Reinvestment without displacement: North Avenue Market

“Our aim is to foster an environment conducive to artistic experimentation, creativity, and serendipitous encounters—the very essence of innovation and collaboration,” Ellen Janes, executive director of Central Baltimore Partnership (CBP).

Ever since artists revived New York's SOHO they have become the target of revitalization strategies, in Baltimore's Station North District probably more so than in the  three other "Arts and Entertainment Districts" in the City. Revitalization through artists has also often been described as gentrification that would lead eventually to displacement in the community, including the pioneering artists themselves. 

Revitalization has not been going smoothly or steadily forward in Station North but an investment model developed by the Central Baltimore Partnership (CBP) is especially equipped to prevent the unintended consequences. 

North Avenue Market 2012 (Photo: Philipsen)

With a change in ownership one of the largest properties in the district (not counting the school headquarters), the North Avenue Market complex has become the latest application for  CBP's investment strategy in the arts district. 

The Building 

The North Avenue Market doesn't only sit at the heart of the district at Charles Street and North Avenue, with its  distinctive cupola towers and tile roof in the Spanish Revival style the building qualifies as a historic structure in the North Central National Register District created in 2002.  Even under the previous owners Mike Shecter and Carolyn Frenkil the arts were a theme to revive the market complex which covers almost the entire block between Charles and Street and Maryland Avenue. In 2008, a $1 million initiative to restore the building as an “arts-focused mix of shops, eateries, and offices”  was launched. In 2012 the rehabilitation for the market was supported with grant money from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and already then from the Central Baltimore Partnership.

At one point success seemed within reach with a vibrant mix of art oriented uses: Liam Flynn's Irish bar with its country music jam sessions, the Windup gallery cum bar and performance space, Red Emma's with its bookstore, coffeeshop and book readings, a print shop and a gallery had found a home in the cavernous spaces. They all formed an artistic biotope special to the Station North arts district.  

The western arcade of the Market. It will be opened
to be a circulation spine as in the original market
(Photo: Philipsen)

But all of those market tenants came and went. Even the Y-knot lot that rounded out the block had to be closed because the lease was not extended. (A much smaller version is supposed to rise diagonally across the street on the lot left behind after the demolition of the former Kagro building). With no permanent tenants left in the sprawling market building and after decades of ownership and various attempts of modernization and upkeep of the aging building and its ailing infrastructure, Shecter and Frankel threw in the towel, in spite of the their other arts related investments elsewhere in the district. 

"As far as the building goes, Carolyn and I, we've had some successes and we've had some struggles, as everybody has. What it really came down to was the realization that the building needs a lot more than what Carolyn and I can do for it. What we're really hoping for is that someone with some patience and deeper pockets can come in and do a lot more with more bang for the buck, or make something happen in a fast, meaningful way." (Mike Shecter as quoted in the BBJ in August 2022)

The ups and downs of North Avenue

The location at Charles and North is an interesting location. Charles Street as the spine of the "white L" is essentially thriving end to end. North Avenue, by contrast traverses the two wings of the "black butterfly" and has been ravaged by disinvestment end to end. Obviously, the intersection of these two zones has a pull in both directions and this area of North Avenue has seen relatively many development projects. Even though, owning property in this segment of North Avenue is no walk in the park. The combination of longstanding historic disinvestment, artists, galleries and small businesses who usually don't have very deep pockets combined with the pandemic and all its consequences make for a fragile mix that saw the demise of what had been considered benchmarks of success: Joe Square Pizza closed, the Parkway closed, even the Maryland art school MICA had to cut back in the wake of fewer students registering with them. 

Almost a city block: Floorplan of the market in the current "chopped
up" state. (Source: Frank Lucas/Mike Shecter 2012)

Some cornerstones of the arts district hung on: The former Load of Fun conversion to a center for non-profits and performance, the conversions of the  Center Theater into the Impact Hub survive and a recent addition, Jubilee's revival of a former dance night club into an educational hub. The public roam saw some small changes as well through MTA's "North Avenue Rising" project that brought bus and bike lanes to North Avenue.

