There was a huge fire Monday morning at Carroll Park in Pigtown. Luckily, it wasn’t the Carroll Mansion as some people initially thought. Turns out it was the bath house. This is still a substantial loss for local little league teams. They were supposed to start up soon, but instead lost their offices and equipment in the blaze. I wonder if the City will rebuild. I love the park and during the season play softball there every week. I used to play basketball there frequently too. Two years ago they added four more hoops and last year the football field was improved as well. But the park still has all of the problems of the city in general. If you look closely, it’s not hard to find needles, condoms, vials, etc. Not to mention guys on dirtbikes and homeless guys passed out on the bleachers. Hopefully the City will keep investing in the park and we will see continued improvement.
I’m going to try to stop by the park this week, maybe tonight on my way to check out a house in Morrell Park that’s up for auction. In the meantime, check out WJZ for video of the fire and aftermath:
The rumors are flying over on the Midnight Sun’s blog this week about a well known Baltimore bar owner opening up a new spot in Pigtown. Here is the first post that got it all started. 90 comments later, the mystery man identified himself (Jason Zink of No Idea Tavern fame) and laid out a few more details in this post. I guess he just couldn’t ignore the groundswell of support.
I’ve put in my two cents. If you want Jason to open a bar in Pigtown, make sure to comment on the Midnight Sun’s blog. Let him know what you would want to eat, drink, pay, listen to, etc. It seems like Jason is using the Midnight Sun’s audience as some sort of focus group, so let’s show him that Pigtown would support his efforts.
If you’ve never been to his other bars, check them out:
Just three days after the Washington Village Development Association posted their YouTube video on the vacant Save-a-Lot, Fox 45 picked up on the story as well. You can watch it here.
It’s a good piece, they even mention our YouTube video. The part about the homeless lady with the dog who “keeps the property clean” makes us look a bit heartless. But I think Sebastian has the right attitude. We just wish they had somewhere else to go. This property should be put to greater use than providing temporary shelter for the homeless.
A few days after the Fox 45 piece aired, the owners had the shrubs removed from the back of the Save-a-Lot and the homeless were removed from the property. This is a good first step, hopefully we can keep the pressure on and help force a deal to a reputable developer. Good job all around!
The Washington Village Development Association just put out a new video calling out the owners of the Save-A-Lot building. The neighborhood desperately needs that building sold and actually developed. Having the most attractive location in the neighborhood function as an impromptu homeless shelter is killing commercial investment in the neighborhood. And without a viable main street, the residential real estate market is stuck in limbo as well.
Take a look at the video and hear first hand from residents how this one property effects the community. Give the owners a call, send them a letter, pass this story along to a writer you know, or just spread the word to your network by writing your own post about it or posting the video on your Facebook. Every little bit helps,
That’s the way it feels sometimes to the people who live in Pigtown like myself. For a neighborhood that has so much going for it, Pigtown’s continuing struggles are surprising and frustrating but undeniably real. Everyone who lives here can spit out a dozen reasons why Pigtown can be a great place to live. But until the neighborhood sees some commercial investment, it won’t reach its full potential.
The first thing that you see when you turn onto Washington Blvd from MLK is a huge vacant building, formerly occupied by a Save-A-Lot grocery store. On any given day you are likely to see an assortment of Pigtown’s finest homeless and drug dealers hanging out in front of and behind the property. The current owners, an LLC represented by Sinai Dr. Anwar Mumtaz, seem content to hold onto the property until its value miraculously skyrockets while letting it fall into disrepair. The community is getting absolutely sick of this prime real estate going to waste and being a detriment to further development in Pigtown. This location needs to set the example for other properties down the Boulevard to follow. The only good to come out of this is that Continue reading…
I’ve been meaning to try this place out for a few weeks now and finally got the chance on Wed. I believe it is called the Elfegne Ethiopian Cafe and it’s located @ 821 Washington Blvd.
First of all, it gets huge bonus points for being BYOB. Well, it may not officially be BYOB but we asked if we could bring a bottle of wine and no one had a problem with it. I don’t even think we were charged a corking fee.
The atmosphere is great. It’s just a small little shop with a few tables and a big TV glued to CNN. The woman who was working there and may own or manage the place was super friendly and understanding about having to explain to me.
I can’t speak much about the quality of the food since it was my first time having Ethiopian of any kind. To my unrefined palette though, everything was delicious! We ordered beef tibs and a vegetarian combo. The whole experience was great. I’ve never sat down and had a meal by ripping off little pieces of bread and scooping up the ingredients you want, but I really liked it. The spices didn’t even torture my bland Polish taste buds that badly.
Elfegne is definitely worth checking out even if you just want to try something new and support a local business. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. BTW, I hear they have strange hours so you might want to call ahead @ 410-637-3207. Enjoy and let me know what you think,
I got an email from Zillow today informing me of a drop in my Zestimate. For those not familiar with a Zestimate, it is defined as:
Zillow’s estimated market value, computed using a proprietary formula. It is not an appraisal. It is a starting point in determining a home’s value. The Zestimate is pulled from data; your real estate agent or appraiser physically inspects the home and takes special features, location, and market conditions into account. Variations in price also occur because of negotiating factors, closing costs, and timing of closing.
Some people swear by Zestimates. Many others believe that their formula is getting better and better and Zestimates are getting close to real world value. In the case of my home though, they are wayyyyy off.
According to this, my house was worth around $190k in April of ‘08 and somehow shot up to $240k in December. I can see why these Zestimates are tempting to believe! If I were to put my house up today, I would be lucky to get $160k. Now, I haven’t done a full CMA on my property because I feel Pigtown is getting close to the tipping point. But I can see where Zillow is getting confused. Barre Circle is two blocks away & Ridgely’s Delight is just three. But two blocks can make all the difference in Baltimore.
It’s not just websites that give inflated estimates though. There are a lot of agents out there who tell sellers whatever they want to hear to get the listing. This was the topic of the Real Estate Wonk yesterday, give it a read if you have a minute. In the meantime, take Zestimates for what they’re worth. And before listing with an agent, dig a little deeper into their track record of average time on market, close price vs original list price, etc.
They’ve been putting out a series of videos lately documenting some of worst examples of illegal dumping in Pigtown. I love that they call out the owners by showing their information. You might even recognize a few of the names such as the one and only Barry Glazer. Unfortunately, the soundtrack may get stripped due to copyright infringement, but you still get the point. Don’t let stuff like this stop you from investing in an “up and coming” neighborhood. Neighborhoods like Pigtown need good responsible property owners to come in and get involved. Once the tide turns, you can sit back and enjoy having the smallest mortgage on the block! Finally, if you want to know more or get more involved in Pigtown, start by joining their Yahoo! group here.
