Ground Up

Baltimore faces significant challenges in coping with a transit system activists all substandard. I speak with activists, elected officials, and transportation experts about the challenges facing the region in bolstering a struggling system.

Opportunity Zones present a tantalizing chance for downtrodden areas of Maryland to lure investment. But there are some concerns about who will benefit, and the type of development they’ll spur.

Merchants at Baltimore’s Christmas Village chat about expectations for business this holiday season. Community Development Network of Maryland’s Odette Ramos discusses legislative priorities, development efforts, and defining “community development.”

A look at how Baltimore’s ambitions to tell a “better story” are falling flat in a rough retail market. Daniel Klein, president of Klein Enterprises, discusses the family business, his start in development, and what’s next for the company.

A look at how the planned redevelopment of Port Covington in Baltimore progressed from rumor to $5.5 billion development effort. We hear from Mike Janke, of DigitalTribe, and Bob Ackerman, of AllegisCyber, about how they plan to create ‘Cyber Town USA.’ Tim Curtis, business reporter at The Daily Record, discusses what the plan to turn Port Covington into the East Coast’s cybersecurity hub means for tech entrepreneurs in Maryland

Seema Iyer, who oversees the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, discusses Baltimore, what the data she collects tells us about the city, and how the organization will help Charm City in the future.

JLL Research Manager Patrick Latimer shares insights on gathering data, what numbers are important in assessing the health of the Baltimore area office market, and the sector’s outlook for the rest of 2018.

Baltimore National Heritage Area Executive Director Jeff Buchheit joins The Daily Record’s Adam Bednar to discuss the future of the H.L. Mencken House in Baltimore.

After years of deteriorating BNHA plans to renovate the iconic and controversial writer’s home. The organization intends to use a $3 million bequest left in 2005 to turn a portion into office space, and the Society to Preserve the Legacy of H.L. Mencken will operate a museum.

The industrial sector has been the darling of Baltimore’s commercial real estate industry for the past few years, at least that’s how one broker recently phrased it.

But that’s for a good reason.

The market keeps getting stronger.

Demand for Office Space fluctuates between submarkets.

Brick-and-mortar retail boosters remain optimistic, but there’s no denying the sector’s struggles in the era of ecommerce.

Industrial, however, remains in demand throughout the region, and there’s no signs of slowing down.

Chesapeake Real Estate Group’s Matthew Laraway joins the Ground Up podcast to chat about the Baltimore area’s industrial commercial real estate sector.

Out the county, hon.

That’s Bawlmerese for the suburbs surrounding the city. In particular Baltimore County.

In the decades after World War II that jurisdiction’s population surged from more than 270,000 people in 1950 to nearly 656,000 in 1980. The number of residents calling Baltimore County home now tops 831,000, compared to the city’s roughly 611,000 residents.

Now the county, once a refuge from the city for residents in search of a white picket fence, spacious yard, and maybe even a garage, is arguably the metro’s “economic engine.” The county is home to 21,364 businesses and 374,646 employees.

Baltimore County has attracted investment in a variety of projects including multimodal distribution hub Tradepoint Atlantic on Sparrows Point, the $350 million mixed-use Towson Row, and Open Gate Brewery & Barrel in Halethorpe, the home of Guinness in America.

“Particularly from outside the area, Baltimore is just a single word that means one thing to people, and we have to show them what our city really is, and the amenities in our city, and we have to show them what our county is. Because they’re not always the same and people have a short attention span, and many people are pleasantly surprised to see what we have here,” Will Anderson, executive director of Baltimore County’s Department of Economic and Workforce Development, said.

On this week’s episode of the Ground Up podcast, Anderson explains the county’s effort’s to encourage manufacturing, universities spurring business growth, and dealing with challenges to the workforce pipeline.