Arts District

Any effort that promises to attract new residents and businesses to a historic Baltimore neighborhood could do a lot worse than make the arts a magnet for bringing people together. That's why we can't see any down side to a city proposal to create a third arts and entertainment district for Baltimore, this one on the west side of downtown. If the idea of a new cultural destination works anywhere near as well there as it has elsewhere in the city and state, the results are practically guaranteed to be an improvement over the status quo. State economic development officials are expected to decide by June 1 whether to approve Baltimore's request to designate 117 acres of downtown as the Bromo Tower Arts and Entertainment District.

Any effort that promises to attract new residents and businesses to a historic Baltimore neighborhood could do a lot worse than make the arts a magnet for bringing people together. That's why we can't see any down side to a city proposal to create a third arts and entertainment district for Baltimore, this one on the west side of downtown. If the idea of a new cultural destination works anywhere near as well there as it has elsewhere in the city and state, the results are practically guaranteed to be an improvement over the status quo. State economic development officials are expected to decide by June 1 whether to approve Baltimore's request to designate 117 acres of downtown as the Bromo Tower Arts and Entertainment District.

Last weekend, I visited Philadelphia and was charmed by their neighborhoods, museums and, especially, the section of Broad Street designated as the "Avenue of the Arts," with its many theaters and restaurants. Similarly designating the section of Howard Street, including the Everyman and Hippodrome theatres, will stimulate development, tourist traffic and more ("New arts district on way?" April 7). Its proximity to downtown hotels, sports venues and the University of Maryland professional schools and Medical Center will draw residents as well.

A decade-long vision to have Baltimore become the next hub of fashion and design will begin to take shape as construction begins at the old Lebow Clothing Factory, which beginning in fall 2013, will be the home of the Baltimore Design School. City and education leaders gathered Monday to celebrate the official groundbreaking for the 120,000-square-foot building, which will begin undergoing a $25 million renovation to accommodate aspiring fashion artists in grades six through 12. The school, co-founded by Baltimore state Sen. Catherine Pugh and Fred Lazarus, president of the Maryland Institute College of Art, is designed after the Baltimore School for the Arts and will focus on nonperformance arts like fashion, graphic design and architecture.

Baltimore's west side would become the city's third arts and entertainment district under a proposal endorsed by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake for making the area more of a cultural hub. The new district would join state-designated arts districts in the Station North and Highlandtown areas as magnets for galleries, theaters, studios and other arts-related activities and investment. Such a designation also would make certain business and property owners eligible for tax breaks.

Inside the once-bustling movie theater on North Avenue, moss thrives on shattered marble walls. Broken tiles hang from the ceiling. Rainwater pours through the roof. But this derelict structure is now seen as a future centerpiece for the growing midtown arts district. A nonprofit developer, backed financially by the Maryland Institute College of Art and a private foundation, envisions the Art Deco building as the home of film screenings, music venues, artists' studios, galleries, a playhouse and a restaurant.

ON NORTH Avenue, just east of Charles Street, Renwick Bass peered through the veil of Thursday's morning fog and saw what nobody else has been able to see in this neighborhood for years: potential. Around Labor Day, Bass opened a little shopping mall in the old Department of Social Services building, and in nearly three months, the biggest payday he's had is maybe $160 in business. "And this encourages you?" he was asked. "No," he said. "But we know the problems. People hear `North Avenue,' and they're afraid."

In what could be a major boost to Baltimore's fledgling Station North Arts District, a team of Washington developers is planning to build a $12 million apartment complex on a vacant, block-long lot just south of North Avenue. The Penn Loft Apartments on North Calvert Street between Lafayette Avenue and Lanvale Street would be five stories tall and contain between 100 and 125 loft-style rental units, according to a preliminary plan developers presented to the city's Design Advisory Panel yesterday.

