Planners see Mount Royal visions

"We are going to change the streets," Bogomolny said. "Charles will be different but complementary."

He has turned over his school's main surface parking lot, known as the Bolton Yard, to a private developer, the Bozzuto Group, to build the Fitzgerald, a 280-unit rental apartment building, which recently secured financing. Although students may rent apartments, the Fitzgerald will be operated as a market-rate building with an attached large, multilevel garage.

Bogomolny envisions the building's Oliver Street frontage lined with shops or small restaurants, and a new Oliver Street, now little more than a traffic connector, remade into a street lined with new buildings - and perhaps a recreation center built at what is now a post office truck maintenance shop. It would be open to students from both schools and to the community.

As a sign the student presence is making a difference, a new store, Artist & Craftsman Supply, opened a few weeks ago at Howard and North.

"Mount Royal has the opportunity to become a great street," said architect Adam A. Gross, whose firm has prepared plans for the area. "When you create a good street, retail will flourish."

He also speaks of constructing a soccer field over the Jones Falls Expressway.

"It's possible to do this," Gross said. "I see a new life along Mount Royal Avenue."

"Baltimore has been very slow to recognize the incredible value of its student population," Lazarus said, a reference to the 100,000 students here.