This tour was developed in partnership with Carol Ott, Housing Policy Watch and Andrew Cook, Baltimore City Planning Department.
Program Announcement
Please join Baltimore City Department of Planning, Baltimore Heritage, and Housing Policy Watch for a bus tour, lunch, and discussion exploring opportunities for industrial redevelopment in Southwest Baltimore.
From Pigtown to Midtown Edmondson, neighborhoods in Southwest Baltimore have a proud legacy of industrial enterprise. In the middle of the 20th century, dozens of historic factories, warehouses and shops near Carroll Park employed thousands of West Baltimore residents. Unfortunately, long-term vacancy and abandonment has turned some of these historic structures from a boon into a burden. Sustaining existing industrial businesses and finding new uses for old industrial buildings can be a difficult challenge for neighborhood activists and property owners.
This two-hour bus tour explores a selection of historic industrial properties around southwest Baltimore. We’ll visit success stories like the C.L. McCoy Framing Company, vacant landmarks like the Eigenbrot Brewery, and highlight the potential for historic industrial buildings to help create new jobs and economic opportunities for Baltimore residents.
The tour will be followed by a one-hour lunch and discussion at Montgomery Park with guest speakers Bill Cole (Baltimore Development Corporation), Ilana Preuss (Recast City), and Kurt Sommer (Baltimore Integration Partnership). This program is open to everyone but we hope architects, developers, and neighborhood advocates will take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about an important preservation issue in southwest Baltimore and around the region.
Introduction
”In 1912, The Baltimore Sun reported that Maryland had more manufacturing plants than all but 14 states. Manufacturing accounted for one-third of the jobs in Maryland just before World War II engulfed the country — and nearly half the state’s jobs at the height of war production.”
Mike Galiazzo, president of the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland:
”Manufacturing was steppingstones to middle-class America… When we lose manufacturing, that just means nobody’s knocking on the door to Bethlehem Steel, they’re knocking on the door to Walmart.”
Baltimore Industrial Job Loss
- 1950: Over 34% of the city’s workforce was employed in manufacturing, over 75% of jobs in the region were located in the city.
- 2003: Only 7.5% of city jobs are in manufacturing
- 1910: Baltimore had 2,502 manufacturing establishments
- 2007: Baltimore had only 512 “employer establishments” designated as “manufacturing.”
Source: US Census Bureau
U.S. Industrial Job Loss
- 1980-2005: During this period the nation as a whole lost about 4.5 million manufacturing jobs, or about 24 percent of its manufacturing employment.
- 2000-2010: U.S. lost more than 5 million manufacturing jobs, amounting to nearly one-third of its manufacturing employment.
From ULI Building Reuse Report
For decades, Baltimore, along with the state of Maryland, has been recognized as a national leader in historic preservation, adaptive use, and smart growth. Private developers, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies have creatively repurposed a remarkable number of formerly vacant Baltimore landmarks to serve new needs. Historic downtown office buildings are now boutique hotels and apartment buildings. Mills have become condominiums, offices, and galleries. Former industrial sites are repurposed as museums, shopping centers, and corporate headquarters. Local, state, and federal rehabilitation tax credits have made many of these projects financially feasible.
Technical Barriers
General technical barriers include a lack of on-site parking in many areas, limited access to safe and reliable transit alternatives, and environmental contamination issues. Lead paint presents a particularly thorny challenge for housing projects. Certain building types have layouts that are difficult to adapt to new uses, including industrial structures with deep floor plates, buildings with large interior volumes and small commercial buildings with upper floor offices or housing.
Industrial buildings. “Older industrial buildings offer the most potential. They typically have high ceilings and large floor plates, but these need to be in neighborhoods with market potential.”
Regulatory Barriers
Codes were frequently cited as barriers to reuse, including building code requirements related to providing a secondary means of egress, as well as increasingly stringent energy codes and conflicts with historic preservation standards. Comments on zoning barriers focused on parking requirements and the need to adopt the new code provisions contained in Transform Baltimore, which would remove barriers to the reuse of small commercial structures in certain districts. The cumulative impact and sometimes conflicting nature of various reviews and regulations was also raised as a barrier.