Central Baltimore Partnership to the rescue

Enter the new North Avenue Market Development LLC and Central Baltimore Partnership model of rescuing imperiled buildings that are significant for the survival of the arts district. In this case the development group consists of a joint venture partnership consisting of the Central Baltimore Future Fund, CBP and Twenty-Two Lanes Development LLC, headed by John Renner of Timshel Development, with Matt Oppenheim and Michael Haskins Jr. as partners. The Twentytwo refers to the bowling lanes in the market, Timshel is Hebrew for "freedom to".

The West side of the Market in 2017 (Photo: Philipsen)

The set-up for the new North Avenue Market regime is tailored after similar success stories forged by the Central Baltimore Partnership (CMP) and its $10 million Future Fund loan pool established in 2016. For example  Area 405, a place for artists and Waverly Town Hall, a renovated  small market hall on Guilford Avenue for which CBP and its real estate affiliate raised the funds to buy the building and subsidized both the developer and tenant fit out, and assists in recruiting and supporting tenants according to CBP ED Ellen Janes. Waverly Main Street and various businesses were other key players. Other Future Fund projects are  the old Odell’s nightclub on North Avenue, Red Emma’s in Waverly and the Voxel Theater on 25th Street. 

In all cases money from the Future Fund seeded the project and all types of other funds and tax credits are used to finance the usually very high cost of building stabilization and repair to save the buildings and the users that have found a home in them. According to Ellen Janes, Executive Director of CBP, the fund is in need of being replenished. Ideally a revolving loan fund, revenue from previous projects is so far absent or minimal, thus the fund and the projects rely on subsidies from City, State and CBP stakeholders. 

North Ave Market in its very early days
(Museum of Industry)

“I cannot find another example of a community coming together to save an arts space like what has happened with Area 405. With a very strong development team, we took a calculated risk on a revitalization strategy. We couldn’t find the model, so we created it. I hope to see it replicated again in Baltimore and in other parts of the country. It is feasible, and it is critically important.” (Ellen Janes, Executive Director Central Baltimore Partnership)

In the case of the market it was necessary to compete against speculators who would snatch the building up and let it sit waiting for better times, a often times hurtful practice well known across Baltimore. According to Ellen Janes it helped that the sellers were assisting in financing of the purchase cost. 

The North Avenue Market project

In the case of the market, the cost of fixing the building up is estimated to be $30 million, based on a design approach put together by architect Megan Ercrat of Present Company. Ms Ercrat says many people know the market from the various stores it housed over time, but hardly anybody knows the market in its entirety. Too much of the floor area in the back had been locked off. The second floor bowling alleys and the full 40,000sf basement were mothballed for decades.  Ercrat says opening up the two original arcades where one can see the arched entries at the bottom of each tower will allow code compliant access and egress to the entire floor area, as in the original concept as a market hall. The western arcade still features a hidden barrel vault,, something that was lost at the eastern entry. 

Pop-Up bar in the former Wind-Up Space during Artscape
(Photo: Philipsen)

$4.8 million come from an allocation of the highly competitive State historic tax credits which were awarded in 2023. Some $14 million of the overall cost are assigned for the shell, the rest for interior work, systems and allowances for tenant fit outs, according to John Renner. The project will also use New Market tax credits.

It takes a village to do revitalization without displacement. It cannot happen without stakeholder subsidies (several large organizations such as UB, MICA and Hopkins are part of the CBP partnership) government participation and many on the ground organizations, individuals and businesses. On the Station North A&E District Facebook page one can find the long list of supporters for the North Avenue Market: 

The acquisition was made possible by Maryland capital funds supported by Sen. Cory McCray and former Del. Maggie McIntosh; Baltimore City's nonprofit revitalization lender the Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund; the sellers and longtime owners Mike Shecter and Carolyn Frenkil; and capital grants from the Maryland Dept. of Housing and Community Development and Johns Hopkins University. The new owners have received over $4 million in Maryland Revitalization Historic Tax Credits, the largest award in 2023.

John Renner, the lead for the redevelopment as an arts hub, intends to keep temporary tenants around during the year that will be needed to finalize financing and plans and a long-term perspective. "You will see a lot more activity soon" he told me. He also mentioned the exciting aspect that one could walk out from what has been an upstairs bowling alley in a semi covered space towards the roof edge east and west of the towers. These areas could be activated and provide great views, Renner said. Jones noted that there is "a pipeline" of folks who want to be in Station North, which makes Renner hopeful that the building could be filled, including the 40,000 sf attractive basement where he can imagine a fitness space and a makerspace. 

