Last week’s debut of an Inviting Light arts installation and relaunch of the Ynot Lot outdoor events venue at 101 W. North Ave. brought new energy to a previously lifeless corner of Baltimore’s Station North arts district.
It also called attention to a sizable investment in the arts district by a local real estate company that works in many city neighborhoods and owns the land where the events venue is located: MCB Real Estate.
In 2022, an MCB affiliate paid $1.075 million to acquire the 0.187-acre corner property at 101 W. North Avenue as a site for future development. Last year it razed a former bank branch that occupied the property since 1961.
MCB executives haven’t said what they plan to build in place of the bank branch. But while they firm up their long-range development plans, company leaders have agreed to make the land available to the Central Baltimore Partnership for community-oriented programming. The company has taken a similar approach at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, where it’s activating the Harborplace pavilions with short-term tenants who will help bring people to the downtown waterfront until the company is ready to start construction on a proposed replacement for Harborplace.
The Central Baltimore Partnership is using the corner parcel at North and Maryland avenues to replace the Ynot Lot, a community events venue that was previously located at the northwest corner of Charles Street and North Avenue. It’s also the site of a temporary art installation called ‘Soft Gym’ by artists Daniel Wickerham and Malcolm Lomax.
Soft Gym is the fourth of five art installations to be unveiled this year as part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ $1 million Inviting Light initiative to help rejuvenate Station North. The installation includes walls that enclose a flexible events space and frame the block where the bank building used to be, so the corner no longer looks like an empty lot.
Two more MCB properties
But the former bank site isn’t the only property that MCB has acquired in the Station North area within the past four years.
According to state land records, affiliates of MCB have acquired two more properties across Maryland Avenue and slightly south of the new Ynot Lot. They are:
- 1817 Maryland Ave., a four-story apartment building. An MCB affiliate, 1817 Trenton LLC, paid $2.4 million in 2021 for the building, which occupies 0.072 acres.
- 1811 Maryland Ave., a former car repair shop. An MCB affiliate, 1811 Morton Alley LLC, paid $1.175 million in 2021 for the property, which occupies 0.227 acres.
MCB acquired 101 W. North Avenue through an affiliate called 101 W. North LLC. Together, the three parcels represent an investment by MCB of more than $4.6 million in Station North, making it one of the biggest landowners in the district.
The apartment building at 1817 Maryland Ave. is occupied, with first floor units opening directly onto a side street, Trenton Alley. The repair shop is vacant but its exterior still bears the names of businesses that once occupied it: Reliable Body & Fender Co., J&M Auto Specialists and Tom’s Automotive.
Tom’s Automotive was a godsend to city dwellers with cars that wouldn’t start on cold winter mornings or cars with engine wires gnawed through by rats that got under the hood. The two-story building is visible from Maryland Avenue, Lafayette Avenue and Charles Street, and its south side is covered with graffiti like the bank building was.
South of the former repair shop is a parking lot owned by the Maryland Institute College of Art – more land for potential redevelopment.
‘Community-driven transformation’
During the Inviting Light ceremony on Nov. 12, community leaders acknowledged the key role MCB played in working with the Central Baltimore Partnership to make the corner property available for community events and the Wickerham & Lomax installation. They said it shows how cities can use public art and public events to activate urban spaces and help spark development.
Mayor Brandon Scott, who toured the different light installations commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropies, said he was struck by how different they were and yet how well they fit together and reflect Baltimore’s diversity.
“When you think about the pieces and how different they are, for me my biggest take-away is that that really speaks to Baltimore’s spirit,” he said. “Because we are this city where everyone’s quirky, everyone’s different, but somehow we all fit together perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle. And when you look at these beautiful art pieces and these installations, we just know how much it speaks to the spirit, the culture and the vibrancy of our great city.”
The support from Bloomberg “is helping Baltimore to drive our renaissance forward every single day in so many ways, and for that we are so grateful,” he said.
In Station North, “you can feel Baltimore’s renaissance up close,” Scott continued. “We know that this area was designated an arts district over two decades ago and it’s been home to artists and creators for even longer than that. Revitalization that we’re starting to see today is thanks to artists, community leaders, small business owners and residents who believed and still believe in its potential here in Station North.
“Every business, every restaurant, every community gathering space like this one is thanks to those folks who saw what Station North could be and put in the time and effort to get it there,” the mayor said. “This is a community-driven transformation and that’s the best kind of transformation that you will find. I couldn’t be prouder to be bringing exciting investments like this one here to support it.”
Over the past 10 years, Bloomberg Philanthropies has awarded $1 million to 17 cities to bring innovative public art projects to communities through its Public Art Challenge, and “it’s been an incredible success,” said CEO Patricia Harris.
“The program was born out of Mike Bloomberg’s experience as mayor of New York City,” she said. “In New York, we saw how public art can help change the city for the better. Not only can it bring people together and spur civic conversations, but it can also help support small businesses and strengthen neighborhoods, and we’re seeing this in Station North. The community is even stronger, safer and more beautiful because of Inviting Light…Baltimore has a rich artistic history and it’s exciting to champion a new generation of artists, like Wickerham & Lomax and so many others who are helping to shape the city’s future.”
“A rehearsal space for public feeling’
Soft Gym is “at once a gym, a sculpture and a social experiment,” according to a card handed out at the opening. It “invites visitors to consider how shared environments shape us – how we perform, support and stretch one another – a stage for emotion, movement and reflection for everyone,” the card states. On their website, the artists call it “a rehearsal space for public feeling.”
More than 100 people came to the Inviting Light event, which included walking tours of the other three completed art installations in the area: Zoe Charlton’s ‘Third Watch’ at the North Avenue Market, 10-30 W. North Ave.; Phaan Howng’s “Big Ass Snake(Plant)s on a Plane’ at 1714 N. Charles St., and Tony Shore’s ‘Aurora’ at 1817 N. Charles St. A fifth installation, Ekene Ijeoma’s ‘Peacemaker,’ is coming to 1707-1709 Barclay St.
Although Wickerham referred to ‘Soft Gym’ as a park, it’s not open to the public the same hours as city parks are. To prevent people from camping out in the space or vandalizing the artists’ work, the lot is a secured space with gates that are kept locked when events aren’t taking place there.
According to the Central Baltimore Partnership, the new Ynot Lot and Soft Gym installation will be open to the public from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 21 and 22 and Dec. 5, 6 and 12 and from noon to 8 p.m. on Dec. 13. Additional hours will be added, planners say, as events are scheduled in the space.
