Baltimore's Skyscrapers (Part II)

New Skyscrapers to Elevate City Skyline

414 Light St

Two weeks ago, I wrote about recent skyscraper proposals in Baltimore that didn't survive the recession. Now that Baltimore is well on its way to recovery, and development demand in the city is again on the rise, there have been quite a few new high-rise proposals put forth by developers. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of these proposals are primarily residential in nature, particularly rental apartments, but there is at least one build-to-suit office project as well as a condominium project on the near-term horizon. 

According to 2014 release of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore\s annual development report, there are 1,137 apartment units under construction and over 2,010 units in the planning (including office-to-residential conversions). The report also estimates that over the course of the next several years, an additional 3,300 housing units, 550 hotel rooms, 300,000 sq. ft. of retail space, 560,000 sq. ft. of office space, and 760,000 sq. ft. of institutional space will be added to the Downtown Baltimore market.

Despite the promising statistics, the Baltimore real estate market is still struggling in a number of areas. Not only is the office market continuing to be pretty weak (the tallest buildings in nearly all large American city are office buildings), the retail sector has also seen surprisingly sluggish growth (which will likely improve over the long run). In addition, the 'new generation' of Baltimore high-rises are modest in scale compared to the pre-recession proposals. Only one building proposed exceeds 400 ft in height (and even that was greatly reduced from 715 ft.). Developers (and their financial investors/partners) are clearly more cautious and risk-averse now, so this sudden "fear of heights" might unfortunately be a part of a new, post-'Great Recession' reality. 

Another cause for the smaller scale of new skyscrapers, specifically in the residential sector, is the stiff competition  from the ever increasing number of office-to-residential building conversions in the downtown area (thanks to the weak office demand). Some buildings, such as the Four Seasons hotel/condo skyscraper and Exelon headquarters tower, have seen their height reduced significantly. 

In any case, any additional skyscrapers will be an improvement on the Baltimore skyline which is becoming increasingly aged due to the lack of development. Listed below are the current proposals:

(Note: This list contains buildings proposed to be 200 ft or taller likely to be constructed over the next few years. For existing proposals that have been delayed indefinitely see Part I)

Baltimore's Skyscrapers (Part I)

'Charm City's' Tallest Buildings, and Ambitious Proposals Thwarted by the Recession

Proposed 44-story Four Seasons Hotel & Residences
(currently only partially completed)

Last February, I posted an article on the tallest existing and proposed buildings in Washington D.C. and its immediate suburbs. This two-part post will take a look at the tallest buildings in Baltimore as well as the latest proposals for new skyscrapers in the city, (plus some that were proposed over the past decade but never built).

Washington is well known for it's short, uniform skyline with nearly every building being built less than 200 ft. high. Of course this allows the 555 ft. Washington Monument and the 289 ft. U.S. Capitol to easily stand out against the backdrop of mostly 10- to 15-story "highrises." Unlike Washington D.C. though, it's more blue collar neighbor to the north has a more "conventional" urban skyline. Baltimore has a number of considerable number of skyscrapers (defined as buildings over 300 ft on this site) including the tallest building in the entire Baltimore-Washington Region--the 529 ft. Transamerica Tower (formerly the Legg Mason building).

Despite having a significant amount of buildings over 300 ft., Baltimore still lacks any "supertalls" (buildings over 1,000 ft. tall) and it's tallest building is shorter than the tallest buildings of many less-populated cities. A major reason for this has been the weak residential and office market in Baltimore over the last few decades. While Washington D.C. has seen a boom in new residents and hasn't lacked for well-paying jobs thanks to the federal government, Baltimore, on the other hand, has been somewhat struggling to attract and retain businesses as well as residents (as has been the case in many blue-collar cities in the Northeast and Midwest). 

Baltimore's fortunes have begun to change though. A recent reversal of the decades-long population decline and a large influx of residents into the city's core neighborhoods surrounding the Inner Harbor, are promising signs of a brighter future, although business growth has still remained slow. Developers have taken notice of the city's recent resurgence and have proposed (and constructed) a multitude of new buildings in the city (nearly all residential), including skyscrapers. 

Unfortunately, the recent recession took it's toll on Baltimore's real estate market, and many of the more ambitious (read: very expensive to finance) projects have failed or been postponed indefinitely, including a number of buildings that would have been the city's tallest. Below is a ranking of the tallest buildings in the city currently and, following that, proposals for new skyscrapers that were derailed by the recent recession. In a second part to this post will be a list of new skyscraper proposals that are somewhat toned down in scale, but (hopefully) more likely to actually be constructed. 

Transamerica Tower- Currently the tallest building in Baltimore

Below is a ranking of the tallest buildings in Baltimore:

	Name	Stories	Height (ft)
1.	Transamerica Tower	40	529
2.	10 Light St	37	509
3.	William Donald Schaefer Building	37	493
4.	Commerce Place	31	454
5.	100 E Pratt St	28	418
6.	Baltimore World Trade Center	32	405
7.	Tremont Plaza Hotel	37	395
8.	Charles Tower South Apartments	30	385
9. =	Blaustein Building	30	360
9. =	250 W Pratt St	24	360

Continue reading to see Baltimore skyscraper proposals that failed during the recent recession: