City officials greeted the opening of an ambitious ? if risky ? town house project just a few blocks from Baltimore?s Pennsylvania Station on Thursday morning.
Station North, 33 multilevel town houses with balconies, large windows and attached garages, was touted by City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake as a sign of renewal for an often-troubled neighborhood.
“Our proximity to D.C. is a great asset, and this project takes advantage of it,” she said.
Building a cluster of homes averaging nearly $400,000 apiece just blocks from areas known for drug dealing was a risk worth taking to jump-start a neighborhood, developer James Campbell said.
“This is [a] catalyst for the rest of the area,” he said, noting that construction on a 100-unit apartment complex has just started down
the street.
“We?re urban developers,” he said. “We understand what needs to be done.”
Campbell said 11 units have been sold and nine are under contract. Five of those have been sold to people relocating from D.C.
City Councilman Jack Young, D-District 12, hailed the project as a fresh start for his district.
“This is what the neighborhood needed,” he said. “I?m extremely happy.”
