By Amanda Krew
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Small businesses in Baltimore’s Charles Village have been struggling to stay open amid Johns Hopkins-funded construction that promises to improve bike lanes and street lighting, repair curbs and sidewalks and elevate landscaping.
“On one hand, it’s really fabulous that we have an institution that has resources they can and do put into the community,” said Carma Halterman, owner of Carma’s Café and The Dog House.
“I remember a time when Hopkins actively tried to keep their students on campus and considered the surrounding areas dangerous,” Halterman added. “That was 15-20 years ago. It has completely turned around.”
Charles Village began its slow development in 1868 in the north central area of Baltimore and over the years has gained a reputation as “bold and spunky” with its Victorian style rowhouses brightly painted in vibrant pinks, greens, yellows and other colorful hues. While Johns Hopkins University opened its doors on Feb. 22, 1876, the popular Homewood section grew mainly from 1902 to 1924.
The construction started in April, as orange construction cones and yellow tape blocked out traffic and pedestrians along St. Paul Street from 31st Street to 33rd Street, as well as along Charles Street. Construction is expected to be completed in December, officials said.
Sara Autrey, owner of Get Shredded Vintage, explained the inconveniences of having a construction fence around her store front from May until September.
“[The shop] was completely shielded from view and even if people knew where I was, there was nowhere to park,” said Autrey.
The symphony of construction has taken a toll not only on Get Shredded Vintage and Carma’s Café at 3120 St. Paul Street, but also on such small businesses as Eddie’s Market at 3117 St. Paul St. All the small businesses rely on accessibility to their shops and have suffered a decrease in customers willing to navigate the construction chaos, officials said.
Interested customers “would have to walk through clouds of concrete dust and jack hammering and dangerously fenced off tiny sidewalks,” Autrey complained. “Not only that, they had cones all down 31st for a good portion of the summer, so people couldn’t even access that road with their car.”
Jerry Gordon, the manager of Eddie’s Market, a grocery store that’s been on St. Paul since 1962, has seen decline in business as well.
“We took a pretty big hit, they closed our side of the street in mid-June,” said Gordon. “We were supposed to have our side open by the end of July, but it didn’t open until … mid-September. It was pretty horrific because we could get no automobile traffic whatsoever. It’s picked up significantly since then but not back to what we were doing before.”
Jill Rosen of the Hopkins Media Relations Office said the university does sympathize with the plight of the local businesses.
“We worked with our neighbors to ensure that while the work is happening, sidewalks remain open and businesses are accessible,” said Rosen.
Halterman, however, said that the Neighborhood Association has been active in communicating problems with the construction team, but many small business owners do not have the time or resources to attend their meetings.
“This year we have been down by at least 35 percent since May,” Halterman said. “Restaurants have a pretty narrow margin to begin with and, frankly, I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on. Seven businesses have closed in the last three to four months.”
Reconstruction of the streets is necessary agreed Autrey, Gordon, and Halterman. The “multi-year effort” has brought together Hopkins and the Baltimore City Department of Transportation with the goal to increase parking for businesses along St. Paul Street, improve intersections and “install high quality, pedestrian friendly streetscape components to enhance the neighborhood and retail district in Charles Village.”
“[Hopkins] finished our block before the next block because we are locally owned small businesses and the next block are national chains, so there’s really no representation there to say ‘hey, we need help’ whereas here, we say ‘we need help,’ ” said Gordon. “They heard that and opened us up before they opened the next block up.”
Halterman added, “I think what has been missing is genuine communication between Hopkins and the community and that’s not all on Hopkins.”
Although construction is scheduled to end in December, many business owners are uncertain they will be able to hang on that long. Efforts to return to the business seen before the construction are already underway at Get Shredded Vintage, whose Instagram is flooded with incentives to come and shop.
“We’re doing everything we can to survive, I’m not sure it’s going to work,” said Halterman. “I’ve never said that in 15 years.”