It's a tale of two Woodberries. In historic Woodberry, irreplaceable houses from the 1840s are being demolished. Meanwhile, new high density housing is being built in another Woodberry that nobody knew existed, where the "highest and best use" until now was the city's Stump Dump. Historic Woodberry is a highly livable transit-oriented community, while the New Woodberry is devoid of urban charm - but that's where major new development should be and is happening.
Real estate developers and agents are the ultimate deciders of neighborhood names and boundaries, making successful neighborhoods grow and others recede. So it is significant that the major new 283 unit apartment building on Cold Spring Lane is being called "The Woodberry" even though it is well over a half-mile from anything else in Woodberry. And that's by trail. It's over a mile away via actual streets.
The city needs to build on this success and not dwell on any failure in historic Woodberry or anywhere else. But there's no sign that the city has learned this lesson.
This expansion of what it means to be in Woodberry is particularly significant because the city's most affluent and coveted neighborhood, Roland Park, is actually closer to this new complex than is old Woodberry. And so is Park Heights to the east on Cold Spring Lane, which is (shall we say) reputationally challenged.
The lack of identity over the years for this stretch of Cold Spring Lane just west of the Jones Falls Expressway has not due to a lack of interest, though almost all the investment has been by the public and quasi-public sectors. Way back in the 1970s, there was a grandiose plan for an entirely "new town in town" called Cold Spring. Much of it was built, but the only part built near Cold Spring Lane was an expensive entrance road which required switchbacks to get northward to the main part of the development up a steep hill southwest of Cylburn Park.
"The Woodberry" is the first new residential growth since that time. When the architectural rendering shown above was drawn, the large vertical sign on the building was going to say "Cold Spring". But perhaps the developer reconsidered upon realization that Cold Spring Lane is often mentioned in crime reports from Park Heights and other neighborhoods. Hence the latest rendering on the developer's website has the sign changed to "The Woodberry".
The biggest investment in this area since the new town was the construction of the Central Light Rail line, which runs directly adjacent to the new apartment house, but with the Cold Spring station way down in a gully between the Jones Falls stream and its namesake expressway. It is not conveniently located to the new apartment house, but making it more so would have been difficult. Many proposed plans were drawn up over the years to make this a true "transit oriented" site, but they were apparently too difficult to pull off.
Of course, there will be confusion when people try to explain that "The Woodberry" apartment complex is near the Cold Spring Lane light rail station, instead of near the Woodberry light rail station.
Considering the record of virtually total failure for "transit oriented development" everywhere else in Baltimore over the years, this failure is simply a recognition that unless everything is done almost perfectly, it won't work. There's very little room for error, so there's not much point in even trying.
So The Woodberry is essentially going to be a large, isolated, fortress-like building wrapped around a large parking garage to get people into their cars and quickly onto the Jones Falls Expressway to go wherever they want to go.
On its own terms, this project looks like a big winner: Great highway access, pretty good transit access, good security, and right next to the beautiful Jones Falls Trail. With those positives, The Woodberry's confusing name and lack of urban charm seem like mere quibbles. The politics even went smoothly by Baltimore's contentious standards. No project is perfect, so why did this one take so long to build?
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| "The Woodberry" - a large standard-issue boxy efficient postmodern apartment building of the type which is now popular and routine throughout the city. |
Real estate developers and agents are the ultimate deciders of neighborhood names and boundaries, making successful neighborhoods grow and others recede. So it is significant that the major new 283 unit apartment building on Cold Spring Lane is being called "The Woodberry" even though it is well over a half-mile from anything else in Woodberry. And that's by trail. It's over a mile away via actual streets.
The city needs to build on this success and not dwell on any failure in historic Woodberry or anywhere else. But there's no sign that the city has learned this lesson.
This expansion of what it means to be in Woodberry is particularly significant because the city's most affluent and coveted neighborhood, Roland Park, is actually closer to this new complex than is old Woodberry. And so is Park Heights to the east on Cold Spring Lane, which is (shall we say) reputationally challenged.
