Trading land for learning

Plans by Baltimore City Community College to open its 2.2-acre Inner Harbor campus to development would provide a shot in the arm to moribund Lombard Street while bringing the college millions of dollars to ...

[Transit Rider]

This really is one of the best available sites downtown. When you combine the nearby Power Plant Live, Lockwood Place and the fact that the location faces Market Street, it really does have the potential to be a thriving corridor from the harbor to Baltimore Street.

[westside]

"The college's Bard Building is also no favorite of architectural critics. The 1977 structure, which features an institutional, Soviet-style look, has little connection with the street or its surroundings. It has been afflicted with mold, water leaks and mechanical problems."

The same could be said of SEVERAL buildings in downtown Baltimore, so let's not pretend that's a good excuse. And anyway, who says? Sounds like editorializing on the part of the writer since it has no attribution.

To my eye, this is actually one of the more interesting buildings built downtown in the 1970's. It doesn't have the rough exposed concrete that was so popular at the time, it actually uses colors and non-rectangular shapes, and also, contrary to the above statement, has a great deal more glass than many buildings of the same era. With a little face lift it could be a great building and replacing it doesn't guarantee we'll get something any better.

[fsuwalterb]

While I admire all of what the Cornish Development Group has done (and I thank them for that), an arena at the present BCCC site would NOT BE WISE. TOO SMALL. And would be too tightly configured amongst buildings not conducive for visual appreciation.

The arena must be architecturally stunning as well as contain 20,000+ seats. That spot won't do it. For Baltimore to compete, you must build something that will 'grab' the attention of the entertainers and be attractive enough for attendees to want to come over & over again.

I know......I've now lived in the Atlanta area for 30 years and have worked all of the South. I have witnessed the building of arenas in cities much smaller (then, but not now) than Baltimore. Charlotte , for one, has built two new ones in 25 years.

[Baltimore]

I wonder which friend of O'Malley's or Dixon's will get this property at a bargain basement price????

[Baltimore Citizen]

I am not a fan of memorials, and it took me many years to appreciate the magnitude of the Lombard Street Holocaust Memorial. An architectural critic apparently called the train sculpture "ugly and brutal", no name given for the critic. In fact, that description defines why the memorial is so powerful. I don't like being crass, but the Holocaust was perhaps one of the most ugly and brutal displays of human existence, if not the most.

It as a city park as well. Grass, trees, open space. Go have lunch on the tracks. Sit and read the captions. And enjoy the freedom we share. I guarantee you will not want this memorial gone. I am Christian, but I feel this is the most sophisticated memorial in town.

Is it ugly, yeah, think about it. But those who forget the past...are doomed to repeat it. Please pack a bag lunch and sit in this beautiful park. You won't forget it.