“I’ve been to this event many times and there have been some good years and some not so good years with some pretty depressing presentations,” said Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake at Downtown Partnership of Baltimore’s (DPOB) State of Downtown Breakfast. This year, however, the room was filled with optimism about the progress and future of Downtown Baltimore. “This is a great time in our city,” said Rawlings-Blake. “Positive progress is not an accident.”
Downtown Baltimore is defined by DPOB as the one-mile radius from Light St. and Pratt St. This includes the downtown core as well as Otterbein, Federal Hill, Ridgely’s Delight, Sharp-Leadenhall, and a portion of Pigtown and Barre Circle, as well as several other communities to the north and east. In 2012, DPOB projected that downtown could sustain the addition of 5,800 new housing units and it reported that there are currently about 5,100 units in the pipeline for delivery by 2017. With many additional apartment projects proposed and discussed, there is a strong possibility that Downtown could surpass its 2012 projection. “The amount of investment shows that our numbers might be off. Investors and bankers do their own analysis and they continue to want to be downtown,” said DPOB President Kirby Fowler.
Downtown currently has an occupancy rate of 93.7% and a population of 41,606, including 635 new residents in 2014. Baltimore has the ninth largest one-mile radius downtown population and the 13th most households with an annual income above $75,000 at 5,854. Notable apartment additions in 2014 include the conversion of 114 E. Lexington St. (The Lenore, 102 units), 301 N. Charles St. (301 North Charles, 96 units), and 520 Park Ave. (520 Park, 171 units). It was noted that each of these are leasing ahead of schedule. Major additions expected to come in 2015 include three more building conversions, which include 188 apartment units at 10 N. Calvert St., 420 units at 10 Light Street, and 167 units at 26 S. Calvert St.
Fowler credited Mayor Rawlings-Blake and her passing of a tax credit for developers that build more than 50 apartment units as big reason for the increase in activity.
The office space market showed a slight drop as vacancy rates rose from 16.1% in 2013 to 16.8% in 2014. It was noted, however, that companies previously in suburban-based offices, such as Pandora, KAO and MAIF, chose to relocate to Baltimore. A project proposed for a parking lot at 1 Light St. is also expected to have office space that M&T Bank is expected to fill, along with apartment units. Fowler noted this was the first new office construction downtown in a “long time.”
DPOB reported that Downtown Baltimore added 1,600 jobs in 2014 for a total of 123,879 jobs downtown, which ranks Baltimore with the 12th most in the US.
Downtown hotels in 2014 had an occupancy rate of 69% which was described as “nearly back to pre-recession levels.” The national average for hotel occupancy is 64.4%. The report states that 492 hotel rooms were under construction in 2014 with another 149 in planning. Notable hotels under construction include the conversions of 1 E. Redwood St., which will become a 150-room Crown Plaza Hotel, and 207 E. Redwood St., which will become a 130-room Hotel RL.
More than 90 restaurants or retailers opened or signed leases in 2014. Notable openings included Aggio, Shake Shack, and Family Meal. Notable leases signed include Blue Moon Café (Federal Hill), Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, and Nalley Fresh. Downtown Baltimore’s retail vacancy rate is at 10.2%, which is above the national average at 7.1%, but DPOB believes downtown retail will become stronger as new residents drive demands and developments continue to add ground-floor retail space.
2014 also saw the addition of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company at 7 S. Calvert St. Outdoor improvements are also expected to be completed in the next two years to Wilkes Lane, Courthouse Plaza, and Preston Gardens.
While downtown is seeing a lot of renovation and conversions, surface parking lots are also attracting investors. “We are seeing interest in properties that have been waiting for investment for years,” said University of Maryland Baltimore President and DPOB Board Member Jay Perman. The properties at 1 Light St., 414 Light St. (which has received approval for a 44-story, 392-unit apartment building with ground floor retail), and 300 E. Pratt St. (where preliminary plans were revealed for a hotel and residential tower) are also seeing long awaited investment.
Fowler also expressed optimism about the Bromo District, which includes the area around Lexington Market and many blocks of Howard St., and the Mayor’s commitment to the area. “Four years ago we identified 23 properties in need and now 15 of those properties are in progress,” said Fowler. He noted that several significant properties are out for RFP including the former Drovers and Mechanics National Bank building at 100 N. Eutaw St. and the former Sons of Italy building at 410-412 W. Fayette St. Planning is also underway for a redevelopment of the Lexington Market.
University of Maryland Baltimore Chief Enterprise and Economic Development Officer Jim Hughes also presented as part of a panel at the event. He talked about the progress at the UM BioPark campus just west of MLK Blvd. “When we began about 10 years ago, half of the area was land and the other half was empty buildings,” said Hughes. “Now we have five buildings and 36 companies at the campus.”
Hughes told the crowd that they also offer an MBA program at the campus as well as courses for Baltimore City Community College. The newly-built Proton Treatment Center at the BioPark will soon begin taking in 2,000 patients at a time in November. “Our campus is a great mix of start-ups, established companies, programming and clinical facilities.”
“We are happy to be downtown and in a residential community. The idea of a research triangle in the suburbs is dying,” said Hughes. He also noted that they offer modest live-near-work grants for future residents of the area and they, along with Southwest Partnership, are working to expand their borders and push for a transformation at the Hollins Market.