Baltimore businessman Edwin F. Hale Sr. has been called a visionary because he staked out a section of the Canton waterfront long before the area took off as the city's "Gold Coast," but he insists that's not the case.
"I just thought it had a great view of Fort McHenry," he says.
Visionary or not, Hale is now in a position to change the very nature of Baltimore's harbor with a $95 million development that would move the line separating the old working waterfront of Blue-Collar Baltimore from the new gentrified waterfront of White-Collar Baltimore.
Canton Crossing, as the project is called, is a waterfront business park that would feature offices, shops, restaurants, an extended-stay hotel, a marina and luxury condominiums -- the sorts of places one typically associates with the emerging Digital Harbor of the 21st century. It would contain more than 1 million square feet of space spread over 10 city blocks -- enough to house 4,800 employees -- and generate $1.3 million a year in city tax revenues.
But Canton Crossing is fundamentally different because Hale wants to build it on industrially zoned land that has been and still is part of the old, manual harbor of the 19th and 20th centuries. Before construction can begin, Hale needs the mayor and City Council to rezone the proposed construction site, a 51.25-acre parcel near the intersection of Boston and Clinton streets. In effect, he is asking the city to change its long-standing policy on land use by reducing the amount of industrial property along the water's edge and increasing the amount of waterfront land available for mixed-use development.
Private sector influence
Hale's proposal raises a multitude of questions about Baltimore's changing waterfront: Would Canton Crossing take up valuable land still needed for industrial purposes? Is it likely to draw businesses and residents away from other parts of Baltimore or bring in companies new to the city? What would be the impact of all this construction on traffic congestion, open space, boating safety, noise pollution and other quality-of-life issues that matter to the inhabitants of southeast Baltimore?
Also due consideration is the city's propensity for letting the private sector dictate public policy, especially regarding physical development. Canton Crossing is the largest single project ever proposed for the Boston Street corridor -- a sort of Hunt Valley by the Sea. It represents a major departure in land-use policy for Baltimore's waterfront. Yet this complex project has come about entirely at the behest of one individual.
