Locust Point, the southern Baltimore enclave where no new houses have been constructed for at least 50 years, soon will have 36 new townhouses.
Groundbreaking for the three-story brick development - Whetstone Point - is expected soon, with the project scheduled to be completed by August, said Ted Rouse, who is heading the project for Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse.
Whetstone Point is the latest sign that Locust Point, known for rowhouses passed down from generation to generation, is now part of the harbor renaissance.
"There seems to be a housing shortage down here," said Robert E. Davis, a board member of the Fort McHenry Business Association. "There are a lot of new people moving in. This is an upscale project, which is certainly welcome."
Whetstone Point will be built on 2 acres at the former site of Bond Trucking Co. and will be bounded by Fort Avenue and Towson, Richardson and Beason streets. The project is four blocks from Tide Point, a $53 million renovation of the old Procter & Gamble detergent plant, also being developed by Struever Bros.
Officials expect that Tide Point will become a hub for Internet start-ups and house 1,400 high-tech workers.
Forty-five potential buyers are on the waiting list for Whetstone Point's 36 houses, and Struever Rouse Homes, a subsidiary of the development company, will start taking deposits this week. The homes start at $185,000; options such as garages and whirlpool spas could raise that price to $220,000.
That's more than double the price of the average rowhouse in Locust Point, which is about $85,000, said JoAnn Martin, a real estate agent who has been selling in Locust Point for 10 years.
And although new homeowners moving into Locust Point are starting to make the old working-class area trendy, the new folks need to remember that it remains industrial for now, said Del. Brian K. McHale, who lives there.
Across the street from the proposed townhouses is Perishable Deliveries, a longtime refrigerated trucking company, which emits loud noises day and night, he said.
"They're a noisy business operation," McHale said. "They have refrigerator trucks that run seven days a week, 24 hours a day."
Wendy Dugan, project manager for Struever Bros., said she hopes the noise doesn't deter buyers.
Asked if Struever Bros. was interested in purchasing the Perishable Deliveries land, Dugan said: "We have been talking to the owner about the property. We've made it clear to the [homebuyers] on the list that it's there."
Officials at Perishable Deliveries did not want to be interviewed.
Developers thought the houses would be purchased by Tide Point workers, but none of the 45 people on the waiting list works there or plans to move offices there, Dugan said. Most of the prospective buyers are "empty nesters" from Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, or young professionals who work downtown, she said.
The name of the new homes comes from the 17th century, when Locust Point was known as Whetstone Point, a name that is said to come from a park in London.
By the late 1860s, more than 10,000 immigrants were landing annually in Locust Point from Europe. Industry was fully developed by the 1870s, with railroad yards, grain elevators and docks.
That industry grew during the next century, then began to decline. What remains today is a tight-knit neighborhood, home to the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine and Domino Sugar, with 1,000 homes, 15 bars, several factories and a few defunct manufacturing plants.
"You're going to have an influx of 36 new higher income people moving into the neighborhood," McHale said. "I'm not sure what it means. We just hope whoever moves into neighborhood will be a contributing member of the community."
