Father and son Maniscalco
The comedian Sebastian Maniscalco grew up in Arlington Heights, about 25 miles from downtown Chicago. He tells a lot of funny stories about his Italian-American family. When Maniscalco reported the exciting news that he was going to have a big Chicago show at the United Center, his dad’s immediate response was, “Where they gonna park?”
Parking is an issue in every city, I guess. The subject comes up in Baltimore a lot. When MCB Real Estate rolled out its plan for a major redevelopment of Harborplace, on the city’s famous waterfront, it included two towers with 900 apartments, and no parking garage.
In my column of July 28, I asked David Bramble, co-founder and managing partner of MCB, about parking for tenants of his proposed apartment buildings. The plan, he said, is to take advantage of parking spaces within a block or two of Harborplace, and he said there are “thousands …. Too many.” A few months ago, MCB bought a parking garage on Lombard Street, a long block away from Harborplace.
The Baltimore City Council and the Baltimore Planning Commission, Mayor Brandon Scott and Gov. Wes Moore are all OK with MCB’s plan, with no connected parking. The Baltimore Development Corp. enthusiastically supports the plan, too. Colin Tarbert, the BDC president and CEO, responded to my question about parking:
“The administration understands that the plan does not include onsite structured parking [a parking garage]. This is consistent with the Zoning Code, which, like many large cities, does not require parking for new downtown developments. The Zoning Code, known as Transform Baltimore, was adopted in 2016 and views parking as not the highest and best use for this site, given the considerable amount of nearby parking. Ultimately, the market will determine if connected parking is needed to lease apartments or office space. However, the trend has been a decline in the need to build parking, as seen in projects like 10 Light Street with 445 units and no parking. Similarly, the World Trade Center, Aquarium and Pier 4 buildings also do not have connected parking.”
I noted that no one lives at the WTC, Aquarium and Pier 4.
Tarbert agreed with that, of course, but added: “There are also no parking garages at 10 Light Street, 26 South Calvert, 10 N. Calvert, 300 St. Paul and other downtown apartment buildings. My point is that building parking is not required nor is it always necessary. Apartments without an attached garage is not a new or untested concept. It will depend ultimately on the market demand if no parking garage is feasible from a leasing perspective.”
So I’ll leave this at the We-Shall-See stage.
Will people who can afford an apartment at Harborplace rent one without connected parking? Comments welcome.