Identity crisis - Cold Spring to Woodberry
The lack of identity over the years for this stretch of Cold Spring Lane just west of the Jones Falls Expressway has not due to a lack of interest, though almost all the investment has been by the public and quasi-public sectors. Way back in the 1970s, there was a grandiose plan for an entirely "new town in town" called Cold Spring. Much of it was built, but the only part built near Cold Spring Lane was an expensive entrance road which required switchbacks to get northward to the main part of the development up a steep hill southwest of Cylburn Park.
"The Woodberry" is the first new residential growth since that time. When the architectural rendering shown above was drawn, the large vertical sign on the building was going to say "Cold Spring". But perhaps the developer reconsidered upon realization that Cold Spring Lane is often mentioned in crime reports from Park Heights and other neighborhoods. Hence the latest rendering on the developer's website has the sign changed to "The Woodberry".
The biggest investment in this area since the new town was the construction of the Central Light Rail line, which runs directly adjacent to the new apartment house, but with the Cold Spring station way down in a gully between the Jones Falls stream and its namesake expressway. It is not conveniently located to the new apartment house, but making it more so would have been difficult. Many proposed plans were drawn up over the years to make this a true "transit oriented" site, but they were apparently too difficult to pull off.
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| Construction of "The Woodberry" as seen across the Jones Falls and up the hill from the Cold Spring Light Rail Station. The project's large parking garage is now in view, but will be wrapped by the housing units. |
Of course, there will be confusion when people try to explain that "The Woodberry" apartment complex is near the Cold Spring Lane light rail station, instead of near the Woodberry light rail station.
So The Woodberry is essentially going to be a large, isolated, fortress-like building wrapped around a large parking garage to get people into their cars and quickly onto the Jones Falls Expressway to go wherever they want to go.
On its own terms, this project looks like a big winner: Great highway access, pretty good transit access, good security, and right next to the beautiful Jones Falls Trail. With those positives, The Woodberry's confusing name and lack of urban charm seem like mere quibbles. The politics even went smoothly by Baltimore's contentious standards. No project is perfect, so why did this one take so long to build?
Meanwhile, back in the REAL Woodberry...
A mile south in the real actual Woodberry neighborhood, genuine urban charm seems to have recently become a real liability. Two irreplaceable stone houses from the 1840s were surreptitiously demolished by their developer, even while negotiating with the community for their preservation.
The owner of that property must have concluded that the Woodberry "brand" was more of a state of mind than actually living in the kinds of historic buildings that had actually defined the neighborhood. This greatly upset the neighbors.
The developer wanted to build high density "hipster flats" on this site, where the density is achieved not just by increasing the size of the building, but by making each unit smaller and not providing much off-street parking. This also upset many people.
This illustrates a problem with "transit oriented development". It calls for a higher density of development than the existing historic buildings can often contain. Near the downtown light rail station at Howard and Lexington Streets, the city developed a plan called the "Superblock" which jeopardized many historic structures. After much controversy and delay, that plan was killed and most of the old buildings have stood vacant and rotting ever since.
The city must be extremely careful about "transit oriented development" in historic neighborhoods, or it will lead to sudden unwanted demolition such as has recently happened here. The developer will still be able to build high density "hipster flats", but they will be even more out of character with the historic neighborhood, which need development controls regardless of density.
"The Woodberry" apartment project on Cold Spring Lane is exactly the kind of site where high density development can work. But it took almost four decades after Cold Spring New Town and three decades after the light rail line was built for the city to do it.
Unfortunately, it looks like the city has still not learned its lesson, by allowing historic buildings to be demolished while neglecting prime sites that are ideal for high density development.
Directly across Cold Spring Lane from "The Woodberry" is a property which the city has been using as a "Stump Dump" ever since the new town project was planned. This is an even better site than that of "The Woodberry". It was precisely where the Cold Spring light rail station was originally supposed to be and could easily be relocated, and a bridge could provide safe direct access to the affluent Cross Keys and Roland Park communities and Poly-Western high school.
