ED Now

By Haeden Griggs In January 1978, the National Council for Urban Economic Development (CUED, an IEDC predecessor) published this article in its monthly newsletter. The “shopsteading” program, used as a revitalization tool, has a history rooted in the urban development and social change movements of the 1950s and ‘60s. New development in post-war Baltimore consisted of highways, schools, and housing projects. In particular, the Baltimore City Planning Commission planned to construct a highway connecting east and west suburban neighborhoods to the city. These projects allowed the city to use federal funds to raze, in some cases, entire neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal. By the late 1960s, over 8,000 Baltimore ...

Union Craft Brewing is a rapidly growing Baltimore business. The brewery wants to move into a large space but is struggling to find available property, despite being located in a historically industrial neighborhood (Next City). Between 2005 and 2015, Baltimore rezoned more than 400 acres of industrial land for residential or commercial purposes, adding only 67 industrial acres during that time. Baltimore is representative of a larger trend, as cities are finding higher short-term value in rezoning land originally set aside for manufacturing. “The reality is that once a city gives up an industrial area, it never comes back,” opines planner Andy Cook in Next City. “An industrial building-turned-luxury-apartment-complex ...

Activewear brand Under Armour plans to build its new corporate campus just south of downtown Baltimore (Baltimore Sun). It would be part of an estimated $5.5 billion project by Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s development company, Sagamore Development, to redevelop the Port Covington neighborhood with new homes, restaurants, offices, hotels, and retail. Sagamore Development has asked for $535 million from the city for new and improved streets, utilities, parks, and transit access. Baltimore would cover these costs through tax increment financing (TIF), which would represent the largest TIF deal in the city’s history. The deal has divided many Baltimoreans over the use of public funds for private development and drawn ...

As a response to last April’s riots, Baltimore and the State of Maryland are kicking off an ambitious blight removal project across the city (Baltimore Sun). Governor Larry Hogan approved nearly $100 million in funds to demolish vacant property and an additional $600 million to encourage new development. In total, approximately 20 blocks of property will be razed. The Creating Opportunities for Renewal and Enterprise (C.O.R.E.) project will replace demolished buildings with green space before they are offered to developers. While blight removal can reduce crime, raise surrounding property values, and improve neighborhood vitality, it cannot be the only strategy used to revitalize cities (Bloomberg Business). "I argue that there is ...

The role that economic inequality played in the recent riots in Baltimore inspired a panel discussion, held yesterday, at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Beyond Baltimore: Creating opportunity in places discussed the problems facing not only Baltimore but all major U.S. cities. Recent news coverage did not show that Baltimore is a prosperous city, overall. It reinvented its economy following the 1970s’ industrial decline and revitalized its downtown. It is home to anchor institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and its world-class hospital. Furthermore, inequality in Baltimore is no more pronounced than that of comparable U.S. cities. The city also has a strong black middle-class, and minorities hold key ...