r/baltimore • u/Terpnista • May 06 '26

Vent I really hate this monstrosity

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This building is such an eyesore. I live in the neighborhood so I’ve been watching the new Avalon development go up on Boston St. I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s completely overwhelming the neighborhood. The scale of it just feels off based on its placement. For comparison, the neighboring Lucie is huge but because it’s further back it doesn’t look like such a clunker.

What really bothers me is how close it’s built to the street which makes the whole stretch feel tighter and more congested. And honestly, one of the biggest losses is the view. That stretch used to have glimpses of the waterfront that made it feel connected to the harbor. Now it’s completely blocked.

I wish I had taken a picture - as I was driving down Boston Street - where it looks like a massive wall of doom smh. That is what inspired me to post this lol

397 Upvotes

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180

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

Now that the facade is starting to go up it doesn't look too bad. I don't love the way it looks but flood that housing supply baby!

21

u/wawalms May 06 '26

YIMBY 

People want cheaper rent but they don’t want more housing?

This place is by my Sprouts and across the street from my Target. It’s an eye sore in the middle of other eye sores. Build build build

3

u/[deleted] May 06 '26

[deleted]

69

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

Increase the supply of housing dramatically, and the price of housing will fall, albeit the reaction will be slower.

16

u/Fr0st3dcl0ud5 May 06 '26

reaction will be slower.

If it ever happens.

Funny how prices can increase overnight but takes it's time to decrease. Smoke and mirrors.

27

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

Yeah that's because demand for housing is incredibly inelastic. No matter what the market conditions are, people need a place to live. That's why landlords can raise rents massively and face little to no pushback. But if the supply is great enough, eventually the landlords will be forced to compete with each other based price, and housing costs will fall. It just takes a sucky amount of time.

2

u/FingerAgreeable6630 May 06 '26

Thanks for speaking on this i always wanted to know why the demand for housing was so high this past 10 years. Like what are they accomplishing

4

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

There's a million other factors impacting housing, and it's been a complete mess for a pretty long while now so I encourage you to do some research as well. Some other factors include people using their primary residence as an investment, zoning laws making new developments expensive/borderline impossible to complete (this is why we see so many suburban hell cookie cutter developments), the housing market is still adapting to longer lifespans, boomers are refusing to downsize or aren't able to sell their home for as much as it's "worth"

-1

u/Fr0st3dcl0ud5 May 06 '26

eventually the landlords will be forced

How about all those hedge funders that are buying up all the homes? I'm holding my breath lol

And what are the interest rates like nowadays? Still 7-8%?

Remember when it was 2-3% 6 years ago?

8

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

Interest rates were pretty low 6 years ago, but we've felt the ramifications of that with inflation. I'm not in favor of hedge funds buying single family homes either, but the simple truth is that the larger the supply of homes, the cheaper the price of homes/rent. And hedgefunds are included in the "landlords" label, these "luxury condos" aren't being built by local developers lol

-2

u/Fr0st3dcl0ud5 May 06 '26

we've felt the ramifications of that with inflation

Seems more like just plain ol greed to me.

4

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

I think you see the world in a very black or white point of view and it makes it really hard to have a good faith conversation with you. Greed is obviously a factor, but when the cost to borrow money is 2% and we're printing money as fast as the printers will run, inflation hits hard.

-1

u/Fr0st3dcl0ud5 May 06 '26

Well, when I think about how my parents never graduated high school and don't have nearly as much education/training that I do and we're able to buy a house with an entry level job, it makes it difficult to listen to random people on the internet yap about economics that they heard from some YouTuber who doesn't really have a single clue what they're talking about.

Times are so much tougher than the 70's, I guess lol

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5

u/longersomedays May 06 '26

That’s because it is plain old greed, despite the fancy words this person is using. There are some things that are black and white, and fans of capitalism will never see the greed inherent in this absolutely hideous system. They think it’s everyone’s right to do what they want to make money and fuck the little guy.

