vegas, baby

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Normally, that’s a smart move. But we’re hoping that’s not the case with the International Council of Shopping Centers’ (ICSC) annual Global Retail Real Estate Convention we attended recently.

With more than 50,000 attendees, this is the Mecca of retail recruitment. National retailers, real estate brokers, and developers make the trek each year to find the perfect location for that next retail expansion.

For the past seven years, The Partnership and Baltimore Development Corporation, in conjunction with local sponsors, have hosted a booth at the trade show. The main purpose, pure and simple, is to bring more shops and restaurants to Baltimore.

We go to ICSC armed with an arsenal of stats and data. More often than not, we're introducing people to the real Baltimore for the first time (not the wild west version they may have seen on TV). And, across the board people are impressed, and surprised, by what the data shows.

As we just released in the latest State of Downtown Baltimore Report, Downtown has 114,000 employees, 38,000 residents, and 20,000 students. Not to mention millions of visitors each year. We rank 7th in the country for population density, 15th for employment density, and 9th for the number of households earning $75K or more -- which puts us in a peer group with places like Denver and Boston.

So instead of hitting the casinos we spent our time in Vegas reviewing demographics, courting potential redevelopment opportunities, and marketing available retail spaces. We had formal meetings with more than 30 companies, some of which we’re trying to bring here. Others are here already, but we hope they’ll expand to additional locations.

It often takes years to bring a new retailer into a market and we work with them throughout the entire process, introducing them to local developers and real estate brokers, helping match the business with the right location, and assisting with building permits, signage, or marketing… whatever it takes.

After decades without much in the way of shopping, Downtown is re-emerging as a retail destination. When Filenes Basement opened last year it marked the return of department stores to Downtown. SuperFresh has opened in City Center. Lockwood Place and Harbor East are thriving. So, too, are retail corridors in Downtown’s adjacent neighborhoods like in Mount Vernon, Federal Hill, Locust Point.

Despite a slow national economy, the pace of Downtown retail openings should pick up. Whether or not these new deals started in Vegas, opening retail in Downtown is no gamble.

-nan

smart stadia

M&T Bank Stadium seen from Federal Hill park. (photo by Frank Klein)

If you're a lacrosse fan, chances are you at least considered making the trip to the NCAA final tournament at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. In it's infinite wisdom, the NCAA has moved a tournament that drew record crowds here in Baltimore the past few years. I can't fault them for trying to grow the sport and attract new regional fans.

But it's dumb to hold this event at Foxboro. Here's why...

If you look at Google's satellite image you can see that they built that thing in the middle of nowhere.

You can't walk to it. There are no shops or restaurants. Just forest and fields, interrupted by a sea of parking lots.

They did something similar with FedEx Field where the Redskins play. And I just don't get it.

Isolated stadia are bad developments. They eat up undeveloped land, require extra costs to build infrastructure and utilities, aren't well connected to mass transit, and they minimize spin-off revenue because there aren't any shops, restaurants, or other businesses where event-goers can spend their money.

And this isn't just my opinion. Studies by the Urban Land Institute among others have calculated the increased economic and environmental advantages that you get with a Downtown facility over a rural one.

So this weekend, instead of 50,000 people walking from their hotel or the harbor, stopping at Cross Street or one of the other nearby shopping / restaurant districts, you'll have traffic congestion, some parking lot tailgating, and the opportunity to spend way too much on a stadium hot dog because that's the only choice you'll have.

-mike

college town

Photo of Johns Hopkins Commencement by Will Kirk / HIPS, 2007

Earlier today I passed by a group of jubilant looking people in black robes who were either very young judges or newly minted graduates. Trailing a few paces behind were relieved looking people I assume were the parents. It seemed they were all headed off to a celebratory lunch somewhere near the harbor.

Seeing students Downtown is becoming more of a regular thing. Graduate and professional students tend to blend in with the office crowd on the streets, but it's easy to spot a Peabody enrolee lugging an instrument case, a med student in scrubs, a culinary student in their whites, or someone from the School for the Arts or MICA sketching up in Mount Vernon.

Downtown may not fit the stereotypical image of a campus town because there are so many other elements that define its identity (business, tourism, etc.). And we don't really have the leafy campus with the Georgian architecture and fraternity row. But Downtown Baltimore is a college town all the same.

Consider this: there are nine academic institutions that ring Downtown. Of the approximately 160,000 people in Downtown on any given day, 20,000 of them are students. That's about the size of Cornell, and twice as large as the undergraduate population at Harvard.

-mike

competitiveness

trading floor at T. Rowe Price (Photo by Mitro Hood)

A recent national study that compares the economic strengths of major metropolitan areas has ranked Baltimore as the eleventh most competitive place in the country. (They're talking about economic competitiveness, not trying to imply that we're all cut-throat.)

The rankings, compiled by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University, are based on eight categories: government & fiscal policy, security, infrastructure, human resources, technology, business incubation, openness, and environmental policy.

We used to be lumped in with Washington, DC (which ranks 5th this year). It's about time statistictians realized that Baltimore and Washington are two distinct cities.

