bmorehusky]

Here are some of the project websites.

10 Inner Harbor
http://www.arcwheeler.com/projects/414lightstreet.php (http://www.arcwheeler.com/projects/414lightstreet.php)

414 Water St
http://www.414waterstreet.com/index.html (http://www.414waterstreet.com/index.html)

Vue Harbor East
http://www.vueharboreastcondos.com/noflash/developmentteam.html (http://www.vueharboreastcondos.com/noflash/developmentteam.html)

[Bmorehusky]

New picture of the construction of the Hilton.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/photo/2006-09/25262621.jpg

[Bmorehusky]

http://www.arcwheeler.com/projects/414lightstreet/project_414lightstreet.gif
ARCWheeler acquires land for 10 Inner Harbor project.

[Bmorehusky]

Developer closes on Harbor tower site
Proposed structure would become city's tallest, include luxury condos, hotel
By Lorraine Mirabella
Sun Reporter
Originally published September 18, 2006, 2:06 PM EDT
A Philadelphia developer planning to build what could become Baltimore's tallest skyscraper closed today on one of the last undeveloped parcels along the Inner Harbor, site of the proposed $300 million tower of luxury condominiums and a boutique hotel atop street levels shops.
Developer ARC Wheeler finalized the purchase of the 2-acre site, once home to McCormick & Co. spice plant and now a parking lot, from seller Central Parking Corp., said attorney Jonµ Laria, whose firm Ballard Spahr represents the developer on the project.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-tower918,0,3122922.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

[Stu Daddy]

The inner harbor area is vibrant and lively. However, the areas surrounding it area very sketchy. There are no really cool neighborhoods besides the inner harbor. In fact most of the neighborhoods are downright sketchy.

Baltimore was once famous for its many distinct neighborhoods, each with its own unique mix of architectual, socioeconomic and ethnic personality. Although much of the middle class left town long ago, plenty of the sturdy townhouses and rows remain. In select neighborhoods a new class of city dweller is returning, bringing life to the old structures and creating a decent market for new construction close to the harbor.

Perhaps what bkmonkey describes as sketchy are the old neighborhoods that have yet to rejuvenate but have undeniable potential. These areas form a buffer zone between the livable city and vast expanses of ghetto wasteland and the carcass of a once great industrial port. As in nearby Washington, D.C., these transition areas are where smaller investors and developers are most active.

The major obstacles to continued renewal in Baltimore are a serious drug driven criminal culture, which creates fear for ordinary people that otherwise might choose to live and work in the city, and an absolutely moribund and hopeless public school system. Not only must urban homesteaders swallow Maryland's already egregious tax structure, they might as well choke on Baltimore's high property tax, for which in return they are poorly served by a lazy if not corrupt municipal government. Finally, plan on budgeting private school tuition if raising a family.

The planned mixed-use Westport (see above in this thread) on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River will be the ultimate test. (The well known Federal Hill, Inner Harbor, Harbor East, Fells Point and Canton face the Northwest Branch. South Baltimore and Fort McHenry are situated on Locust Point between the branches.)

I heartily agree with ablarc with regard to preserving and creating pedestrian opportunities at the ground or street level of all buildings and garages. I believe a reasonable job is being achieved in this regard in Harbor East. As ablarc points out, President Street (in effect an extension of the divisive Jones Falls expressway) is an unfortunate barrier for pedestrians and cyclists, presenting an intimidating obstacle between Inner Harbor and Little Italy. Not sure about a solution, although a pedestrian bridge or two would help in the short run. Since I'm a surburbanite from the fringes of Annapolis, these are merely my humble opinions.

[kliq6]

Baltimore like Philadelphia and Detroit have all seen better day!

[Stu Daddy]

Comprehensive update from L. Mirabella of the Baltimore Sun includes 300 E. Pratt Street and 10 Inner Harbor, plus a keyed location map:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-te.bz.projects27apr27,0,4054216.story

Many projects on hold.

[Stu Daddy]

Update on construction activity in downtown Baltimore...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.downtown28may28,0,7234386.story

University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMAB) complex is impressive, and anchors new development and rehab activity on nearby blocks.

[Stu Daddy]

Sorry, but couldn't resist showing shots of my favorite among Baltimore's modest skyscrapers: The Bank of America Tower

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/64/202455856_ae247c20fb_b.jpg

formerly the NationsBank Tower

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/12/18256154_65f674b5c1_o.jpg

formerly the Maryland National Bank building

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2093/1660110082_0e2fefc592_b.jpg

formerly the Mathieson Building

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2018/1660261054_f9de0f6d66_b.jpg

and originally the Baltimore Trust Company building. Also known as 10 Light Street, the Art Deco influenced design by Taylor & Fisher, Smith & May was completed in 1929 and for many years was Baltimore's tallest. For more history see "Built To Last" http://www.nps.gov/hdp/exhibits/baltimore/B2L08.pdf

[Stu Daddy]

Ambitious proposal to reconfigure Baltimore's busiest Inner Harbor thoroughfare:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.pratt10sep10,0,7520540.story

[BenM]

Stu Daddy, do you know who was the original tenant in the World Relief Headquarters building? Also, I heard that a Four Seasons Hotel was going to built, any update on that?

[Stu Daddy]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/2610090220_f4f1839b60_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/2611803949_a66269a480_b.jpg
For many years before it became the headquarters for World Relief, it was the Savings Bank of Baltimore. It enjoys a prominent address at the southeast corner of Baltimore and Charles Street. I'm having trouble locating more informed history of the building.

[Stu Daddy]

Ben M... Here is a recent article with a good status report on the long anticipated project.

http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2008/07/07/story6.html?q=four%20seasons%20hotel%20baltimore

http://cll.bizjournals.com/story_image/123163-0-0-2.jpg

[BenM]

Thanks for the info Stu Daddy. When I first heard about the Four Seasons project, I was surprised that they would go there because the DC property is so close. I know someone who was a manager at the DC property, and he said that guests preferred to make the commute, not because Baltimore lacked a Four Seasons, but because they wanted to stay in DC rather than Baltimore. I think the Baltimore property will actually be bigger than DC.