homestar82
Jun 28, 2009, 9:20 PM
As a native Baltimorean, I'm pretty excited and proud that my city is planning such a great project that will bring more people back into the city and vastly improve the city's transit infrastructure!:banana:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bal-re.southeast28jun28,0,4553379.story
Southeast Baltimore has stable neighborhoods such as Canton, Highlandtown, Fells Point, Brewer's Hill and Greektown.
Now there's an opportunity to create a new neighborhood that could add 3,500 to 4,000 residences to the same part of town over the next 10 years, with a stop on the proposed Red Line as the focal point.
The "Highlandtown Loft District" is one suggested name for the neighborhood, which could have some of the character of Baltimore's Clipper Mill precinct, the vitality of the Station North arts and entertainment district, and the amenities of a new area such as Albemarle Square.
That's the conclusion of architects and planners who recently fleshed out their vision for this Eastside community during an intensive planning effort called a charrette.
They'll present their ideas during a public meeting Monday at 6 p.m. at the Southeast Anchor Library, 3601 Eastern Ave.
"The idea is that you could create a new neighborhood between Greektown and Highlandtown and design it around a transit stop, very deliberately," said Chris Ryer, president of the Southeast Community Development Corp., a nonprofit that initiated the charrette with the Greektown Community Development Corp. "This planning effort helped give us a road map of what's possible."
"There's nothing like it in the region right now," said Stuart Sirota, the head of TND Planning Group, which led the design effort. "It would be close to the waterfront, close to major employers, close to Patterson Park. It would have easy access to Interstate 95 and the Harbor Tunnel Thruway. If we could create a world-class transit plaza on the Red Line, we think it could be Baltimore's next great address."
The planning session was initiated to show the development potential of a large area around the proposed Highlandtown stop of the Red Line, a $1.6 billion, 14-mile-long transit route - probably light rail - planned to run from Woodlawn in Baltimore County to east Baltimore.
Planning for the Red Line began in 2003. If funds are approved in time, construction could begin in 2012, with completion by 2016. The Red Line is expected to carry more than 40,000 people a day.
Ryer said the eastern terminus for the Red Line originally was meant to be at Canton Crossing, a community near Boston and Clinton streets. But the line was subsequently extended more than a mile to include three more stations, ending at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center near the city-county line. The other stops would be at a new Eastside MARC station and in Highlandtown, where a station is proposed near Haven Street and Eastern Avenue, on the Norfolk-Southern Railroad right of way.
Planning for other stops along the route has been under way for some time, Ryer said, but there hasn't been much planning for the land by the Highlandtown stop, and that's why his group initiated a charrette.
"We were behind the eight ball," he said. "Nobody had done any work to take advantage of this station."
The focus of attention is an area that is about a 10-minute walk in any direction from the Highlandtown stop. The area is bounded roughly by Lombard Street on the north, Boston Street on the south, the Bayview campus on the east and Highland Avenue on the west.
Much of the area is zoned for industrial use and contains warehouses, storage yards and small businesses. Seeking ways to maximize the economic benefits of the Red Line, Ryer brought in designers who are experienced in creating visions for "transit-oriented development" - construction to capitalize on proximity to rail lines.
"This is an old manufacturing district," Ryer said of the study area. "It's always been a heavy freight movement area. From a planning perspective, that's not the best use for land next to a transit stop, because it's relatively low in density and wouldn't generate much ridership. We're arguing that you need to do something to support the investment in transit infrastructure."
The area is ideal for more housing, he said, because it's surrounded by healthy neighborhoods, near large employers and has plenty of available land.
"In the city, there's always a market for infill construction," he said. "This area is near Hopkins [medical campus] and Bayview. Southeast Baltimore is doing well. It's made the transition to the new economy. Maryland is expecting 1 million new people over the next 20 years. We think here's where you could put 3,000 households, and people wouldn't all have to drive cars on I-95" to get to work.
