Baltimore City has just hit its stride.
During the next six years, the city should look younger, get richer and run more smoothly.
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 2,980 multi-family rentals, 2,200 multi-family units available for sale and 2,250 single-family town houses.
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 years old, 49 percent were single, and 94 percent hold a bachelor?s degree or more.
“We need to enhance and balance what we do,” Mayor Sheila Dixon said. “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 should increase income opportunities annually by nearly $1 billion and business sales by $2.2 billion, annually.
“Downtown is where we put things we cherish the most,” International Downtown Association President David Feehan said.
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.
