Promenades; Linking Destinations

Promenades link pedestrian destinations and create higher value real estate along the way.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor is experiencing major high end infill residential and commercial development along its promenade.






Anything else on?

Been to the Aquarium. Even to Fells Point. But did you know about the bread factory or the gelato shop in Fells Point?

How about a canoli in Little Italy while watching a game of bocce?

Baltimore is the most successful of any US city to get downtown redevelopment right. Of course it was one of the first to concentrate efforts at attracting city living in the early 1980s with construction of an aquarium and shopping mall on the waterfront.

The Inner Harbor Promenade now runs all the way from the new condos on Federal Hill's waterfront to Fells Point.

Tying it all together

Promenades tie historic points of interest (Federal Hill Park), recreation, restaurant, educational (Aquarium), and tourist shops together creating synergy.

The sum creates a higher value than each individual attractions added together.

The Inner Harbor Promenade has now been linked completely from the National Aquarium to Fells Point, popular with locals as the original downtown and port for Baltimore.

Pedestrians walk along several bridges on the waterfront, discovering side attractions or just people watching.














Little Italy

The city has concentrated residential efforts in Little Italy, east of the downtown high rises. New row houses are fully occupied with new sidewalks. The condo boom of the 2000s is concentrated south of Pratt Street where blocks of mid rise buildings line the streets.

Whole Foods Grocery is located on the bottom floor of one development. The Four Seasons Hotel and Residences tower is under construction after a large Marriott Waterfront Hotel and Convention Center proved the area viable. The Four Seasons stares across the water at the new Ritz Carlton Residences in Federal Hill.

Further on, old brick warehouses have been converted in just the past couple of years to loft condos and apartments.

All the condo construction has still left a working bakery whose smells waft through the streets, and a couple of warehouse dance clubs.













Fells Point

Fells Point is Baltimore's Old Town. Water taxis have moved from being a tourist attraction to moving residents to their jobs in downtown Baltimore. The harbor ride is only a few dollars and adds to the theme park excitement for kids and creates memories for adults.

The square is reminiscent of Annapolis but serves a much more dense population. The feel is more of a living city rather than the summer tourist destination of Annapolis.

Unique eateries invite tourists to join locals. The numerous instances of residents greeting each other publicly add to the knowledge of a desirable, solid and active community.































San Francisco/Manhattan

Promenades are becoming increasingly popular redevelopment tools for aging cities seeking commercial viability. San Francisco has joined its Fisherman's Wharf area (village square) to a touristy Pier 39 mall and then even further down the Embarcadero which is becoming branded in its own right as the name for the promenade.

After the 1989 earthquake, San Francisco decided they didn't need the now damaged Embarcadero freeway spur after all. The double deck freeway was dismantled and the ground underneath turned into a palm festooned boulevard.

Now, nearly 20 years later, the city is attempting to commercially join many aging, unused Piers to the touristy Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39 on one side with the SOMA (South of Market) district which lies at the foot of the Bay Bridge.

SOMA became well known and branded during the dot.com era when start up web companies like Yahoo! chose the location for their HQ there, away from the glass 'scapers of the nearby financial district.

The old brick industrial area offered the open floor plans favored by interactive creative workplaces as well as the arch typical industrial interior design style also popular in residential city lofts.

San Francisco drew mid rise, and now high rise luxury condo development with the decision to construct AT&T Park (formerly PacBell park) on the waterfront.































NYC is constructing a linkage promenade joining the Brooklyn Bridge to South Street Market on the East River. Construction continues past the disembarkation landing for the Staten Island Ferry to Battery Park.

The Promenade is planned to join the new World Trade Center complex. This promenade is hemmed in by busy FDR blocking pedestrian access to ground floor retail which increases commercial tax revenues.

The downtown area has relatively little retail space and is known for its street peddlers. After the financial workers have left, the area becomes quiet despite towering high rises.
Midtown has usurped even the class A office commercial desirability of NYC's downtown due to residential amenties:

• Recreation at Central Park.
• Entertainment on Broadway.
• Tourist attraction of Times Square.
• Shopping district along 5th Avenue.
• Square blocks and lots of ground floor retail.

Commercial lease rates are more expensive in MidTown than they are near Wall Street Downtown.

Abandoned Houses

Baltimore still has one of the largest areas of completely abandoned row houses in America.

To someone accustomed to seeing full neighborhoods, the several miles of vacant row houses is quite a sight to see.

Yet as Baltimore has concentrated on its core, the outer downtown areas have begun to see urban settlers who are making their life in the city.
Do or Die

As Baltimore faced a do or die situation 30 years ago, the persistent effort is paying off in increased tax revenues and solidifying residential base.

Baltimore now enjoys the distinction of the #1 Promenade in the United States, exceeding the waterfront appeal of even New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

"What's a win for you?"