Oh, you want to
drive to South Baltimore? You live in one of South Baltimore's classic
row homes? So how and where do you park? This is one of the parts of the
City that has been drawing young people from the suburbs as well as DC
due to its relative affordability. This demographic has a high number of
people who have ditched their cars. And why not? Urban living when done
right, there is no need for a car. All one has to do is hop on a bus or
rail transit of some sort if your destination isn't within a short walk
from home or work.
Sadly South Baltimore is
one of the parts of the City where a car is needed. This is also one of
the oldest parts of the City so streets are only barely able to support
two way traffic with on-street parking and those are the "wide" roads.
This has created a problem; There's nowhere to park in South Baltimore.
That's why in the first paragraph when I was singing South Baltimore's
praises, I said take the Light Rail and/or the Charm City Circulator to
avoid parking here. If you do live here or decide to bring your into
South Baltimore, you will no doubt spend an extra 10-15 minutes circling
the blocks surrounding your destination hoping to find a parking spot
that isn't a driveway or doesn't have a fire hydrant in front of it.
Keep in mind once you do find that miracle parking spot that's too good
to be true, you're probably stealing from the true Resident of the Row
Home you parked in front of.
Like I said in
the beginning, South Baltimore is an up and coming Neighborhood. What
does that mean? It means that in addition to population growth from
Residents rehabbing existing row homes and vacant industrial uses turned
into Residences, new construction is going up at a break neck pace.
Fortunately for those renting or buying new construction you most likely
can bypass the parking woes since most new Apartments come with a
parking garage with reserved parking. The same is with new Town Homes in
South Baltimore as they are usually three or four stories tall and are
much wider than their old row house counterparts, they have a driveways
with either a one or two car garage. If it's a Community of new Town
Homes it may even be gated.
Well it's obvious
that the solution is more parking garages. Granted these structures are
ugly and take away from the historic nature and welcoming environment
all communities strive to achieve. South Baltimore is no exception. If
one takes a look at the two recent mid-rise Apartment buildings that
were just built along Wells St. near Charles St., don't appear to have
an unsightly garage attached to them. Well that's what they want you to
think. These buildings do in fact have their own garages but their
buildings cover them up. In high density Apartment buildings these days,
the parking garage is in the center of the structure much like a pool
and outdoor gathering space does as well. This shields Residents of
these buildings from South Baltimore's parking woes, but what about
everyone else?
We can't expand the parking
garages on the two new Wells St. buildings because they've been
completed but there are several new Apartment buildings coming down the
pipeline that can help address these problems. Even better news, they're
not all concentrated in one place. They're spread throughout South
Baltimore so a new parking garage could be near you. These proposed
garages have enough spaces for their future Residents and perhaps a few
extra spaces. If they were to add a couple of levels to these garages
for visitors and nearby Residents, that would be a huge step in the
right direction by lessening the parking woes.
First
there's Stadium Square. This new multi building mixed development is
located in the Sharp-Leadenhall Neighborhood will be built along the
blocks of Race St. and Leadenhall St. between Hamburg St. and Ostend St.
that are currently dead industrial zones. Plans for two of the
buildings have come one is an Apartment Building with ground floor
Retail. The Second Buildings is an Office Building (also with ground
floor Retail) which will address the demand for Office Space in the
area. Stadium Square is billed as a Tech Incubator for Baltimore. Both
of these buildings and other buildings to come will have parking garages
wrapped around them. If both buildings expanded their garages
underground, then parking in this section of South Baltimore will become
much easier.
Next there's a proposed Apartment
Building where the currently vacant University of Maryland Specialty
sits on S, Charles St. in Otterbein. Although the currently peaceful
Neighborhood may feel threatened by this large new building and the life
it will bring to it, current Residents can rest assure that ground
floor Retail is not planned for this building as well as the fact that
it will have a parking garage wrapped around which I'm also proposing to
have extra spaces reserved in the area although this area isn't as
effected by parking woes than as other parts are.
Next
there's Anthem House. Located at the entrance to Locust Point, this
nine story ultra luxury Apartment Building may not need to have
additional parking due to the fact that it's right near lots of other
parking garages in McHenry Row and there's surface level parking in
Southside Shopping Center both directly across the street from the
Anthem House site. Still, I would add the additional spaces anyway just
in case somebody intends on taking a westward walk along Fort Ave. where
the parking becomes much tighter.
Perhaps the
most crucial development proposal is the redevelopment of the Cross St.
Market. Located in the heart of Federal Hill boutique Retail has popped
up all over this popular destination. There is a stand alone parking
garage next to the market but I would like to see more parking. My
preference would be under-ground parking just beneath the redeveloped
Market so as not further disturb the historic nature of the Community.
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