With completion of the Red Line, Sirota said, the Highlandtown-Greektown area will be an attractive place for educated professionals seeking a "transit-oriented urban lifestyle," which includes less dependence on cars and more ability to walk to shops and services. With a well-designed transit station at the center, he said, a new neighborhood could be designed that offers "many of the ingredients that attract new urban dwellers and reinvestment."
Besides TND, a consulting practice that specializes in sustainable transportation and land use planning and design, the charrette team included Seth Harry and Associates, a Maryland-based architecture firm, and Urban Advisors, a Washington-based economic analyst. They and others set up shop in the old Highlandtown public library and spent five days in May meeting with stakeholders and thinking about ways to prepare for the Red Line.
At the end of their brainstorming period, the designers developed recommendations that could be used to guide redevelopment of the new neighborhood and prepared drawings to show how the area could look.
Many property owners participated in the charrette and contributed ideas. Others will be seeing the vision for the first time Monday. Ryer acknowledges that much more work is required to turn the area into a cohesive neighborhood, including rezoning and assembling parcels for redevelopment. He said one of the next steps will be to present the vision to Baltimore's Planning Commission. If it gets a positive response, he said, his organization is prepared to do more work to fine-tune the ideas and develop a strategy for implementation.
Sirota said he knows many questions still need to be answered. But he says it's important to present a vision now.
"When we show what's possible for the area, people get excited and support starts to build," he said. "That's how we can transform vision to reality."
Recommendations for new community
•Use the Red Line to create a "vibrant, transit-oriented destination" at the Highlandtown stop, with mixed-use development and open spaces that would make the area a draw for the entire region.
•Maximize opportunities for residential development by rezoning underused land and assembling parcels for redevelopment. The proposed housing is low-rise or mid-rise, including town houses, apartments and condominiums.
•Retain and upgrade the massive old Crown Cork and Seal complex off Eastern Avenue to house a mixture of commercial and residential tenants, similar to the way Clipper Mill has been recycled near a light rail stop in North Baltimore.
•Revitalize Eastern Avenue as the "main street" for retail activity and new businesses serving the new households.
•Link the transit stop to Baltimore's waterfront with a "pedestrian- friendly" boulevard.
Source: TND Planning Group
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bal-re.southeast28jun28,0,4553379.story
Southeast Baltimore has stable neighborhoods such as Canton, Highlandtown, Fells Point, Brewer's Hill and Greektown.
Now there's an opportunity to create a new neighborhood that could add 3,500 to 4,000 residences to the same part of town over the next 10 years, with a stop on the proposed Red Line as the focal point.
The "Highlandtown Loft District" is one suggested name for the neighborhood, which could have some of the character of Baltimore's Clipper Mill precinct, the vitality of the Station North arts and entertainment district, and the amenities of a new area such as Albemarle Square.
That's the conclusion of architects and planners who recently fleshed out their vision for this Eastside community during an intensive planning effort called a charrette.
They'll present their ideas during a public meeting Monday at 6 p.m. at the Southeast Anchor Library, 3601 Eastern Ave.
"The idea is that you could create a new neighborhood between Greektown and Highlandtown and design it around a transit stop, very deliberately," said Chris Ryer, president of the Southeast Community Development Corp., a nonprofit that initiated the charrette with the Greektown Community Development Corp. "This planning effort helped give us a road map of what's possible."
"There's nothing like it in the region right now," said Stuart Sirota, the head of TND Planning Group, which led the design effort. "It would be close to the waterfront, close to major employers, close to Patterson Park. It would have easy access to Interstate 95 and the Harbor Tunnel Thruway. If we could create a world-class transit plaza on the Red Line, we think it could be Baltimore's next great address."
The planning session was initiated to show the development potential of a large area around the proposed Highlandtown stop of the Red Line, a $1.6 billion, 14-mile-long transit route - probably light rail - planned to run from Woodlawn in Baltimore County to east Baltimore.
Planning for the Red Line began in 2003. If funds are approved in time, construction could begin in 2012, with completion by 2016. The Red Line is expected to carry more than 40,000 people a day.