“There is a spiral staircase that leads to that upper space. I fell in love with this building. Cleaning out the old dropped ceiling will reveal the full value of the old market hall. I want to make this neighborhood better than it is right now. The market really is a linchpin for Station North and central Baltimore.” (John Renner as quoted in the SUN)

The history of the Market

Few are old enough to remember the time when the North Avenue Market was actually a bustling private  market and not the shell for rapidly changing bars and venues that it had become in the last half century, and even after the Station North Art and Entertainment District took shape and brought a renaissance to the area. 

In fact, the market for all its glory expressed in the facade and iconic towers, started on the wrong foot when it opened in 1928, just one year before the Great Depression. It quickly fell into disinvestment resulting in empty stalls. While the Dow Jones needed 25 years to recover to pre-depression levels in 1954, the market never fully recovered. It got chopped up to house some known chains such as the Read's Drugstore and shrank down to just 30 stalls from originally 200. Thus the briefly glorious market limped along in various forms until a fateful fire in 1968 almost gave it the death blow.

North Avenue Market (Museum of Industry/ Baltimore
Heritage

After the fire, the market was purchased by James and Carolyn Frenkil, owners of the Center City, Inc., development company, who planned to reopen a portion of the market over the next six years. They sold the northern portion of the building to be developed into high-rise senior citizen housing. But apparently the cash from the partial sale was never enough to bring back some semblance of old shine. In the years after the fire a few stores made a go at the corner of Maryland Avenue and along the then still busy North Avenue such as a supermarket, Rite Aid (the successor to Read's) and a Murphy’s variety store. Eventually Mike Shecter joined Carolyn Frankil, and the explorations with more art oriented venues began. 

Right before the building transferred into new ownership in 2023 Artscape transformed it for a few days with pop up installations in all the places that had been vacated with the improvements still intact. It was like magic, the North Avenue Market was back alive. (Exhilarating Artscape). One of the pop-ups, the Mobtown Ballroom, at the time still located in Pigtown, has now moved to the former Red Emma Space, although it isn't clear how permanent this new location will be. 

Can the Future Fund model scale?

Would this new approach using a revolving investment fund and a broader investor group work elsewhere in Baltimore? Will it be sustainable and scalable? The Guilford Hall on Greenmount Avenue was successfully completed, but it was just completed, too early to see if it is a sustainable model. Area 405 is on the long journey towards being self-sustaining. Overall the eleven neighborhoods in which the CBD is active represent success. They are the healthiest and most diverse neighborhoods Baltimore has to offer, proof that growth without displacement is possible. 

The model of revitalization without displacement is important for cities that are as underinvested as Baltimore, because displacement looms as soon as dilapidated real estate becomes an object of speculation, something that has already happened in Station North. It is even more important in overinvested and gentrified  neighborhoods and entire cities, such as San Francisco or Paris that tend to see lots of displacement, both on the residential and the business side. Just this  week this NYT article describes the massive public investment in affordable housing  and small stores in Paris to maintain the authenticity and diversity of the city. It looks like CPB and its partners are on the right track. 

Klaus Philipsen FAIA

(As president of D:Center the author was a tenant in the North Ave Market around 2012)

Related on this blog:

Is North Avenue Rising or Sinking?

Good bye, Liam Flynn

Other sources:

https://baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/north-avenue-market/

https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/57

Density - Dirty Word or Solution?

A history of separation

The nation is ripped by a housing crisis. Especially affordable housing is in low supply, across the US, in Maryland and in almost every local jurisdiction. The causes are multiple. High cost to construct housing, an ever shrinking pool of public housing and rent restricted housing where more units fall out of the restrictions than come into it on average, red tape, "redlining" and the fear of density. 

