Good Things Happening at 2 Wells St.
If you are not familiar with 2 Wells St., it is the warehouse and office property across the street from 1901 South Charles. 2 Wells used to be the headquarters for McCall which is a forklift sales company. 2 Wells was sold to Green Door Properties five or six years ago and McCall relocated to Dundalk. 2 Wells has two very large flower beds in front of it that had turned into a sea of weeds. Just last week a crew came in and did a great landscaping job to the flower beds, which provided a massive improvement and made Wells St. look much better… I’m sure 1901 South Charles had an influence in this as they have been making massive improvements on Wells Street between their building and their leasing trailer.
It also appears this property is getting ready for a redevelopment as a voluntary cleanup application sign has been placed on the front of the property. In layman’s terms, this basically means the property is going to be demolished and environmentally cleaned, typically in preparation for the next phase of development. I have heard the property has recently been sold and we’ll give you more information on the project when we receive it, but this is definitely another huge development for the Wells St. area of South Baltimore which is undergoing a pretty amazing transformation.
No More Vouchers?
On the 800 block of Washington Blvd. on Pigtown Main Street there is a residential property that had a big banner that says “Apartments, Houses for Rent” with a phone number and an Equal Housing Opportunity logo. I noticed a pretty interesting change on the banner when I rode by this week. The sign used to say “All Vouchers Welcome,” but that portion of the banner has been painted over. So I’m not sure if this company has stopped dealing with Section 8 Vouchers or got pressure from the community for advertising voucher housing in the middle of an up-and-coming main street, but I would guess it’s probably the latter.
Section 8 is an incredibly controversial subject in our society that is often treated with a “not in my neighborhood” mentality. We’ll put our thoughts aside on the issue and where they should be able to rent, but I don’t blame a neighborhood for not wanting a huge advertisement for Section 8 in in an emerging business district that is always looking for new investors and businesses.
New Sonic in Lakeland
I’m sure many of you are like me in terms of having seen hundreds of commercials for Sonic, but have never lived anywhere close to one. The only one I knew existed was on 404 on the way to the Delaware beaches. Several have popped up in Maryland recently and it looks like South Baltimore is the newest. On Patapsco Ave. in Lakeland there is a new Sonic, fit with their old school drive-thru system and servers on roller skates. From my experience, Sonic is fast-food but maybe slightly better (their fresh fruit limeades are very good!)
Casino… Waiting, Waiting, Waiting
The state of Maryland and City of Baltimore’s actions since the legalization of gambling have been nothing short of a disaster. I’ll have to get on my soapbox later to point out how many things they’ve screwed up, but the fact that Arundel Mills, Ocean Downs and Perryville already have a facility and Balitmore’s is still a hole in the ground is incredibly disappointing. In late 2011, we heard a background check for the investors of the new Harrahs which include Dan Gilbert, who owns the Cavaliers and Quicken Loans, as well as Caesars Entertainment and several other prominent Baltimore business people would take about four months.
Jump to seven-and-a-half months later and we haven’t heard a thing other than PG County’s aggressive pursuit of MGM for National Harbor. So this is either the most extensive background check in the history of mankind or the company performing it is tremendously milking the hourly clock, which comes out of our tax dollars of course. Our Mayor has already come out with a plan on how to spend the casino money and other council members have come up with their own plan. How suiting in a country with so much credit card debt… thinking about spending money you don’t have!
Here is my recommendation: get this background check finished ASAP, get the zoning and building permits in order and get this thing going. I don’t want to hear another word about how to spend the money because guess what, WE DON’T HAVE A CASINO! All we have is a background check at this point. Councilman Cole has told SouthBMore.com they are close… I would hope so, they’ve had more than enough time.
