Station North Arts and Entertainment District - Future Plans

Future Plans

A 2006 Action Plan Report, prepared by Randall Gross / Development Economics, the Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative, and Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc., focuses on four key strategies: To strengthen positive image and identity, to establish commercial corridors, to provide housing options to attract new residents while preventing displacement of existing residents, and to encourage economic development.

In early 2008, Baltimore’s development arm, the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC), released a preview of their master plan for the area. In the near term, the master plan includes converting the top three floors of Penn Station into a botique hotel, with long term goals including construction of high-rise residential buildings.

On October 30, 2008, Mayor Sheila Dixon unveiled the Charles North Vision Plan, a multi-phased development initiative. This plan identified four areas to focus revitalization on: Charles Gateway/Penn Station, the corner of Charles Street and North Avenue, the creation of an "Asia Town" at 20th Street and Charles Street, and the "Creative/Design Zone". The plan's ultimate goal is to transform the arts and entertainment district north of Pennsylvania Station into a $1 billion "cultural crossroads" for Baltimore. The plan calls for over $100 million in subsidies to aid in the development of the area.

An agreement with Hospitality Partners of Bethesda to construct the hotel in Penn Station was reached in 2009, with completion of the $9 million project scheduled for late 2010.

In early 2010, construction began on City Arts, a $15 million housing development for artists. Consisting of 69 apartments for rent and eight town houses for sale, City Arts will be the first all-new housing project in the 100-acre (0.40 km2) arts district since a $1 billion "vision plan" was unveiled for the area in 2008. The building will consist of four stories of apartments, a multipurpose first-floor space provided for artistic use by the residents, and thirty-five off-street parking spaces. Key to the project’s plans are financing regulations that will ensure the space remains affordable to artists even as the neighborhood changes. The project was featured on CNN as an example of how federal Recovery Act money has restarted development that stalled during the economic downturn.