Craft studios, artists lofts, galleries and more are at the hub of a plan to give a nudge to revitalization of the northern tip of Anne Arundel County. "The vision is to have a cultural arts district in the Brooklyn Park area," said Carol Treiber, executive director of the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. "It would be wonderful, like a little village, an arts village." Proponents say a Brooklyn Park arts district has the potential to lure economic development as it provides amenities for thousands of people and reinvigorates one of the oldest sections of the county, parts of which have been neglected.

Artscape will expand onto Charles Street this year to in an effort to boost the Station North Arts and Entertainment District and bring more people to the galleries, restaurants and shops in Midtown Baltimore's designated arts area. The arts festival, set for July 18-20, will continue to be centered in Bolton Hill along Mount Royal Avenue. But this year the festival will also occupy Charles Street from Mount Royal north to Lafayette Avenue, with a music stage, food court, street performers and other activities.

A large swath of downtown Baltimore's west side would become the city's third state-designated arts and entertainment district, and the state's 20th, if Maryland economic development officials approve a city application designed to strengthen the area. The proposed Bromo Tower Arts and Entertainment District is a 117-acre tract that would join districts in Station North and Highlandtown as city areas in which individuals and businesses would be eligible for tax breaks for arts-related activities and investments.

Inside the once-bustling movie theater on North Avenue, moss thrives on shattered marble walls. Broken tiles hang from the ceiling. Rainwater pours through the roof. But this derelict structure is now seen as a future centerpiece for the growing midtown arts district. A nonprofit developer, backed financially by the Maryland Institute College of Art and a private foundation, envisions the Art Deco building as the home of film screenings, music venues, artists' studios, galleries, a playhouse and a restaurant.

The Station North Arts and Entertainment District will spend a federal grant to encourage commuters leaving downtown after work — as well as those using Penn Station — to stop and stay a while. "Final Fridays" — a program of events on the last Friday of each month — will feature entertainment and will be funded with part of a $150,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. "The goal is to get all the people who often pass through Station North on their way to have a reason to stop here after work on Friday," said Ben Stone, executive director of the district, which includes parts of the Charles North, Barclay and Greenmount West neighborhoods.

In Silver Spring, they've been waiting for it for a decade: a brand-new music venue smack in the middle of the arts district - a rock counterpart to the dignified AFI Silver Theatre and the brainy Discovery complex. When the Fillmore Silver Spring was finally unveiled this month, scores turned up to watch R&B star Mary J. Blige perform. But the 2,000-capacity theater won't just be a new stage - it has the potential to rewrite the landscape for Baltimore and Washington booking agents as well as music lovers.

Dennis Livingston, an urban activist who called for jobs creation and a clean environment and who was a pioneer in the Station North Arts District near Green Mount Cemetery, died of cancer Thursday at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 72 and lived on Guilford Avenue. "There were those who came out of the 1960s who lost their vision for social change, but Dennis was not one of them," said Joseph McNeely, director of the Central Baltimore Partnership. "He just stayed there and said we can do better.

A 22-year-old man was critically wounded after being shot in the Charles North neighborhood early Friday morning, according to Baltimore Police. The incident occurred at 12:30 a.m., in the 1900 block of Maryland Ave., police said. The victim was standing at a bus stop when he was approached by two people, police spokesman Detective Kevin Brown said. One pulled out a gun and fired, hitting the victim twice in the back, chief police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The victim was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center for treatment, Guglielmi said.

In Highlandtown, the arts are percolating at the Creative Alliance on South Conkling Street, a small performance, cafe, studio and class space resembling an early-1960s Greenwich Village folk singers hangout. A few blocks away, at East Street and Eastern Avenue, stands the unfinished Patterson Center for the Arts, a $4 million public works revitalization project. Renovating the former Patterson Theater is expected to conclude next year, with nine new live-in studios for artists in residence.

The state has approved plans by Annapolis and a Harford County city to establish arts and entertainment districts, allowing them to offer tax abatements to artists and culture-oriented businesses in an effort to ignite economic development. The Capital City Cultural Arts District, whose boundaries have been revised several times, will be anchored by Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, and will encompass the historically black Clay Street area and run along West Street to Brown Street.