Baltimore Skyline

It's almost that time of year! When the Washington Monument is lit up in Mount Vernon, you know it's Christmas season in Baltimore. The Monument was recently voted as the most recognizable landmark in the city by the Baltimore Sun , and the holiday lights make it much more the centerpiece! If you're free Thursday night at 5:30pm, make your way to Mt Vernon Place for the show!

Wishing everyone out there a Happy Thanksgiving and a long weekend!

photo by me The Christmas lights are going up at the Tremont Grand, and the rest of downtown Baltimore. The lights are up on Pratt Street and Charles St already, and Santa's palace has arrived at the Inner Harbor. A newer addition I noticed this year, are lights strung in the trees along Pratt Street, but I have yet to snap a good picture of that. The day after tomorrow marks the beginning of the Christmas Season, despite what retailers say its not November 1st, so you'll be seeing more lights going up. Honestly, this is my favorite time of the year in Baltimore.

 USF&G Annex at Left, old USF&G Building (now Hampton Inn) at Right Sitting silent and abandoned at 26 S. Calvert Street is the old USF&G Annex building. The original home for USF&G is right next door on the corner of Redwood, but it was preserved as a Hampton Inn in recent years. However, the 12-story Annex built in 1920 has a delayed date with the wrecking ball. In 2008 the city approved the mixed-use redevelopment called CityScape. You may have heard about it in the news, but it was supposed to add two hotels, apartments, and a 200-car garage surrounding the Brookshire Suites on two sides, and topping off at 30 stories. In order to make this happen, eight building on Lombard Street and Calvert Street would have to come down, including the Annex. However, this never happened for two reasons. First, the Recession hit full force the the funding for the project was never finalized, and second, questions were raised over the bid to demolish the buildings and the

Photo by me So, barely a floor of concrete and rebar isn't really progress, but it's a start! The construction at the new JHU Graduate Student Tower now named "929" for its address at 929 N. Wolfe Street, is underway. This is the first floor of what will be a 20-floor residence hall for students on the JHU Medical Campus. It is only two blocks south of the main hospital, across the street from the newest building in the Biotech Park, and on the southern end of the EBDI redevelopment site. On a blustery day like today, it appears that the construction crews are keeping to ground work. With the wind whipping around in the wake of last night's storms (and possible tornado), I can't imagine it would be fun to try to send heavy equipment through the air.

photo credit, The Baltimore Sun Recently this past week the GBC proposed a plan to build a new arena on the site of the oldest section of the Convention Center at Pratt and Charles Streets. Now the city is seeking proposals, again, for a new arena to replace 1st Mariner Arena, but prefers this time to use an alternative site. The original proposals in 2008 sought to replace the arena on site, but it would leave Baltimore without a major indoor venue for concerts, sports, and other events for at least two years. By building the new arena at a different spot in the city, this will allow 1st Mariner to remain open during the construction of the new space. This leads to a few pros and cons that I can think of. Pros: The Inner Harbor site would be closer to Camden Yards and the rest of Harborplace, helping to draw visitors to that area. Will at the same time replace a portion of the convention center with new exhibiting and meeting space, which can encourage more conventions per year

View from Carew Tower, new Great American Tower at left  Cincinnati boasts a population around 333,000, making it the 3rd largest city in the state of Ohio. Sitting just across the Kentucky state line along the Ohio River it was settled in 1788 and named "Cincinnati" by the Arthur St. Clair the governor of the Northwest Territory to honor the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of former officers of the Continental Army. The city is known for the Cincinnati Bengals and Reds, Fountain Square, the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University, an incomplete and abandoned subway, and of course it's architecture. Up until this year the tallest building in the city was the 49-story art deco Carew Tower which opened in 1931. It was recently surpassed by the 660 ft Great American Tower. The Carew Tower along with the 31-story Hilton Hotel it is connected to take up an entire city block right off Fountain Square. Together they are generally seen as one of the fine

Rotunda Cinemas grow to three screens, with more to come - baltimoresun.com

Screen Shot from construction cam On the University of Baltimore's website you can follow along with the construction of the new Angelos Law Center with a construction camera . The camera gives you a view of the site from across Mount Royal Ave. Right now, it is just a big hole in the ground, but soon the construction crane should go up and the new law building will go vertical. The Angelos Law Center will top off at 12 stories and should open in 2012.

Photo by me The holiday lights on the Washington Monument are strung and ready to be lit up on December 2nd. The old lights were replaced last year with new LED strands which are brighter and don't have a tendency to burn out. The monument already is one of the most recognizable structures that dots our city skyline, but when it is all light up for the holidays it is hard to miss. Sure other cities have giant Christmas trees, but we have something we can call uniquely Baltimore. Unfortunately for this year there is a gaping hole in the fence surrounding the monument due to last week's van accident. Nevertheless, old George will still get his lights. The 39th annual celebration entitled A Monumental Occasion will occur a 5:30pm on December 2nd. For more details visit the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts .

Today is the Maryland General Election, so go out there and remember to vote. Polling places are open between 7am and 8pm, so you have plenty of time. While Baltimore Skyline isn't endorsing any candidates, we do endorse the election process, so take the time and flex your civic muscles. One thing's for sure, we're looking forward to Wednesday, November 3rd, when all those stupid campaign commercials are over!