The following article first appeared on WYPR.org May 27, 2015:
Just north of Baltimore’s downtown, there’s a light-rail stop, a metro station and a set of 1950s-era government buildings. The 28-acre site that comprises all that is called State Center. It’s a part of West Baltimore that abuts Bolton Hill and the McCulloh Homes community. But to the south and east it’s cut off from Mt Vernon, and University of Maryland Medical Center and communities South by Martin Luther King, Jr Boulevard and Howard Street.
For years developers and community leaders have seen in State Center the potential to support shops and updated office space. But the re-development has been stalled for various reasons – we’d like to understand why, and what’s happening now. So we invited John Kyle. He has lived in nearby Bolton Hill for about three decades, and is President of the State Center Neighborhood Alliance, a coalition of a dozen surrounding neighborhoods.