Carroll Park
Montgomery Park (1925)
Built in 1925, the tall Montgomery Park Warehouse and Retail Store is one of nine monumental distribution centers built by the Montgomery Ward mail order company in cities around the United States.
- 1872: Business founded by Aaron Montgomery Ward in Chicago, Illinois; sent catalogs (the “Wish Book”) listing thousands of items from clothing to tractors
- 1925: 8-story building, designed by in-house company Engineer of Construction, W. H. McCaully; served as the Atlantic Coast Headquarters in Baltimore thanks to the efforts of the city government and the Industrial Bureau of the Association of Commerce to attract new businesses; early example of a public economic development program.
- 1985: Montgomery Ward closed
- 2000: Montgomery Park has been adapted to a new use as offices. The new use also gave the building a new name but saved the sign replacing only two letters from the historic “Montgomery Ward” sign to preserve this icon on the southwest Baltimore skyline.
- 2003: The development won the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2003 Phoenix Award.
Carrollton Ridge/Booth-Boyd
First, Dr. Charles Carroll, and his estate (a 117-acre (0.47 km2) remnant of which currently exists as Carroll Park).[1] Second, the geographic ridge which runs alongside the western edge of the neighborhood.
Carrollton Ridge is home to Ohio Ave., which at approximately 25 feet long has exactly one residential address,[2] making it the world’s shortest residential street according to the Guinness Book of World Records.[3]
Alma Manufacturing Company (?) - right side between RR tracks & Eagle St
- Consists of four buildings with an acre lot
- Backs up to the B&O Railroad Museum
- Current Status: Previous owner is in prison for arson insurance fraud, current owner has not responded to inquiries regarding the property.
History
- 1887: Company founded by 28-year-old German immigrant Herman Kerngood; manufactured a wide variety of metal clothing trimmings including buckles, clasps, fasteners and steel buttons.
- c. 1900s: Produced around 35,000 specialized products (the “Superior Pantaloon Button” and “Perfect Trousers’ Hook” to name just a few); continued to grow the business, producing around 29 million pieces a month at its height, Kerngood then formed a partnership with two of the Hecht brothers (Benjamin and Nathan), part of the same family that went on to start what was known in the later part of the 20th century as the Hecht Company chain of department stores.
- 1940: Alma closes factory complex on Monroe Street; c. 1951, the buildings are in use as Hoschild Kohn Company Warehouse and Cottage Donuts, Inc. (donut frying factory)
- 2000: Fire destroyed the main building facing Monroe Street
Royal Furniture Company (1890) - left side at Monroe & Eagle St
Current Status
- Currently on the market, asking price $1.5 million
- TRANSFORM Baltimore introduces “Industrial Mixed-Use” zoning category, allowing for light industrial, commercial, and residential to occupy the same space. It was designed for buildings exactly like this, where different uses can occupy different floors.
History - Phoenix Pad Company (?) - on right side at
Original 1904? Rebuilt after 1914 fire?
Pads or padding for coats or garments
History - Royal Furniture
- 1884: Royal, began as Levenson and Zenetz furniture sales and manufacturing, took new name in 1891, when Charles and Samuel Levenson joined the business, opened locations on Ostend and Frederick streets.
- 1971: Royal moved to moved to Monroe Street in 1971, building additional distribution warehouses nearby and bringing in the family’s fourth generation
- 1989: Royal is largest wholesale furniture operation in area, more than 300,000 square feet of showroom, warehouse and manufacturing space.
- 1990: Aaron Levenson, a company vice president and 30-year-old son of then-company president Joseph Levenson, was shot and killed outside the store in a botched robbery
- 1994: opened a block-long showroom to try to boost business, location described “remote as a shopping destination”
- 1997: announced plans to sell 100,000-square-foot building and lease a smaller store in Howard County, a second store in Lutherville had seen “rapid sales growth, persuading store executives that the future of high-end furniture retailing is in the suburbs,” 1998 company filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy
See also: Brody Transportation - left side at Eagle and Smallwood Streets
C.L. McCoy Framing Company - right side
History
Once two distinct buildings (a Furniture Warehouse and Truck Facility) now combined into one
Current Status
- Has operated here since 1988
- Just completed second floor renovation
- Hires locally from the community
- Questions for Katrina
- Why have you chosen to stay in Baltimore City?
