Sit on it COVID Edition Part II: What Worked

What do we do now? Now, we rebuild. That is the standard answer given at the end of any disaster and/or horror movie that involves mass destruction. Although COVID isn't a movie, it's all too real however as more and more people are vaccinated and herd immunity gets closer, we must think of a plan to move forward from the devastation that COVID has brought to Baltimore. 

Sadly, this post isn't some plan to refill Downtown's rapidly emptying Office Buildings. This post does discuss what wasn't devastated during COVID and how that may change things permanently. So lets see what has not only survived during COVID but what has thrived during it as well.

Restaurants

Wait! Didn't I just post restaurants in the previous post as something that has taken a massive hit? I did, however Restaurants in many cases are looking to creative new ways to keep themselves afloat. Restaurants that had never used delivery services such as DoorDash, Grub Hub, Uber Eats etc. and curbside pickup as well as "Cocktails to Go" have been literal lifesavers to those who haven't been able to offer seating or be at a very limited capacity. Another promising sign for Baltimore is that when a Restaurant closes, new Restaurateurs have been scouting out those spaces and have made plans to open their own concepts. Though this hasn't been the case for every single closed Restaurant, I find it very encouraging that Restaurateurs are still seeking out space.

Residential Real Estate Market 

One things that makes very happy and optimistic is that people still want to live here! Though fewer people are buying and selling houses, that are have been getting the asking prices and then some. People want to live here. Not only that, despite COVID Baltimore can still absorb thousands upon thousands of new luxury Apartment units (perhaps this is a think tank to fill office space) and that doesn't even begin to address the need for affordable housing. Perhaps these numbers can provide hope for population growth if developers jump on it.

Grass Roots Efforts

A lot of the new development projects and businesses being launched during this pandemic have been "for the little guy" An example of this is how commercial kitchens have popped up for food trucks. Also many developments have been affordable housing in often overlooked part of the City. The blocks of Howard Sr. in Downtown's Westside have been the subject of many redevelopment efforts with new businesses and Residents signing leases to live there. In Upton, Druid Heights, and Penn North land is being assembled to build new homes where dilapidated boarded up homes and businesses once stood or have long since been demolished. What's great about these new developments besides their affordability is the fact that they haven't been the same old developers spear heading theses projects, it's younger minority owned firms who have been getting their feet in the door. If successful perhaps these new developers will chosen for larger projects.

Grocery Stores

Ah yes, the Grocery Stores. The paranoia that surrounded the earlier months of this pandemic have helped Grocery Stores cash in like never before with isles of toilet, paper, milk, eggs, bread, flour, beef, chicken and many more items being sold out for months on end. Not only that, whenever these items were in stock, the price could skyrocket since the production was so low. Shop from programs launched by stores themselves have been perfected like well oiled machines in the past year while still in their infancy pre-pandemic. Also personal shoppers through apps like "InstaCart" have had their profits soar. 

Creative/Shared Workspaces

As Office Space downsizes in some cases permanently, commercial landlords are left with a plethora of Office Space to fill and now they must decide how to move forward with how to best lease them out. Before this can happen, these aging Office Buildings will most certainly undergo significant renovations if they are to compete with newer buildings not only across the City but across the region. One way in which this is being done redefining the work space by limiting the footprint that Offices take by sharing workspaces to allow more people to work remotely without wasting space. A lot of these renovations occurring include modernizing common areas and adding amenities found in newer buildings to compete. With or without COVID being a factor, the fight to retain and attract Office Tenants was brewing for quite some time and is now in full force.

Now that just about wraps my coverage of how COVID has effected Baltimore and which parts have fared poorly and which parts aren't faring as bad. Keep in mind this barely scratches the surface and a million more forces are at play that have made Baltimore have the year it did. Some of these were accidents waiting to happen that were sped up by COVID while others will right themselves while vaccinations continue and we come closer to herd immunity. Since we haven't achieved that yet, we must Sit On it for a while longer.   