Suburban fight against new development in Baltimore County
(Photo: Baltimore Banner)

Onerous regulations have been not only been a tool of separating use, race and class for a long time, they also control how many people can live in a given space, in other words: Density. Discriminatory regulations are alive and well to this day, often in the guise of respectable goals. For example: Use segregation has long been seen as a good way to protect housing from  fumes, noise and other impacts of non compatible uses, even though today many industries have become quiet and clean and the livability of places where each use has its own quarter in town have long become a question. Fear of density, however, remains. 

Race and class separation isn't openly pursued any longer, but lives on in regulations and housing production that favors spreading things out. Whole streets or subdivisions see only one type of home which shares a common price point, mandates large lots, lot coverage, and setbacks. The result is the particular "product" that homebuilder prefer and that leads to complete income stratification that too often is also a race stratification: The single family home. Thus hidden discrimination is still rampant, further cemented by lenders and real estate agents which give loans or show certain homes only to certain clients. 

Not so lovely: Underperforming suburban commercial corridors
(Photo: Philipsen)

The ramifications of these mono-cultures manifest themselves in urban design: Rarely can one see rental multi-family housing mixed in with single family homes, smaller and larger homes mixed up or a store in the middle of a residential neighborhood and even schools, post offices and town halls are set aside, far away from people that are supposed to use them. The endless monocultures of single family homes breed owners who defend their status tooth and nail against any change, no matter that older towns, cities and villages with their mix of uses, styles and incomes are often very attractive and in high demand for their authentic character and the high efficiency of walkable communities with close by services. By contrast, the commercial corridors of suburban communities show clear signs of ailing.

The many obstacles to change

The favorite weapon against change in those suburban communities are their ubiquitous "adequate public facilities ordinances" (APFOs). They presumably exist to prevent an overload of infrastructure from too much development, but they are fundamentally based on the very common misunderstanding that density causes overload. In many ways the opposite is the case. Density makes far better use of infrastructure by using it more efficiently, reducing the extent of stuff that needs to be maintained. This becomes obvious every time a snowstorm hits and the plows have a hard time to keep miles and miles of suburban lanes and cut de sacs cleared. Density allows schools that are better equipped with libraries, gymnasiums and auditoria and density also reduces traffic congestion. This last point may seem counterintuitive, but it becomes immediately clear when one compares how many trips are needed and how long the trips are to cover daily needs in a low density suburban setting versus an urban one. The three cars in many suburban driveways are not just decoration, they actually move from all sides to the nearest intersection on streets that don't know redundancy (i.e. alternative routes) and cause massive congestion in spite of double turn lanes, four phase signaling and the almost complete absence of pedestrians. The congestion is then used to prevent any new development inside existing communities, potentially opening up some cultural de sacs and forces more sprawl in adjacent fields and forest, creating yet more traffic.

Beyond these matters of logic,  APFOs provide a convenient smoke screen to block others from come in on the grounds of lacking sewer, school or road capacities. Stifling residential development then begins to stunt the tax revenues that would pay for an improvement of the failing infrastructure.

A train without development: Failing mall next to a transit station
(Photo: Philipsen)

With zoning squarely in the hands of local council representatives, NIMBY pressure is always on them to keep new housing in existing communities at bay, especially denser multifamily housing that could bring "those people" to their neighborhood.  

Re-zoning: The hottest trend?

But the housing crisis has become so rampant all across America that many local governments have begun to rethink their regulations, no longer simply listening to neighbors who don't want to see new neighbors, increased densities, or really, any change in their community. The housing shortage is not only accompanied by missing economic development,  it is the cause of it. People begin to notice: Homelessness has become overwhelming, companies have trouble finding employees, taxes go up to maintain aging stuff without growth when jurisdictions run out of new land. The current course is not sustainable. 

We have a supply and demand problem. Maryland is not unique in this respect. And this is not just a problem for those who are low- and middle-income. Lierman’s report also noted the many stories of businesses turning down potential relocation plans to Maryland due to insufficient workforce housing. Fewer businesses mean fewer jobs and less revenue for the state and local governments. Fewer housing options also means longer commutes, more time on the road, more pollution and less time to help kids with schools.(Peter Engel, Director, Howard County Housing Commission)

With people of middle income jobs not finding housing where their jobs are the often mentioned teachers, firefighters, nurses and EMTs have been priced out along with the salespeople, the mail persons, the roofers, framers and shopkeepers, in short, all the people that make a community work. At the same time changing shopping habits, work from home have made many of the older commercial strips that line arterial roadways in the suburbs all across America obsolete, underutilized or lying entirely fallow. Their look is far from the original suburban dream.

