Baltimore's Inner Harbor vs. Jacksonville's Riverfront

[Keith-N-Jax]

Having visited there, certainly better than Jax river front!!

[spuwho]

I just finished a day in Baltimore and also spent the afternoon in the Inner Harbor, Locust Hill, Federal Hill neighborhoods. I also spent time in the Mt.. Vernon neighborhood.

I saw a great deal of urban/industrial transformation in and around the Inner Harbor. In fact they have markers along the riverwalk with pix reminding people what it used to look like.

Similarities to Jax seem to be that Baltimore is farther along in the transformation than Jax.

Just as we have Maxwell House, Inner Harbor will have the sprawling Domino Sugar plant.

I like what they are doing in the Locust Hill area, high density housing with retail based at the base with parking relatively hidden from outward view. Only yhe Harris-Teeter store was standalone as it couldn't fit in the urban retail square footage.

But I really liked the diverse design language they used in these urban settings. Some use a traditional brownstone look, some were urban moderno,  yet others were purposefully made to look pre-1900 with the slightly crooked brick layout. It was well done.

Another "offering" I found on Inner Harbor was "Ritz-Carlton Residences", which I assume are the high end equivalent to Residence Inn from Marriott. These looked like waterfront condos from the outside with zero signage. Very discreet.

I had to go up to the Mt Vernon neighborhood to stop at the Maryland Historical Society for some research. This neighborhood is still in transformation with a lot of neglected properties.

I asked for a local lunch recommendation and got the "Mt. Vernon Marketplace" as highly recommended.

http://mtvernonmarketplace.com/ 

This was not only a very fascinating place, but the food there was excellent. Its basically a food startup incubator. For people with great recipes, but dont have the capital for a standalone full service site.

It provided the prospect with square footage, a Clover based register system and some common inventory to keep costs down. In one of the seating areas were ping pong tables and game tables.

I went over and got a fantastic turkey burger made in a fascinating way, then went over to a dessert startup run by a grandmother, her daughter and grandaughter. Clearly these were homemade recipes being sold in volume. The strawberry balsamic ice cream was incredible as was the strawberry butter cream cupcakes.

All I could think of is what a concept for the Landing! The marketplace was pretty spartan in appearance, but the food was great and clearly word of mouth in the neighborhood was wholly positive. These were locals running, not a chain operator.

But I can clearly see the resemblance between Jax and areas of Baltimore, the benefit Baltimore has seemed to be a broader base of capital and more corp HQ's. I would have to do a more detailed compare.

Unfortunately I missed the April "urbanism"trip with Lake, but I can see why he took good notes on greater Baltimore.

[spuwho]

FWIW:  Here is where I got the turkey burger in Baltimore.

They are called; "Between 2 Buns"

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/baltimore-diner-blog/bal-between-2-buns-opens-at-the-mount-vernon-marketplace-20160516-story.html

When I mentioned that they should try this concept at the Landing to my spouse, she said "that's exactly what I was thinking!"

Does someone want to drop an idea on Toney?

[Noone]

When in Baltimore talk to the Baltimore guys 2014-412.

[thelakelander]

Spuwho, glad you're having a good time on your trip. Mount Vernon Marketplace sounds like a food hall:





If you have time, check out Union Market in DC. It's similar, just larger.

But I can clearly see the resemblance between Jax and areas of Baltimore, the benefit Baltimore has seemed to be a broader base of capital and more corp HQ's. I would have to do a more detailed compare.

I noticed things tended to be in closer proximity to one another, allowing synergy and extra foot traffic to be generated....which creates more economic opportunity.  Locally, our similar investments tend to be more spread out in downtown. Thus, after 40 years of trying, we have small isolated pockets of activity.

[spuwho]

I would say yes because it seems that Baltimore is sticking to their zoning and design guidelines, whereas COJ seems to struggle.

Baltimore does have a lot of former industrial sites that are vacant (torn down) and a much larger inventory of older buildings that are sitting empty.  They dont seem to be in a hurry to tear them down.

The Mt. Vernon neighborhood seems to be the "edge" where the transformation is occuring north of the urban center.

[thelakelander]

There's some interesting neighborhoods north of Mt Vernon like Bolton Hill, Greenmount West and Hampden.  Baltimore is a really cool and misunderstood city, IMO.


Bolton Hill

[finehoe]

I had to go up to the Mt Vernon neighborhood to stop at the Maryland Historical Society for some research. This neighborhood is still in transformation with a lot of neglected properties.

Mt. Vernon has been at the stage for the last 25 years.  It doesn't seem to be getting either better or worse.  It's as if it got to a certain point of rejuvenation and then just sort of plateaued.

[thelakelander]

Back in April, I noticed, what seemed like a good amount of fairly new development in Mount Vernon and the University of Baltimore's campus, just north.  Here's a few shots:

[Know Growth]

Big News here in Jax is that the Citizens held nearly 100 acres on the river downtown Jax (Ship Yards and former JEA) and have recently relinquished about half/JEA lands.

Not happy?