In September 2016 developers David Bramble and Mark Renbaum announced that they would be kicking off a major building project on the Reservoir Hill-Bolton Hill North Avenue corridor: a mix of townhouses, apartments and retail shopping that would become the gateway to West Baltimore.
This month they came before the BHCA board meeting for the third time to announce that they expect construction on the first phase of the project, 120 market-rate townhouses, to begin in a matter of weeks, probably July. In the interim, Bramble has (among other projects) advanced his Northwood Plaza shopping complex near JHU’s Bayview Hospital (complete with a grocery store) and been designated as lead developer to remake the sad and empty but once-iconic downtown Harborplace.
Bramble, who lives near his childhood home in Madison Park, called the townhouses, which he predicted would be priced in the mid-$300,000 range, “Phase A” of the three-phase development. He hopes for completion of a model home by June 2023 and of the entire townhouse phase by 2025, with Ryan Homes managing the construction and sale.
Phases B and C call for 200-300 high rise rental apartments, retail shopping to include a grocery, ample off-street parking, parks and wide sidewalks to make that side of North Avenue attractive and walkable. The timetable for those phases is, at best, murky. He said the project would include substantial infrastructure and right-of-way improvements at a cost of $1 million.
–Bill Hamilton