Baltimore City has just hit its stride.
During the next six years, the city is expected to look younger, get richer and run smoother.
Outlook 2012, a study commissioned by the Downtown Partnership, conducted studies and trend forecasts of Baltimore City’s demographics, housing and economics – and painted a rosy picture for Downtown’s future.
“Downtown Baltimore has come of age,” said Sister Helen Amos, chairwoman of the board of trustees for Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, at Thursday?s release of the report. “Everything that goes up will rest a bit, and then go up again.”
And go up it will.
The study said housing demand will produce 7,430 new residential units, including multi-family rentals and for-sales and single-family townhouses.
Occupants of those houses will be young, single and highly educated, based on a survey of new Downtown residents, according to the Outlook 2012 study.
Forty-eight percent were between 25 and 34 yearsold, 49 percent were single, and 94 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
“We need to enhance and balance what we do,” said Mayor Sheila Dixon, “and the key to that is in the people of the city.”
For newcomers, there may be more than 17,000 new jobs in Baltimore City, which are expected to increase income opportunities by nearly $1 billion and business sales by $2.2 billion annually.
Hospitals, the University of Maryland Baltimore Biopark and military-related investments will spur $3 billion in new construction, Outlook 2012 predicts.
“Downtown is where we put things we cherish the most,” said David Feehan, president of the International Downtown Association.
Baltimore City has the elements to a great downtown, such as private investment, urban design and a clean, friendly environment, Feehan said.
“There?s more you can do, but that?s true for every city,” he said.