It is in this context that NPR identified new zoning as a hot trend. Is hope on the horizon?

The hottest trend in U.S. cities? Changing zoning rules to allow more housing (NPR)

In response to the failings, some towns and cities have taken zoning for single-family-housing off the books altogether, others relinquished setback rules, lot sizes or allowed accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to be used not only by family members but also by renters that can augment the income for a homeowner. All of this would allow a gradual densification of neighborhoods, a nightmare for many. For example the Harford County Executive:

“As ADUs proliferate, a tipping point will be reached whereby all taxpayers and system-users will bear the costs of increased housing density,” xBill 24-001 would immediately increase the allowable density of residential properties in Harford County, resulting in significant known and unknown costs and other impacts affecting all residents and taxpayers countywide.” (Executive Cassilly).

This fear mongering is silly and describes the opposite of what happens. Properties with ADUs would certainly be assessed higher and yield more tax income. 

Hope and improvement is especially bright in the commercial zones where failing malls and their giant parking lots have been repurposed for denser mixed use. Mall conversion has almost become a national sport. Converting inward looking shopping bunkers, surrounded by a sea of asphalt, into new mixed use "town centers" which resemble remarkably those of traditional towns has become a success story: A grid of small streets, curbside parking, outdoor restaurant eating, small parks, a central plaza with a fountain or a skating rink and shops underneath apartment buildings and townhouses with some office and services here and there are elements that make attractive places, boost economic development and bring housing choices previously not seen in the suburbs. 

Demographic shifts to ever smaller households make these mixed use centers not only economically viable but also necessary. Regulation and code adjustments help things along: The fire code now allows four story wood framed buildings on top of a one or two story concrete base for stores, offices or restaurants and local mixed use zones make it possible for developers to build them. 

In some cities such as New York, Denver and San Diego four or five stories of apartments above stores are now the most common building type under construction, the same is true around many older suburban malls. Still some jurisdictions cling to the outmoded mono-culture sprawl model of the fifties. 

Current bills and Populism in the Village

Political populism has taken a hold in the suburbs as well: populists go to war against rezoning initiatives. They insist on the old "Euclidian" zoning that keeps everything nicely separated and make additions, accessory dwelling units, modular or manufactured homes dirty words. Subdividing larger houses or the adaptive reuse of old abandoned shopping centers into multi-family housing is a populist" "southern border" that needs to be shut down.  In Baltimore County a single councilman can block mixed use instead of a derelict mall right next to a rail transit stop just because it isn't allowed by the current zoning code. He can also block re-zoning or a planned unit development. The regulations lay both controls in the hand of a single district representative because the others defer their own judgement out of "councilmanic courtesy". 

When the Baltimore County Executive thought he could cut through the logjam with a bill that would allow mixed use (i.e. residential use) in business districts by right as long as they sit in one of the redevelopment nodes which the new masterplan defines, he ran into a buzzsaw of opposition of the "no apartments- no compromise crowd" combined with almost unanimous animosity by the council members who felt they were circumvented. Even after he announced he would rescind the bill, two councilmen still snubbed him by removing critical nodes in one case and all nodes in the other from the masterplan. The removal of the nodes was like cutting the legs off from the Masterplan 2030 in the last minute. The plan had been in the works for over two years, had passed the Planning Board and had gone through many public meetings. (How to make a mockery of planning). A "compromise bill that leaves all the power with the council is already in the crosshairs of the populists even before it is officially introduced.

No small wonder then, that the State is striking back with a very remarkable bill currently wending its way through the Maryland legislature: SB 0484. 

This state bill put together by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and M-DOT requires local jurisdictions to allow new manufactured homes in single-family zones and increased densities in specific zones for affordable housing projects. The bill prohibits a jurisdiction from imposing unreasonable limitations or requirements on a qualified affordable housing project including requiring more than one public hearing and unreasonable restrictions based on adequate public facilities laws and requires local jurisdictions to allow specified densities on property formerly owned by the State, property within one mile of a rail station located in the State and land that is wholly owned by a nonprofit organization. 