    

Sit On it COVID Edition Part I The Devastation

 Every time there's an economic downturn in Baltimore and the nation as a whole, I publish a post or two known as "Sit On It" it describes how development should proceed or some some cases wait until the economy turns around. This of course is speculation because nobody knows if, when, and how the market recovers. This time COVID has brought parts of Baltimore to a screeching halt as it has the entire planet. In this edition of "Sit On It" I'm going to talk about what things got hit the most and whether they have a chance of recovering.

Sports & Recreation

Remember the popular venues that hosted concerts, baseball, football, conventions, and the Preakness? I do too. However it's been a while since they've been open to the public other than testing sites and or vaccination sites. Even if they did host recreational events, who would go there? It's absolutely impossible to social distance and with the food and drink being sold there, people would have to remove their masks to consume them. Although the Orioles and Ravens had been playing games on and off throughout COVID, it was to empty Stadiums. I do believe Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadiums will attract spectators once again, I do have my doubts about Royal Farms Arena and the Convention Center. This is because the buildings are dated and redevelopment has been needed for some time now and I believe the COVID pandemic has only exacerbated these needs. 

Dine In Restaurants

Restaurant owners and their employees have had it very hard during COVID. The biggest ones to lose out are ones that don't have much of an emphasis on carry out and/or rely on liquor consumption for a majority of their sales. Restaurants have done their best to adapt to these changes with curbside pickup and outdoor dining and "Cocktails to go" but many others have closed their doors because they can't stay afloat with such a high drop in revenue. Though some restrictions have been lifted, dining rooms aren't able to fill to capacity per City ordinances. It's still yet to be seen how weary diners will be when dining rooms reopen to full capacity. 

Hotels

Parts of Baltimore that rely heavily on travel and tourism are flush with Hotels to lodge travelers. If our nation's borders are closed and interstate travel is banned without long quarantine sessions before and after, it begs the question; Who's Staying at Hotels? The answer is very few. During the first few months of COVID, Hotels have shut down and their staffs were laid off. Even today, Hotels can only fill a small percentage of their rooms and can only bring back a portion of their staff. Though there were Hotels under construction when COVID hit that have since been completed, openings were anything but grand. As restrictions are lifted however, I believe Hotel occupancy will go up.

Malls

Though Mondawmin Mall has certainly suffered during this pandemic as have all the suburban Malls outside of Baltimore, I would like to focus on Harbor Place. Harborplace has been the poster child of  Dead Malls during the COVID era. High vacancies, poor management, decaying structures, and landlord bankruptcy has plagued this high end and sought after crowning jewel of the Inner Harbor long before hand its decline has accelerated even more in the past year. Before COVID hit, there had been talk of additional life saving renovations to the two pavilions on Light St. and Pratt St. and repurposing them for uses other than brick and mortar Retail. Now, it appears they're not coming back to life even once the Harbor Promenade is filled with tourists and area Residents alike. 

Office Space

Many parts of Baltimore depend on the daily commute but none as much as Downtown. It contains the largest concentration of Office Space in the City and although Residential uses had been increasing in the years leading up to COVID, it hasn't been enough to empty out Downtown. As it turns out, many people who once called themselves commuters now can work remotely from home and it seems as though they don't want to stop once restrictions are lifted. So now the question remains; What do we do with all of the Office Space that is preparing to be emptied out by T. Rowe Price, Bank of America, Pandora, TransAmerica, and PNC among countless other Downtown firms now filling its buildings? Well, I don't know. I suppose some can be repurposed as Residences but can ALL of them? What about the Retail spaces that were meant to serve the commuter crowd? What about Hotels whose business depends on business travelers? This, out of all of the other facets of the economy listed has the largest domino effect and also will have the longest lasting devastation. Solutions will be needed and I hope to think some up.

Now, don't worry. Baltimore's post COVID self isn't all doom and gloom, things will slowly but surely begin to come back as they will in the earth as a whole. In addition, none of the problems discussed here are unique to Baltimore and in some cases were not even caused by COVID but merely accelerated by it. Stay tuned for Part II: The Rebuild.