There has been a boom in new apartment construction in recent years, but the vast majority of new apartments in Baltimore are luxury or luxury homes, leaving some residents wondering what “luxury” really is after all. Some people are.
Nearly four out of five apartment complexes completed in Baltimore since 2020 are in properties classified as luxury or luxury, according to real estate analytics firm CoStar Group, which measures buildings with five or more units. Since then, more than 6,700 new apartment buildings have been built within the city limits, the group said.
The rise in luxury homes boasting elegant features such as rooftop pools is giving housing advocates mixed feelings. A rapid increase in the number of units will strengthen the city’s housing stock. But in a city where monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is in the low $2,000s and the median annual household income is just under $60,000, new units aren’t widely accessible.
The growth of luxury housing has been evident in Brewers Hill, where luxury apartments have replaced warehouses and other industrial facilities over the past two decades. All of the approximately 870 new apartments in the small Southeast Baltimore neighborhood are in buildings rated four or five stars by CoStar, which equate to “top-of-the-line” and “luxury” units. , are assigned based on various criteria. Details on amenities, design, style specifications, and more.
Some tenants question the safety of the building.
Many of Brewers Hill’s new building tenants said they were satisfied with their rental properties’ proximity to Interstate 95 and Interstate 895 and easy access to nearby retail stores. But some people renting expensive new construction units are starting to see problems.
Two lawsuits against Axel Brewers Hill allege that 371 apartment units were unable to provide safe living space for tenants after the luxury building’s rooftop pool buckled in September, leading to the building being vacated. , is accused of failing to perform required structural inspections.
A proposed class action lawsuit filed by resident Stephanie Agee alleges that facilities such as garbage chutes and elevators were frequently out of service for nearly a year, and city officials say claims that it did not have a valid rental permit.
Most apartment buildings in Baltimore City require a landlord license, which requires safety and maintenance inspections. The landlord initially said the rental license would not expire. City records show the facility was inspected about a week after the pool incident and received a new license effective Oct. 1 of this year after its previous license expired Oct. 30, 2023. did.
“This building has thrived since its construction,” said Elliott Engel, an attorney representing Axel Brewers Hill’s owner and manager, Excelsior Communities, who declined to comment on the lawsuit. “There were no life, health, safety or structural issues with the building,” he said, citing a September structural engineer’s report. He said Excelsior “looks forward to publicly defending and ultimately clearing its name.”
A previous civil lawsuit filed against Excelsior Communities, which purchased the building in 2021, alleges the management company failed to maintain the pool and ensure the building’s structural integrity, putting residents at risk and forcing temporary housing. He claims that he was forced to pay extra expenses for moving and moving.
“First and foremost, we want to ensure the safety and integrity of the building,” said attorney Thomas Keilty, who is representing the plaintiffs. He said the ultimate goal of the proposed class action lawsuit is “to get residents into a position where they can be evicted from the premises.”
Residents in other buildings said the area was generally quiet, but sound insulation issues made it easier to hear neighbors and other environmental factors such as CSX freight trains passing through Boston Street. He pointed out that there is.
Bianca Nutto said she often had trouble sleeping through the night because of the sounds of trains and volleyball courts coming through the “paper-thin” walls of The Lucy, a recently built mixed-use complex nearby. . The 500-unit building, which will begin leasing in early 2023, was built by apartment developer Greystar on land that once housed an oil refinery tank farm.
“I couldn’t even be there. I don’t know how people do that,” she said. Nat, who left the housing complex in July and now lives across the country, said there were other problems, including short circuits in kitchen appliances, a broken handle on the freezer and a broken garage door.
“When you’re on a tour, you don’t get a feel for the actual quality of the building,” she said.
“Nutty Bo Rush”
The former industrial area, once home to the National Brewery and Günter Brewery, has seen rapid development since the early 2000s, when local developers began efforts to transform the vacant factory landscape into a vast residential and commercial district. is progressing.
Redevelopment efforts were successful, and new apartments attracted wealthy, young tenants during the so-called “Nutty Bo Rush” of the early 2000s. Natty Bo Rush is named after a popular beer in Baltimore that was once brewed at National Brewing. “The term refers to the transformation of buildings into offices, restaurants and luxury apartments with facilities,” the Sun wrote. 2004.
Since then, more complexes have sprung up in Brewers Hill as the biggest apartment building boom in decades appears to be winding down. The demand exists. The vacancy rate for multifamily housing in Brewers Hill is nearly two percentage points below the Baltimore City average, according to CoStar data.
There will be more to come.
Site work is underway off Boston Street as national developer AvalonBay Communities breaks ground on a new seven-story, 418-unit complex across from Canton Crossing Shopping Center. The developer, which opened Avalon 555 President in Harbor East in 2020, estimates the first units at AVA Brewers Hill will be rolled out by the end of 2026.
Ryan Scully, AvalonBay’s development director, said the Arlington-based company was attracted to the “vibrant” walkable mixed-use residential neighborhood with close access to employment centers and freeways.
Brant Fischer, president of the area’s neighborhood association, said he’s glad new residents are discovering Brewers Hill, which prides itself on being welcoming and close-knit. Fisher, who has lived there for about 17 years, has seen the area’s population density increase rapidly. This was what the association anticipated when the redevelopment began.
He said the “most devastating impact” would be on infrastructure, with traffic on busy roads such as Boston Street and major trucking routes such as Haven Street increasing rapidly. , and not many enhancements have been made to support it.
Prices are rising as luxury goods become more popular
Demand for apartments has increased sharply during the coronavirus pandemic, sending rent prices soaring and developers launching new construction operations to try to catch up.
A post-pandemic apartment construction boom has added thousands of new units in Baltimore as city and state officials seek to ramp up affordable housing production amid what has been described as a housing crisis.
As states across the country struggle to maintain housing demand, more than half of them spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median monthly rent in Baltimore City was about $1,239 in 2023, about the same but up slightly from 2022. Rent for luxury properties can be double or even triple that amount.
Algeria Perna / Baltimore Sun
Close-knit Brewers Hill welcomes new development, but local community advocates say so many new residents are straining the popular neighborhood’s infrastructure. Photo by eatatgunther.com.
Dan Pontius, housing policy coordinator for the Baltimore Metropolitan Alliance, said new housing is typically expensive. But without new units to keep up with the city’s housing stock, prices for older homes will also rise, he said.
“Given the overall housing shortage, it’s no surprise that new homes are expensive, but increasing supply could help keep overall prices down.” Local governments must increase equity. said Poncious, who is leading the alliance’s efforts to help the country meet its goals. housing. As part of this effort, we conduct an analysis of regional housing demand every five years.
To address the disparity in costs of new development, governments in the region have instituted inclusive housing policies, but Baltimore City’s efforts have been slow.
“The market is not going to solve affordable housing,” said Claudia Wilson Randall, executive director of the Maryland Community Development Network. Wilson Randall is frustrated that the bill hasn’t been implemented for nearly a year.
Baltimore faces what Randall described as a “fundamental economic problem.” The idea is that jobs in Baltimore don’t pay enough for the expensive housing available.
“We have to find a way to get it right,” she said.
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