- What challenges do you face to operating a business here?
- How can the City help you grow?
Nearby
Examples of demolition Auto Shed and Warehouse (McHenry Street); continued industrial use Cambridge Building (McHenry and Pulaski Streets); new religious use Post Office Franklin Station to Emmanuel Temple FBH Church; vacancy (commercial buildings on W. Pratt Street).
Shipley Hill
Eigenbrot Brewery (1873) - right side
Building Size: 10 structures, various sizes
Zoning: M-2-2
- At the time, dozens of breweries located in Baltimore. Currently, BDC is attempting to find homes for 5 new local breweries.
- Site has about 10 structures
Current Status
- Last owner operated an aquaponics facility and video production studio inside, but was foreclosed on.
- Currently owned by Chesapeake Row Homes, being sued by CLC. According to City data, over $20,000 owed in back taxes (ask for input from Robin)
- Possible receivership candidate
- INSPIRE is the Planning Dept. piece of 21st Century Schools initiative. Frederick Elementary is blocks away, and will be the first school to be re-done in this program. Funds exist for physical improvements in the public areas around school, can be leveraged for further investment (ask for input from Kyle)
- Also proposed I-MU
History
- Operated as a brewery from 1870’s to 1920 (almost 50 years). Part of ‘food hub’ of SW Baltimore
S. Warwick Avenue (Multiple)
Warehouses
- Paper Warehouse, Fly Screen Warehouse, Vocational School No. 254, Floor Covering Warehouse - Warwick and W. Baltimore Street - Right side
- Bakery products warehouse - Warwick and W. Baltimore Street - Right side
Time Printers
N. Warwick Avenue (Multiple)
Midtown Edmondson
Ward Bakery (1925) - right side
Building Size: 155,150 sf
Zoning: M-1-2
Current Status
- Underutilized, but not quite vacant; occupied by a small church
- Only a few blocks from Marc Train/future Red Line site, great opportunity for TOD
- Enterprise Zone (ask BDC rep for input)
- Also proposed I-MU
History
- Designed by C.B. Comstock, a New York-based refrigeration architect and engineer.
- Based in Pittsburgh, the Ward Baking Company, also known as the Ward Bread Company, had additional factories in the Bronx, Buffalo, and East Orange, New Jersey.
ACME Business Center (1927) - left side
Current Status
- Baltimore Police currently use the roof for surveillance.
- Owned by City of Baltimore, managed by BDC
- Environmental Phase I and II have been done, show remarkably good results. (Ask Dave Garza for input, if he’s around)
- Challenge is that a) building redevelopment would be very expensive and b) ceiling heights and column width not ideal for modern industrial users.
- Community has expressed interest in workforce development opportunities here
- May be ideal for multiple, small manufacturing tenants.
History
- Formerly a food distribution warehouse
- Most recently housed a used clothing wholesaler
1918: Founded around 1918 as a cooperative venture by several grocery store chains in Philadelphia, the American Stores Company eventually converted most stores to the ACME brand.
1999: The Company ceased to exist upon its acquisition by the Albertson’s grocery store chain
Acme had groceries that are now Eddie’s Markets in Mount Vernon (Eager Street) and on Charles Street in Woodbrook. Both these locations were once Acme buildings.
This parcel was the site of a Consolidated Gas, Electric & Light Company utility pole creosoting plant and pole storage facility in the 1950s.
October 1987: Auctioned for $1,400,000
2004: MDE completed a Phase I Brownfields Environmental Site Assessment in May 2004 finding potential for minimal hazards or impacts to the site.
