Cities that Sizzle

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan, 2001

2006 population forecast: 1.45 million

Disposable income: $25.00 billion, 16.17%

Household income: $53,051, 8.31%

Per-capita Income: $20,112, 7.79%

Eating-and-drinking place sales (1999): $1.17 billion

No. of foodservice & drinking places (1997): 2,002

Foodservice & drinking place payroll (1997): $367.1 million

No. of foodservice & drinking place employees (1997): 35,933

No. of residents per foodservice & drinking place (1997): 534

Hourly minimum wage: $5.15

Employers' tip-credit allowance: $3.02

State and local sales tax: 6.25%

Annual economic Impact of travel and tourism: $1.3 billion from 14 million visitors

Local unemployment rate: 2.2%

Sources: U.S. Dept. of Commerce; U.S. Census Bureau; Editor & Publisher Market Guide; NRN Research.

Baltimore

Josh Greenwald

Restaurants are the centerpiece of city's downtown rejuvenation

With a number of large-scale development projects in the works and more professionals continuing to move into the city, a "second renaissance" appears well under way in Baltimore.

The city's downtown harbor area has been the focal point of the revitalization, and both casual and upscale restaurateurs are moving into a number of neighborhoods there.

Since the 1970s the once-rundown Inner Harbor has been undergoing redevelopment, and it is now one of the city's most popular tourist destinations. Dozens of chain and fast-food restaurants are located in and around the Inner Harbor, near such major tourist attractions as the National Aquarium, Maryland Science Center and Port Discovery, a children's museum and amusement park.

Now several key developers of restaurant, office and residential space are working to expand the growth east and west along the harbor, into the surrounding neighborhoods of Inner Harbor East, Fells Point, Canton, Federal Hill and downtown Baltimore.

Other areas that are seeing signs of activity are west of the harbor around Oriole Park at Camden Yards, PSI Net Stadium -- home of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens -- and the Baltimore Convention Center; the neighborhoods surrounding the Johns Hopkins University undergraduate campus to the north; and outlying suburbs, including Towson and Elkridge. Towson is north of the city in Baltimore County; Elkridge is south of Baltimore City, near the Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Anne Arundel County.

But the majority of development in the Baltimore area is continuing to take place around the harbor.

According to a recent report by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, 36 projects currently are under construction in the downtown harbor area, at an estimated cost of $695 million.

In addition, the nonprofit DPOB cited an estimated $1.6 billion in planned investment activity for downtown Baltimore.

Some of the biggest players involved downtown are Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc., H&S Properties and The Cordish Co.

Struever Bros. is working to create a "digital harbor" by focusing on projects that are attracting technology-based companies to the area, according to company president Carl W. "Bill" Struever. To give technology businesses an incentive to move into the city, Struever has worked to provide a mix of restaurant, retail and business space at his properties, he says.