But the City government loves its stump dump, where it can dump the stumps of all the large mature trees it chops down throughout the city to accommodate various projects. The city's de-facto plan is to replace large mature trees throughout the city with little twigs that are inadequately supported and maintained. As a nearby example, the trees in a large portion of adjacent Cylburn Park were recently chopped down to build an electric substation.
This substation will make any future redevelopment of the Stump Dump less attractive, helping the city to keep its Stump Dump as long as possible. It will also increase pressure on communities like the real Woodberry to increase density by knocking down historic buildings and replacing them with "hipster flats".
The city urgently needs attractive sites for high density growth that will relieve the pressure on existing communities, especially historic communities. The stump dump site would also relieve pent up pressure for development on the nearby sylvan Roland Park Country Club. It could also provide a path for growth toward the Pimlico racetrack site on the other side of Cylburn Park.
The city government tries to avoid expanding its horizons to grow, but The Woodberry is a project that shows the way to do it.
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| Woodberry site where two historic stone houses were recently demolished. Also shown are three similar surviving houses, two in the background across the street and one recently renovated to the left. The light rail tracks are in the foreground. |
The owner of that property must have concluded that the Woodberry "brand" was more of a state of mind than actually living in the kinds of historic buildings that had actually defined the neighborhood. This greatly upset the neighbors.
The developer wanted to build high density "hipster flats" on this site, where the density is achieved not just by increasing the size of the building, but by making each unit smaller and not providing much off-street parking. This also upset many people.
This illustrates a problem with "transit oriented development". It calls for a higher density of development than the existing historic buildings can often contain. Near the downtown light rail station at Howard and Lexington Streets, the city developed a plan called the "Superblock" which jeopardized many historic structures. After much controversy and delay, that plan was killed and most of the old buildings have stood vacant and rotting ever since.
The city must be extremely careful about "transit oriented development" in historic neighborhoods, or it will lead to sudden unwanted demolition such as has recently happened here. The developer will still be able to build high density "hipster flats", but they will be even more out of character with the historic neighborhood, which need development controls regardless of density.
"The Woodberry" is part of the solution for Woodberry
"The Woodberry" apartment project on Cold Spring Lane is exactly the kind of site where high density development can work. But it took almost four decades after Cold Spring New Town and three decades after the light rail line was built for the city to do it.
Unfortunately, it looks like the city has still not learned its lesson, by allowing historic buildings to be demolished while neglecting prime sites that are ideal for high density development.
Directly across Cold Spring Lane from "The Woodberry" is a property which the city has been using as a "Stump Dump" ever since the new town project was planned. This is an even better site than that of "The Woodberry". It was precisely where the Cold Spring light rail station was originally supposed to be and could easily be relocated, and a bridge could provide safe direct access to the affluent Cross Keys and Roland Park communities and Poly-Western high school.
But the City government loves its stump dump, where it can dump the stumps of all the large mature trees it chops down throughout the city to accommodate various projects. The city's de-facto plan is to replace large mature trees throughout the city with little twigs that are inadequately supported and maintained. As a nearby example, the trees in a large portion of adjacent Cylburn Park were recently chopped down to build an electric substation.
This substation will make any future redevelopment of the Stump Dump less attractive, helping the city to keep its Stump Dump as long as possible. It will also increase pressure on communities like the real Woodberry to increase density by knocking down historic buildings and replacing them with "hipster flats".
The city urgently needs attractive sites for high density growth that will relieve the pressure on existing communities, especially historic communities. The stump dump site would also relieve pent up pressure for development on the nearby sylvan Roland Park Country Club. It could also provide a path for growth toward the Pimlico racetrack site on the other side of Cylburn Park.
The city government tries to avoid expanding its horizons to grow, but The Woodberry is a project that shows the way to do it.
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| By popular demand! Here's a context map of the relationship between "The Woodberry" apartment complex and the Woodberry neighborhood, linked by the Jones Falls Trail. The light rail line is in black. (I'm not sure what the blue line is.) |