The legislation is a small step into the sanctified ground of local land use control. But land use, like all other local power, is given by the state and can be taken back by the state when it is abused. Local restrictions on housing production are harming the state as a whole, working against the greater good, causing hunger and exacerbating poverty for hundreds of thousands of Maryland residents, driving out-migration from the state, slowing the economy and reducing tax revenue. (Peter Engel, Howard County Housing Commission)

Strong words from a public official, but true. Anyone who has followed land use discussions in the State of Maryland (or anywhere in the US, really) knows that local governments cherish nothing more than their rights to control land use. Any attempt of the State to get into that privilege has always been met with open hostility. Yet, the bills sailed relatively unscathed through committee hearings thanks to careful coordination with the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) and the Maryland Municipal League (MML) by Housing Secretary Jacob Day who was the mayor of the town of Salisbury before where he had unleashed a true housing boom (Here is Home). Now State Housing Secretary, Day described the purpose of his housing legislative package on the radio station WYPR. Referring ton the housing crisis he said that "on a scale of severity it can't get much worse" referring to 25% of Maryland renters paying 50% and more of their disposable income on housing.

In his 2022 "State of the City" address, then Mayor Day reported the success of his initiative:

Homebuilders, landowners and real estate developers responded to overtures by the city over the course of a 90-day window for proposed projects with $1.4 billion in new housing proposals. According to Day, that is a 175% increase in the total existing housing in Salisbury. That also represents a 67% increase in the total assessable base of the city. (Delmarva Now)

The bill still needs to be voted in both chambers in Annapolis. The sheer existence of the bill, though, shows that the housing crisis is not only recognized but that all levels of government begin to act on it. Density is no longer just a dirty word.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Related on my blogs:

                    How to make a mockery of planning 

                    A bill that could make zoning more inclusive 

                    Why "lovely suburbia" is the cause of many troubles

                    From American Icon to Pariah?

See also my article on Bloomberg's CityLab: 

When suburbs go to war with transit

State Housing bills currently under review:

• HB0538/SB0484 The Housing Expansion and Affordability Act
• HB0599/SB0483 The Housing and Community Development Financing Act
• HB0693/SB0481 The Renter’s Rights Stabilization Act 

How to make a mockery of planning

The future will never be what we want it to be unless we plan it carefully. This is the purpose of professional planning and especially the purpose of 10-year master plans which are mandatory in Maryland. Masterplans are supposed to define the long-term future of an entire county or city, connect aspirations, regulations and resources into a long-term roadmap that provides transparency, predictability and guides all future actions, including resource allocation.

Bill 03-24 withdrawn, masterplan gutted. Now what?
Baltimore SUN 2/21/24

This is a lot. Which is why Baltimore County needed two years to complete its 2030 plan. Four years late, it finally was on the docket of the County Council on Tuesday to pass through the last gate, its final adoption. Alas, through a slew of amendments from every single councilman (there are no women in Baltimore County's Council) the vital parts of the plan were shredded before it was adopted. The more then two year process was snubbed with radical changes that the public never saw, let alone could comment on, and to which the professional planners could not respond.

Yes, there were some good and meaningful amendments, but especially two of the three Republican council members used the opportunity to thumb their nose to the Democratic County Executive and his planning staff. By removing the most meaningful element of the plan, the redevelopment nodes, from their district they neutered the plan. Wade Kach did it for eliminating and modifying several controversial nodes, but councilman Crandell took the cake: He asked for removing all the nodes in his district. Of course, the council could have voted down such an egregious attempt of turning two years of professional work into a meaningless tome by rejecting clearly spiteful amendments which  were clearly not based on any planning metrics. Yet, "councilmanic courtesy" prevailed once again, and all but chair Patoka gave the nod to even this rather frivolous amendments. 

This charade took place in the context of the Olszewski administration's bill 03-24 which would have allowed residential use in business zones, provided they were located in one of the redevelopment nodes. I wrote about this bill in this space before. 