Hollins Roundhouse
Globe Building (1885)
Additions built in 1920, 1935, 1948, and 1983
- Ask Jen Webber for input here
- Discuss TechShop as potential anchor tenant, and the role of makerspaces spurring new manufacturing businesses (like Elevated Element)
Mt. Clare
Mt. Clare Junction Shopping Center
In the mid-1980s, when the new Mount Clare Junction shopping center was built, it was designed in a style recalling the architecture of the old railroad buildings. Indeed, a huge steam locomotive was hauled inside the shopping arcade to remind visitors of the area’s history. It stayed there until marketing consultants decided the engine was too overwhelming and part of the reason shoppers stayed away and the center lost merchants.
A Safeway supermarket had anchored the plaza when it was created as part of city-sponsored neighborhood redevelopment in the 1980s. Over the years, many major tenants – a RiteAid drugstore, a Blockbuster video store as well as Safeway – moved out.
Pigtown/Washington Village
Wen’s Food, Inc. - 910 S. Carey Street
Originally built as Carl Spoerer’s Sons Company
Allied Binding Company
Late 1910s: Alco Graveure opens plant on Wicomico Street; one of five plants operated as the printing division of Crowell Collier printing This Week Magazine.
1960s: Company is purchased by McMillan, Inc; Business was split between two markets, Sunday magazines for major newspapers and mail pieces and newspaper inserts for major retailers. Customers included Sears,Walgreens, Montgomery Wards, W.T. Grant, Macy’s, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Star, Philadelphia Bulletin and Los Angeles Times. It operated as a commercial gravure printer under Macmillan’s ownership until 1981.
Questions for Chris Rothe:
- When did you move to this site?
- You had the opportunity then to leave the City. Why stay here?
- What market do you serve?
- Where did the idea for Write Notepads come from? How does the social enterprise piece work?
- How can the City help your business grow?
Housewerks
Belsinger Sign Works
Founded in 1919 by Harry F. Belsinger, Sr., Belsinger Sign Works has been a true pioneer in the sign industry.
Family owned and operated since its incorporation in 1931, Belsinger Sign Works, Inc. is in it’s third generation of the Belsinger family.
Additional Notes
Baltimore Economic Development Corporation (BEDCO), the economic development corporation in charge of industrial development. BEDCO was a quasi-public agency created in 1975 to manage the city’s $3 million industrial land-banking fund, which packaged land for manufacturing projects throughout the city. This fund had previously been run by the Baltimore Industrial Development Corporation, created in 1965.24Between 1976 and 1986, BEDCO acquired over 500 acres for industrial use, created six city-owned industrial parks (such as Fort Holland Industrial Park and the Seton Business Park), made improvements to older industrial parks and converted vacant factory buildings. BEDCO also ran a business retention program that primarily served large and medium businesses, along with other programs for small and minority businesses.
Kurt L. Schmoke was elected Mayor in 1987 and served until 1999. Early in his administration, Schmoke consolidated three agencies – Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management, Market Center Development Corporation and Baltimore Economic Development Corporation – into the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC).
Directions
- Left turn on S. Monroe Street
- Right turn on Eagle Street
- Right turn at S. Smallwood Street
- Stop at S. Smallwood Street and McHenry Street - park at northeast corner
- Continue north on S. Smallwood Street
- Left turn at Frederick Avenue - west
- Right turn at Willard Street - north
- Stop at W. Lombard Street - park at southeast corner
- Right turn at Hollins Street - east
- Left turn at S. Warwick Avenue - north
- Continue on N. Warwick Avenue
- Continue north under railroad tracks
- Right turn at Edmondson Avenue - east
- Left turn at N. Bentalou Street - north
- Right turn at W. Lafayette Avenue - east
- Stop at Spedden Street -* park on south side*
- Right turn at N. Mount Street
- Left turn at W. Baltimore Street
- Right turn at S. Poppleton Street
- Stop at Hollins Street
- Right turn at W. Lombard Street
- Left turn at S. Carey Street
- Left turn at Nantucket Street
- Right turn at W. Ostend Street
- Left turn at Wicomico Street
- Stop on Wicomico Street - park mid-block on south side; reverse direction
- Continue south on Wicomico Street
- Right at S. Monroe Street
- Left turn at Montgomery Park