Ryer said the eastern terminus for the Red Line originally was meant to be at Canton Crossing, a community near Boston and Clinton streets. But the line was subsequently extended more than a mile to include three more stations, ending at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center near the city-county line. The other stops would be at a new Eastside MARC station and in Highlandtown, where a station is proposed near Haven Street and Eastern Avenue, on the Norfolk-Southern Railroad right of way.
Planning for other stops along the route has been under way for some time, Ryer said, but there hasn't been much planning for the land by the Highlandtown stop, and that's why his group initiated a charrette.
"We were behind the eight ball," he said. "Nobody had done any work to take advantage of this station."
The focus of attention is an area that is about a 10-minute walk in any direction from the Highlandtown stop. The area is bounded roughly by Lombard Street on the north, Boston Street on the south, the Bayview campus on the east and Highland Avenue on the west.
Much of the area is zoned for industrial use and contains warehouses, storage yards and small businesses. Seeking ways to maximize the economic benefits of the Red Line, Ryer brought in designers who are experienced in creating visions for "transit-oriented development" - construction to capitalize on proximity to rail lines.
"This is an old manufacturing district," Ryer said of the study area. "It's always been a heavy freight movement area. From a planning perspective, that's not the best use for land next to a transit stop, because it's relatively low in density and wouldn't generate much ridership. We're arguing that you need to do something to support the investment in transit infrastructure."
The area is ideal for more housing, he said, because it's surrounded by healthy neighborhoods, near large employers and has plenty of available land.
"In the city, there's always a market for infill construction," he said. "This area is near Hopkins [medical campus] and Bayview. Southeast Baltimore is doing well. It's made the transition to the new economy. Maryland is expecting 1 million new people over the next 20 years. We think here's where you could put 3,000 households, and people wouldn't all have to drive cars on I-95" to get to work.
With completion of the Red Line, Sirota said, the Highlandtown-Greektown area will be an attractive place for educated professionals seeking a "transit-oriented urban lifestyle," which includes less dependence on cars and more ability to walk to shops and services. With a well-designed transit station at the center, he said, a new neighborhood could be designed that offers "many of the ingredients that attract new urban dwellers and reinvestment."
Besides TND, a consulting practice that specializes in sustainable transportation and land use planning and design, the charrette team included Seth Harry and Associates, a Maryland-based architecture firm, and Urban Advisors, a Washington-based economic analyst. They and others set up shop in the old Highlandtown public library and spent five days in May meeting with stakeholders and thinking about ways to prepare for the Red Line.
At the end of their brainstorming period, the designers developed recommendations that could be used to guide redevelopment of the new neighborhood and prepared drawings to show how the area could look.
Many property owners participated in the charrette and contributed ideas. Others will be seeing the vision for the first time Monday. Ryer acknowledges that much more work is required to turn the area into a cohesive neighborhood, including rezoning and assembling parcels for redevelopment. He said one of the next steps will be to present the vision to Baltimore's Planning Commission. If it gets a positive response, he said, his organization is prepared to do more work to fine-tune the ideas and develop a strategy for implementation.
Sirota said he knows many questions still need to be answered. But he says it's important to present a vision now.
"When we show what's possible for the area, people get excited and support starts to build," he said. "That's how we can transform vision to reality."
Recommendations for new community
•Use the Red Line to create a "vibrant, transit-oriented destination" at the Highlandtown stop, with mixed-use development and open spaces that would make the area a draw for the entire region.
•Maximize opportunities for residential development by rezoning underused land and assembling parcels for redevelopment. The proposed housing is low-rise or mid-rise, including town houses, apartments and condominiums.
•Retain and upgrade the massive old Crown Cork and Seal complex off Eastern Avenue to house a mixture of commercial and residential tenants, similar to the way Clipper Mill has been recycled near a light rail stop in North Baltimore.
•Revitalize Eastern Avenue as the "main street" for retail activity and new businesses serving the new households.
•Link the transit stop to Baltimore's waterfront with a "pedestrian- friendly" boulevard.
Source: TND Planning Group