The principally good bill was marred by a flawed  introduction which clearly soured the the mood of even the most sympathetic council members. Yesterday, then, in a late attempt to save at least the masterplan, the Executive promised to withdraw the bill in favor of a new bill to be introduced later. The idea appears to be to create mixed use overlay zones that gives the council a choice for each node whether or not to apply the overlay. 

The result of all this political sausage making on a topic that should be guided by facts, statistics, data and clear objectives and principles is that now the masterplan is in ruins and the mixed use bill withdrawn. Whatever overlay bill would be meaningless without nodes. That is especially apparent for Lutherville Station, a failing mall next to a light rail station (See here and here) which had become the posterchild of the entire redevelopment concept of the masterplan and of how outmoded current county zoning really is. A mixed use development proposal has languished there for years due to the councilman's objection and a small faction of the community yelling "no apartments-no compromise". 

The systemic problems that the Exec's bill and the masterplan tried to address remain, of course. They have been compounding for decades, whether it is zoning, transit, transit oriented development or mixed use. 

The Council may feel they achieved a victory when they defeated bill 03-24 and knocked the legs off under the masterplan, but it actually acted to the detriment of the County at large.  Without a strong resolve to add mixed use and housing in those failing commercial corridors all across the County, no matter whether an individual member may object to it for parochial reasons, the County will not be able to comply with the HUD mandate for affordable housing. 

Just as the masterplan is supposed to do, one needs to see the bigger picture, which is

• A lack of quality walkable, attractive mixed use communities that other jurisdictions have and that people want to see
• A glut of underperforming low quality commercial corridors that drag down adjacent communities
• A significant housing shortage.

Auto oriented ailing commercial corridors forming the
forming the "geography of nowhere (Liberty Road)

As a consequence, middle class, middle housing people are not only not coming to Baltimore County, they are actively moving out. This hurts the County's tax base, its workforce and its school performance in the same way as this type of out-migration has hurt the City for decades.

The council now has to show that it can actually do better than revenge zoning and spite and solve the very real problems Baltimore County clearly has.

The State, meanwhile is moving along with its own bills intended to resolve the housing crisis by forcing jurisdictions who keep stalling into allowing more housing.

Baltimore SUN 2/21/24

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

HarborPlace Design Review - Round 2: More Questions

The HarborPlace design team (architect Gensler and Landscape Architect Unknown Studio presented to the City's Design Review Panel (UDAAP) for a second time today and presented the memorable moment when a team that was sent packing in the first round only to came back with the exact same design  expecting a different outcome. 

To be fair, in the initial review UDAAP didn't so much criticize the design as the lack of a process that showed how the team arrived at the design and the absence of submittals required during the concept plan review. In today's meeting those omissions were filled and the UDAAP process "rebooted" and the second session is considered an extension of the first.  

UDAAP minutes of 11/16/23: How do the streets to the north intersect with the project? The team has not shared what happens at these key nodes. Are they being maintained as entry points? Will they be redesigned?  How does that edge interact with the development?

There needs to be a much more rigorous investigation of the possibilities with regard to the massing and placement of buildings. There's absolutely no telling why the 2 towers are positioned where they are on Light Street, why they are on one side and not the other. 

The team is encouraged to challenge the morphology around the forms as they develop – provide more analysis on how these forms evolved from the initial concept and why specific locations were chosen over others. • The proposed buildings could be placed anywhere in the world; what about this site in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor has shaped the buildings? If the team feels the building is in the wrong place, then it can be shifted. If not, then show the Panel why it is properly located. Either way, it needs to be studied for that conversation to happen. § Based on studies of the building form, the environments and public space will shift again and need to be solved. There is quite a bit of work left ahead for this project. The team is encouraged to be flexible as the process continue.

On the first day of February the team returned with the exact same design but with a lot more material to explain why the design looks the way it does. 

UDAAP usually wants to see and participate in how a project evolves. The reverse process in which a completed design is explained after the fact was highly unusual. An observer was left with the nagging impression that sketches and explanations were offered to justify a design that had already been completed and couldn't be altered and that some of those images may have even been produced for this meeting and not as part of the design evolution. Reviewer and architect Pavlina Ilieva observed that "Normally at a presentation of the masterplan concept level not so much is already realized" 

Nevertheless the explanations were illuminating and UDAAP was appreciative of the effort,even though not entirely satisfied that things have to be the way they were presented. 

