Some of Baltimore’s newest apartment towers offer posh amenities such as rooftop pools, yoga studios and dog spas, but many city renters would be content with a new washer-dryer and a bike rack — and want to pay far less.
In the shadow of several flashy projects open or underway near the Inner Harbor, where rents range from $2,000 for a small studio to $8,000 a month for the penthouse, Baltimore is seeing a steady stream of smaller, more affordable new apartment projects.
They generally ask less than $1,500 a month and cater largely to young single people new to Baltimore. They reuse commercial or industrial buildings close to where people work or go out, with tax credits and other financing making the dollars work. And some hope the projects may help offset population losses in neighborhoods elsewhere in the city that are seeing far less investment.
Builders and developers say the converted properties lease swiftly, particularly in and around downtown, where few lived a decade ago.
“At an affordable rate, the demand is endless,” said Yonah Zahler, the founder and CEO of Zahlco, a boutique Baltimore developer that’s converted seven buildings with about 300 units and has many more on the way.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Erin Cox over at the Baltimore Sun