Cranes are Going Up in Baltimore

(photo credit, Marks Thomas Architects)
It's always a good sign when you see construction cranes popping up across the city. The newest crane to go up is on the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus in East Baltimore where a new 20-story housing tower for graduate students is now under construction. The target day for completion is August 2012, just in time for the fall semester.

This has the potential to be a big asset for the this side of town. The tower will have space for over 500 students. It will immediately add to the residential feel to the Hopkins campus, which now is only a small number of Medical students who live on Broadway.

Additionally, this could add to the retail availability next to the EBDI site. Places that will cater to a student resident population would be attracted, e.g. coffee shops, sandwich shops, dry cleaners, etc. The types of retail that are lacking around the Hopkins Hospital, which now mostly serve the 9-5 crowd. This building will also serve as a catalyst to fill empty store front space in the the newly constructed campus buildings, and the storefronts along Monument St.

In the meantime, two other projects will be putting cranes up in the near future. The new 12-story UB School of Law center is moving along on Mt Royal Ave. A crane isn't visible yet, but the foundation work is well underway. By the springtime, another UB project on Biddle St will add an 11-story student apartment building which should open in 2012.

Above is a rendition of the final product at what will be 929 N. Wolfe St (at Ashland Ave). As the floors go up I'll update with more photos.

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