-mike

trot, gallop, or hop to preakness

Today may have been the 42nd Annual Preakness Frog Hop, but it was the first time I placed in the top three (please see my excitement pictured.)

Linda (pictured, far right, in the midst of a valiant fist pump) helped me co-jockey “Downtown Kirby” to a whopping 4 feet 6.5 inch jump. Not bad for a frog named after our own Downtown Partnership President, Kirby Fowler.

Maybe next year we will bring home the gold. Until then, I can only hope that my luck. . .err. . .I mean skill . . .will last through the weekend at the actual Preakness this Saturday!

$20 on Big Brown—win, place, or show.

--faith

renters beware!

I generally like to think I live a charmed life. My concerns usually consist of:

Work: Why does the printer hate me?
Family: Is everyone safe?
Friends: Where are we going tonight?
Money: When do I get paid again?

I watch the news, but to be perfectly honest, I find that most of the national and even local news has little direct effect on me (other than the $50 it costs me to fill up my gas tank).

Two weeks ago my roommates and I started receiving letters in our landlords name from about a dozen banks, mortgage companies, and lawyers. I had heard about landlords failing to pay mortgages, and I decided to do a little investigating.

Upon googleing our address, I found out that our house was being foreclosed on and set to be auctioned at the Courthouse this past Thursday, where it was sold back to the lender.

In retrospect, I think I would have benefited from reading this article in the Baltimore Business Journal, which outlines the rate at which renters are being evicted from their homes due to unforeseen foreclosures. Perhaps, then I would have been privy to my current situation.

So for the time being my roommates and I are living in limbo and fighting to get back our last month of rent and deposits. Hmm, I could have sworn this was the exact reason we decided to rent and not own in the first place.

--faith

(urban) farm to table

New York Times photo by Todd Heisler

It feels like summer out right now which makes me think two things: how long before the good local produce starts rolling into area farmers markets, and why am I still inside typing on the computer?

This link to the Sun has information on all the area farmer's markets including the newest one in Harbor East.

Coincidentally, there's a great story in today's New York Times about an urban farming movement that's becoming more and more popular.

The idea behind it is simple - help citizens transform vacant lots into community gardens where they can grow organic produce to sell at local greenmarkets. New York's got an interesting model that could be easily replicated.

With so many empty lots, a scarcity of nourishing food for sale in poorer neighborhoods, and a mayor committed to healthy communities (in every sense of the word) this is an idea we should get behind here in Baltimore.

-mike

new ideas for old arena space

the current arena

Plans for a new Baltimore arena aren't even finalized yet but, to its credit, the Urban Design Committee of Baltimore's American Institute of Architects (AIA) chapter wants to start planning what could go on the current arena site - provided that location isn't used for a new arena.

We've always felt the site (along with the Superblock just to the north) is critical to linking City Center and the Westside. It's a lot of space, it's right next to a light rail stop, and it's convenient to pretty much everything, including the University of Maryland, the Pratt Street corridor, hotels, parks, MARC trains, Camden Yards, the Hippodrome, and Lexington Market.

And there are already thousands of residents living there. In fact, nearby apartment buildings are almost 100% rented. But you'd never guess it because there aren't many people out on the street in the evenings or on weekends. Maybe that's because there's not much to draw people out. The Howard Street side of the arena is one huge blank wall.

The AIA committee would like to see that change and, today, informally presented some trial balloon ideas to replace the current structure with mixed use developments that engage the surrounding neighborhood and encourage year-round pedestrian activity.

The Partnership is one of the groups pushing for a new arena and our president, Kirby Fowler, sits on the city panel that will ultimately decide where a new arena will be located. Once that's settled, the city will begin to entertain options about how to use the current space. But it's never too soon to start thinking big.

-mike

speedy commuting

The city has opened a kind of mission control center for Baltimore traffic that should alleviate gridlock and quickly detour drivers around accidents or construction. Operators at the center can monitor traffic around town via live cameras and, at the push of a button, change traffic light timings. That means they can turn lights green to speed things up in a congested area, route traffic around accidents or detours, and give busses and emergency vehicles priority.

This article in Today's Sun explains what's involved.

Congestion is among the top complaints we hear from businesses and residents. On the one hand, it's a nice problem to have. A few years ago there were much fewer people working Downtown and there was virtually nobody living here. So if congestion is a byproduct of success, it's one we'll happily learn to fix. On the other hand, if things get much worse it could choke future growth. So the city's efforts to improve traffic control are most welcome.

A big part of the solution to congestion is to improve mass transit. That's why Downtown Partnership is teaming up with the city to launch a new Downtown Circulator in the coming months. The details are still being worked out but, once it's up and running, the shuttle will be fast, convenient, and totally free. (Check out our previous post about the hybrid busses that are being considered for the shuttle.)

We'll post info about the shuttle as soon as it's available.

-mike

hills star with possible orioles player

Lauren Conrad has been spotted with Doug Reinhardt, a minor leaguer for the Baltimore Orioles. We hope his stats don't suffer if he spends more time with the formerly known LC than at the batting cages, however I think we should give him a try. Something tells me the female attendance count might shoot through the roof. How about giving him a shot at the big time, Mr. Angelos?

--faith