In all, UDAAP members once again told MCB and lead architect Gensler that revisions were needed to their highly debated plan to redo the city's iconic Inner Harbor site.
And that includes the "character" of the project itself, says Osborne Anthony, a UDAAP member.
"I get the feeling just looking at it, that it’s beginning to take on an air of exclusivity and I’m a bit concerned about that," Anthony said. "In my mind, Baltimore is not chic. It’s a gritty area, it’s blue-collar. Its history stands for itself." (BBJ)

Below I will show most of the images that were presented as screenshots to explain the design, many of which had not been previously shared. Where applicable I share design reviewer comments per my notes. 

(All images MCB)

Birds eye view of the assembly of proposed buildings

Pavlina Ilieva comment: A building like the sail needs room to breathe. It needs space around it.

Ground level view from near where the Constellation docks looking southwest

.Pavlina Ilieva comment: What will this look like on a Tuesday when the crowds aren't there? How does this space feel like when the people are not there.? Will it have intimacy and feel welcome. What will people do there?

These framework sketches are illustrative of a mental construct that guides the later design. 
"Big Water"

Details of the Freedom's Port  Plaza bringing water towards the city

The idea behind the Freedom's Port Plaza. Sharon Bradley comment: Sharon Bradley: The Freedom Park works well as an arrival point but needs to express its topic in the materials .  Be careful of over-programming the water.

showing the footprint of the building outlines
Pavlia Ilieva comment: the disciplines really interacted I am sure not that the buildings landed and then the open spaces were made to mitigate them rather than the buildings being actually derived from a master concept.
Sharon Bradley comment: The water should not be overprogrammed

This plan shows the existing pavilions overlaid on the proposed buildings

This image shows HarborPlace in the context of the overall promenade

Pavlina Ilieva comment: "Colonizing the water" doesn't have to be all at HarborPlace, you have the entire promenade for water access.

This is a section through the high-rises and across Light Street

Kevin Storm question: Where is the parking? Response: Parking would be under or wrapped.

Panel question: Would there be affordable housing. Response: Yes, 10% affordable units at 60% AMI per new city code.

This framework sketch shows the idea of echoing the marshes that were originally around the Baltimore Harbor. Pavlina Ilieva referred to this sketch as a concept that much better than the completed design shows how buildings could be part of a landscape.

This rendering shows the upper and lower promenade next to the

 proposed office building. Pavlina Ilieva question: What is the first floor use of the building. Response: Undetermined. Pavlia Ilieva comment: I question that the masterplan logic requires that the spaces they create with the connections need to be filled with buildings. This was never interrogated . The logic of "how do we we fill the parcels with buildings is most problematic with that little building next to the WTC. In the composition it looks like a space filler. You don't have to fill the space on the ground with buildings. It could be a park.

"Public realm

Public Space and retail level interface

Public Space and retail level interface
Pavlina Ilieva comment: The design is too much about movement and not enough about being in a place. Where is the "there"?

Pratt Street section today and proposed

Light Street section today and proposed
Ilieva question: What is your option if these public street realignments don't come through?

 Response: Many public space improvements especially along the promenade are needed, whether we develop or not. See also Waterfront Partnership's Promenade Report. 

Comparison of the water edges different cities

Osborne Anthony comment: For your precedents why don't you go to Fells Point and tell us what you learn from there. I am concerned about an air of exclusivity. Baltimore is not chicque, its gritty. This needs to be reflected in the program and the uses. Try to capture "The true cultural tapestry of Baltimore".

Proposed building heights dip towards the Freedom's Port Plaza

Diagram of the connections to the water via street grid extensions

Osborne  Anthony's comment: You open up the roadway aligned viewsheds to the water and then what? There is no gathering space or recognition of arrival.

Same for pedestrians arriving at Pratt and Light. How do you carry forth into the ped circulation at Pratt and the connection to the stadia. Who are the users of the IH, past, present and intended?

Where are you key points of access after parking, by transit? 

Proposed floating sundecks and wetland-islands. 

public space at the Sail building

Conway Street corridor, view before and after

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA