SoBoBlog: News by and of the citizens of South Baltimore

by Colleen Wolfe
soboblog@baltimoreguide.com

Since Locust Point is at the southern most tip of the South Baltimore peninsula many people don’t usually go past Lawrence Street very often unless you live in the Point or work at Tide Point. So you may not know of a development project going on that has the potential to bring some new shopping options to South Baltimore. The old Chesapeake Paperboard factory used to sit behind the new fire station on Fort Avenue. I say used to because it’s nothing more than a flattened piece of land with a water tower on it now. Demolition of the old factory was completed recently to make way for The Shoppes at the Fort. The project is the brainchild of local developer Marc Sapperstein.

There is a special committee of the Locust Point Civic Association that has been working on the project since it first began about 18 months ago. Since I serve on that committee I have been actively involved in how it has evolved up to now. I won’t bore you to tears with excruciating details about zoning regulations and planning department guidelines and Planned Unit Development legislation. If you’ve ever wanted to get an inkling about exactly how the bureaucratic machine that is Baltimore City runs every day there is no better training ground than volunteering on one of these committees.

But after months of negotiating with the developer over size of buildings, square footage, number of parking spaces, etc. the Locust Point community approved the proposed development plan for the project. It includes, among other things, a proposal for 110,000 square feet of retail space, of which, almost half of that square footage is designated for a grocery store.

Now, I know that you are probably thinking one of two things. Either you’re saying to yourself, “But we already have a grocery store in the neighborhood and it’s cheap and it’s convenient and it’s just fine.” Or you may be thinking, “A new grocery store! Great! Because the one up the street just isn’t doing it for me. You can’t get a decent piece of produce from there. And forget about buying any fresh fish.”

Now I tend to subscribe to the latter statement. But I don’t think it’s an entirely fair one. I have to admit that the people at the Shoppers have seen the clientele changing. You can now find a small section of organic produce, including tofu. It even started carrying the organic yogurt and milk I buy for my daughter. It also has a lot of varieties of whole grain breads and a separate aisle for organic, all natural and gourmet items. And I can’t argue with their prices. Safeway charges a lot more for the orange juice I buy than Shoppers along with a lot of other staples.

But I still tend to split my shopping up over two other stores and a couple of farmers markets and occasionally the Cross Street Market to get the meat, fish and produce I want. Honestly, shopping in my house can be a real pain. What I would love to see is one decent sized grocery store that caters to my entire grocery list. One trip to the grocery store a week, instead of three or even four would be a blessing.

But I’m aware of what kind of impact a new grocery store will probably do to the neighborhood. I don’t see how two grocery stores so close to each other will both be able to operate successfully. I’d say there’s going to be a casualty here. With so much of South Baltimore changing from blue to white collar, with all of these new housing developments being marketed to the D.C. crowd, I’d say Shoppers might not make the cut. But Shoppers may not be the only casualty. It will also be the many senior citizens and families on tight budgets who depend on Shoppers’ low prices if a more expensive “Gucci-type” store moves in.

It’s hard to say how all of this will pan out. I do know that in addition to a new grocery store there are a few other smaller stores I’d like to see go into the Shoppes at the Fort, a bakery, a deli, maybe even a small specialty book store would all be great. I’d like to hear what you think the area needs. Are you partial to a florist shop? Maybe a little bistro that has live music on the weekends? I know with all of the coffee shops around town it’s about time a teashop opened for those of us who sip our caffeine from a different cup, so to speak. Email me at soboblog@baltimoreguide.com and share with me what you think South Baltimore needs.

There is still a lot to do before any ribbons will be cut. Final approval of the site plan is still needed and the legislation to go ahead with the project is still ongoing with the city.

Don’t expect construction to even begin until early fall.

And more development projects abound. So many in fact it’s hard to keep track of the changes, some small and some drastic. Some of the more drastic changes have and will continue to take place along Key Highway. And for the last two years the city’s Planning Department has been working with a task force of residents and property owners to create guidelines for the redevelopment of Key Highway.

If you are at all concerned about how the development projects have been changing the neighborhoods and waterfront along Key Highway then you should attend an open forum being held by the Planning Department regarding the Key Highway South Urban Renewal Plan. It will be held May 14 at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1407 Key Highway, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. This forum will be a chance for everyone to learn about the Planned Unit Development and Urban Renewal Plan and the Master Plan that will steer how the area will be developed throughout the next 15 years. You can get the lowdown on the plans by going to www.baltimorecity.gov/government/planning/keyhighway.html.

Just a reminder to all reading enthusiasts out there, the Friends of the Light Street Library, 1251 Light Street, are holding their annual book, video and DVD sale this Thursday through Saturday. I go to this every year and always find a few gems. I have to admit I am a bit of a used book sale junkie. And there are a couple of sales I try never to miss, like the Smith College book sale as well as the annual sale at the Central Pratt Library. There’s something about browsing through stacks of old books laid out on those long tables positioned end to end until they seem to resemble a veritable literature buffet. Or digging through the overflow cardboard boxes under the table like you’re looking for buried treasure.

And over the many sales I’ve gone to I have actually developed a browsing system, maybe more like a tic from which I can’t seem to deviate. First I like to just take a slow pass of each table in the fiction and literature sections zeroing in on my favorite authors as I mentally go over which titles I am missing from each author. Hugo, Wilde, Poe, Capote, Sand, Hemingway, Maugham, John Irving. Then I take another pass to peruse for any new authors or titles that may look interesting, along the way picking up anything that fits my reading mood at the time. There are a few contemporary writers I’ve really come to like recently. Jodi Picoult and Gabriel García Márquez are two of my current favorites.

I really love historical fiction. Almost any period in history will do, although I am wildly fascinated with ancient Rome and Elizabethan England. But colonial America has also held my interest. I stay far away from romance novels and had my fill of horror and crime novels through high school and college so they no longer grab me anymore. But I have also been giving a quick pass to the biography section as well. I’ve been meaning to get a book on one of my favorite composers, Cole Porter. So that will be on my browsing list this weekend.

But I have to confess that the constant organizer side of me has taken over in recent months. It seems I keep outgrowing my bookshelves and from time to time I am forced to get rid of those books spilling over onto the floor for lack of available shelf space. I usually pass a few on to friends, but mostly I usually end up donating them right back to whence they came, a used book sale. Actually this gives me a lot of pleasure. I like to think of it as not just passing on a book but a love of reading.
Some people may tell you never to dog-ear your books or lay them face down on the table wide open lest you break the binding. But to me there is something about creases in the corners, cracks in the binding and notes in the margin that tells me this book was once someone’s favorite. I like the thought of someone sitting down to my copy of The Razor’s Edge with all its creased pages and care worn cover and being able to tell that I loved and read this story over and over again.

This sale comes at a great time with the summer beach book season coming up. I know I have a few titles on my mental browsing list. I’m usually a voracious reader, going through a book or two a week. But I hate to admit that I have been so busy the past couple of months with other projects that I haven’t picked up a thing to read. My mother-in-law just passed on to me “The Color Water,” by James McBride. But if I start it this week it won’t last me through the weekend. I’m starting to feel like I’m having literary withdrawal. SO the book sale can’t come fast enough for me.
Hours for the sale are Thursday, noon-7:30 p.m., Friday, noon-4:30 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. I’d love to hear what you are going to be reading this summer. After you’ve picked up a few gems at the sale, let me know what you found by emailing me at soboblog@baltimoreguide.com.