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 attended a “media roundtable” last month with some of the officers at the GBBR (Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors).
They dropped tons of stats, and some of them were actually surprising. 61% of all buyers in the City last year were first time buyers. I knew that number was going to be high, but 61%! Maybe going against my Granddad’s advice and focusing on first time buyers wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
But, as the title of this entry indicates, there were some great numbers for ladies out there. In Baltimore City in 2007, 32% of all buyers were single females. That absolutely crushes single men, who accounted for a pathetic 9% of all home purchases.
Baltimore is somewhat of an anomaly. Nationwide, single women account for 20% of home sales. In Baltimore that number is 32%. So what’s going on in Baltimore that makes single women here much more likely to buy a home?
It might have something to do with economic factors. Maybe Baltimore has better employment opportunities for females than the average city.
It might have more to do with social factors. For example, did you know that the median age for a women to get married in MD is 25.8? That is the 9th highest median age in the US. Since women are single in MD longer maybe they are therefore more likely to buy a home on their own.
Either way, it struck me as an interesting stat. And either way, it’s about time for guys in Baltimore to step up.
Since I’m writing this post anyway, might as well share some different possibilities for GBBR’s acronym:
