Apartments

FOR 14 YEARS, my wife and I have been living at the apartment complex at 4300 N. Charles St. in Baltimore's Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood. Our apartment overlooks one of the athletic fields that already belongs to the Calvert School. We have enjoyed watching the children play and have been glad to have the school as our neighbor. We were stunned, therefore, when we received a letter recently informing us that, rather than having us and the other 4300 residents as neighbors, the Calvert School preferred to enjoy the convenience of additional athletic fields.

Towson State University's ambitious 10-year master plan, which includes the possible acquisition of several nearby apartment complexes, has alarmed tenants who fear they may lose their homes.To quiet the furor, university officials are trying to reassure the neighbors, many of whom are elderly, that the expansion won't have an immediate impact -- and might never occur. President Hoke Smith called the plan "a wish list," and said the campus has enough space to build new dormitories.But that hasn't stopped the criticism.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Life just keeps getting tougher for Anchorage apartment hunters.The apartment vacancy rate in Anchorage this summer is 1.1 percent, the lowest level since the town filled up in 1976 during the trans-Alaska pipeline construction, according to a new survey. The vacancy rate that year was 0.4 percent."I just don't see any good news for renters," said Ken Kincaid, who compiled the semiannual survey of Anchorage's larger apartment complexes for Shorett & Riely, a real estate appraisal and consulting company.

Burglars have been dropping -- literally -- into the highest-floor apartments at an Ellicott City complex.Sgt. Steven E. Keller of the Howard County police said it appears the thief -- perhaps thieves -- first opens a stairwell access panel, crawls through a space above the apartment and then hammers a hole through the drywall ceiling.During the past two weeks, three third-floor apartments at Town & Country Greensview/West on Town and Country Boulevard have been burglarized that way, Keller said.

City officials approved the sale of Baltimore's historic Railway Express building yesterday to developers who plan to put 30 loft-style apartments in the former parcel post office. Railway Express LLC will pay the city $1.2 million for the building at 1501 St. Paul St. under the deal approved by the Board of Estimates. The official purchase price is $2 million, but the city has granted an $800,000 credit toward that price because of environmental and structural problems with the building.

An empty lot at Howard and Madison streets in Baltimore would become the site of a $17 million, 72-unit apartment building called M on Madison, if a Columbia-based developer can obtain financing to build the project. Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation voted this week to give conceptual approval to the design by Peter Fillat Architects. The project originally was planned to be marketed as condominiums but was changed to rental housing after the condominium market slumped.

Little Italy residents, charging that a developer misled them about plans to include low-income units in a loft apartment building, persuaded the city yesterday to delay partial funding of the $5.9 million project."

One of the country's oldest women's charitable organizations is branching out into the rental business to help solve its financial troubles. The Woman's Industrial Exchange, a tea room and gift shop in the 300 block of N. Charles St. whose proceeds benefit low-income people, plans to create six upscale apartments above its space to generate rental income. The organization is trying to raise $487,000 to help pay for the apartments, replace the roof, remodel the tea room and fix the building's kitchen.

Riverdale Village's end came yesterday -- a hot, dirty, tense and confusing close for a one-time worker's paradise.Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. cut off electricity at 7 a.m., just after the gas service was shut down at the run-down complex that was built to house wartime factory workers. Two public utility crews moved through the complex's remaining 550 apartments all morning, turning off water valves.By late yesterday, the last residents without a place to go -- four women and their three children -- were set to spend the night at a nearby motel, said Mary Emerick, who helped coordinate the county's relocation campaign.

A 19-year-old man was shot and killed last night when he was ambushed by two men outside a Cockeysville apartment complex, Baltimore County police said.Johnny Irvin Bessick of the 700 block of Edgewood St. in West Baltimore had just gotten out of his 1993 Acura Legend to visit his girlfriend at the Wintergreen apartments when he was chased and gunned down about 9:45 p.m., police said.Residents of the complex, in the 500 block of Lake Vista Circle, said they heard several gunshots.E. Jay Miller, a county police spokesman, said several witnesses heard loud noises and arguing coming from the parking lot and looked out their windows to see Mr. Bessick running across the lawn.