BALTIMORE — Johns Hopkins University has already invested millions of dollars into the Station North neighborhood, centered at the crossroads of Charles Street and North Avenue.
Now the university is funding a broader redevelopment plan for the area, for $150,000.
The new "economic development implementation roadmap" was approved by Central Baltimore Partnership, and notes that Station North is part of the plan (called "transit-oriented development") currently going on to revamp Penn Station.
Local stakeholders said Station North's challenges are "a lack of safety" (including feeling less safe at night than it used to), that the nominal Arts District "doesn't have the same sense of community amongst artists as it used to," disconnection between artists and no "active public realm" - including being "dead during the day," according to comments made to the plan's organizers.
Johns Hopkins University has helped fund $5 million of the $16 million renovation of Parkway Theatre, and moved its undergraduate film and media studies program to the long-vacant Centre Theatre on North Avenue.
Mitch Bonanno, vice president and chief real estate officer for Johns Hopkins University, said in a statement:
This study is a critical next step in progressing the collaborative work of stakeholders involved with the ongoing revitalization of such a treasured center for arts and culture in Baltimore. We are honored to continue working with so many of our valued partners to maintain the positive momentum established over the past decade in Station North.
Station North's population has been one of the few city neighborhoods seeing growth, according to City planning director Chris Ryer. It's grown by 15 percent in the past 14 years. (There are about 3,000 residents in the immediate Station North neighborhood, and about 27,000 in the secondary, surrounding areas - which is down from about 28,000 in 2010.)
