Demolition Begins for Storage Building at 1900 South Charles Street

Demolition began today at 1900 S. Charles St. in South Baltimore to make way for a five-story, 90,000 sq. ft, 820-unit ExtraSpace Storage facility. The former one-story warehouse occupied by pipe, fitting, valve, and gauge business Pratt Thompson Company is being demolished at the site. The ExtraSpace Storage facility is a project by Premier Storage Investors (PSI).

The ExtraSpace Storage facility will have a three-story section along W. Wells St. with an office and brick facade, a one-story section at the corner of S. Charles St. and W. Wells St., and a five-story section at the south end of the property near the train tracks and I-95. More brick was added to the design at the suggestion of the South Baltimore Neighborhood Association after seeing the initial plans. The plan was approved by Baltimore City Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals (BMZA).

Construction is expected to take 12 months.

The existing warehouse has a substantial setback off W. Wells St. whereas ExtraSpace Storage will be constructed closer to the street with a 10 ft. setback.

Along S. Charles St. there will be setbacks of 20 ft. and 30 ft. for a loading zone and a small parking lot with head-in parking spaces. The rear section of the building will be constructed closer to S. Charles St. with a 10 ft. setback. Existing on-street parking spaces will remain along S. Charles St.

Between the southern end of the property and the CSX tracks is a gravel road and parking area that leads to a Baltimore City lot for construction equipment. PSI does not own this land, but PSI Owner Scott Cooper said at an SBNA meeting in April that he hopes to have it paved and cleaned up.

ExtraSpace Storage will be lined with new landscaping along W. Wells St. and S. Charles St. Currently near the corner of W. Well St. and S. Hanover St. is a grass lot with an overgrown tree, litter, and electrical poles laying in the grass. Cooper said the tree has been deemed dead and will be removed. This area will be cleaned up, replaced by new landscaping, and remain as an open green space.

ExtraSpace Storage will have security cameras inside and outside the building, as well as exterior lighting that will shoot down to the sidewalk in an effort to avoid light pollution, Cooper said.

This storage project is part of a flurry of new investment coming to the Wells St. corridor in South Baltimore and Riverside. Preliminary work is underway to convert 1900 Light St., a former slaughterhouse that was recently a curtain factory, into a 38,000 sq. ft. office and retail building. Wood Partners is planning a 267-unit apartment building with 1,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail on the 1800 block of S. Hanover St. and a 258-unit apartment building with 1,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail on the 1900 block of S. Hanover St. The new apartment buildings ware replacing warehouses that were recently demolished. The owners of 1901 Light St. are also hoping to convert the historic five-story, 138,000 sq. ft. building into 140 apartments.

In recent years along Wells St., apartment building 1901 South Charles was built at the site of a vacant industrial property, apartment and retail building 2 East Wells replaced a warehouse, and ZeroFOX renovated the vacant Pabst Castle into an office building. National Federation of the Blind is currently renovating parts of its 355,000 sq. ft. facility and putting up to 100,000 sq. ft. of office space up for lease.

Demolition image from today 

Recent photos of 1900 S. Charles St. 

ExtraSpace Storage renderings at 1901 S. Charles St. shared to South Baltimore Neighborhood Association by Premier Storage Investors

About the Author: Kevin Lynch

Founder and Publisher of SouthBmore.com, longtime resident of South Baltimore, and a graduate of Towson University. Diehard Ravens and O's fan, father of three, amateur pizza chef, skateboarder, and "bar food" foodie. Email me at Kevin@InceptMM.com and follow me on Twitter at @SoBoKevin.