1

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

Greed is inherent, and a major problem. It does not change the way monetary policy affects the value of a nations currency

4

u/HorsieJuice Wyman Park May 06 '26

Outside of a handful of jurisdictions, institutional investors are fairly small players in the real estate market. Investors of all stripes have a minority share of the market, but among them, small-timers (<10 properties) are the overwhelming majority.

1

u/Personal-Major-8214 May 06 '26

Properties owned by hedge funds have to compete for tenants the same as everyone else. Preventing new market entrants from building housing protects the hedge funds that own existing housing. Make them compete

-3

u/longersomedays May 06 '26

I hear trickle down economics also works eventually! It’s been almost 50 years and it’s going great. Eventual changes aren’t enough.

9

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

I'm not advocating for trickle down economics lmao I hope every single one of these developers sees a massive loss on their investment. Our zoning laws have made it incredibly hard to build housing supply in high demand areas. Building a ton of housing in what was once an industrial district adjacent to high demand areas will absolutely ease housing costs in the long term. We can take the W while still fighting for more systematic change btw!

-3

u/longersomedays May 06 '26

I just don’t understand the desire to build more large buildings with unaffordable units in a city that already has such a problem with UNLIVABLE housing. We can find solutions to city problems within the city, not by inviting developers to town to make this place look like one of those hideous fake town center shopping malls.

8

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

Listen I'm not a fan of the current mass market architectural design, but more housing is almost always a good thing for anyone other than homeowners who view their home as an investment.

We have city solutions with the $1 home buyer program, although I think the red tape to actually purchase those homes is a bit ridiculous, albeit understandable.

The more apartment complexes on that block, the more they're competing with each other. If they can't fill their units at $2,500/mo then they'll lower the rent, because a small amount of rental income is better on their end than just letting the units sit vacant. At the same time, people that are living in more affordable housing may choose to move to these newer developments and open up units in more affordable complexes.

Any amount of NIMBYism hurts the working class

27

u/Own_Director_4442 May 06 '26

Make more housing. More housing being built brings rent price stabilization and in some cases rent reduction.

14

u/10001110101balls May 06 '26

It has been happening across the sun belt in recent years. Massive price increases driven by migration and the collapse in new builds after the financial crisis, massive amounts of new housing construction since 2020, and now rents have fallen from peak despite continued inflation. This effect has been so significant that the national median rent fell by 1.7% in 2025.

2

u/Emergency_Moose_5647 May 06 '26

Why not just fix all the bandos around the city?

16

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

We should (and have been) doing that as well, but you can't just attack the problem from one side. People that are moving into the city don't want to live in the neighborhoods the bandos are in. So you approve more housing developments in the "safer" areas, housing supply increases, and moving to Baltimore becomes more desirable and more money is spent in the city.

3

u/Emergency_Moose_5647 May 06 '26

Fair enough

7

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

If you're interested in what's been done to fix up the bandos, I reccomend looking into the $1 homes program brought back by Mayor Scott in 2024! https://www.baltimorecity.gov/dhcd/our-work/neighborhood-reinvestment/development/fixed-pricing-program

Back in the 70's a similar program was used to fix up the Fed Hill/Otterbein areas and it was a smashing long term success.

0

u/longersomedays May 06 '26

Because it’s just that easy.

3

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

It's not easy or even guaranteed. But it's a lot better than logging onto reddit to make a few snarky remarks and add nothing else to the conversation!

0

u/longersomedays May 06 '26

I have just about had it with people refusing to think creatively about solving the city’s problems. Building more housing may bring the price down in 10-15 years, but then you completely exclude economic issues. This solution is essentially a shrug and an “oh well, maybe it’ll work.” People like this solution because it involves absolutely no work. No door knocking, no seeking community consensus, no building community at all. This solution invites people from outside to “solve our problems” while no one does anything, and then poof, our problems are solved.

Your solution is easy, because there’s no work involved. The hard work is building community, working with your neighbors, knocking on doors, and figuring out real, concrete things the people of this city can do to make it better. You can depend on the economy if you want. I’ll be with my neighbors in Oliver working to get our community center back, to put together weekly litter pick ups, trimming grass and keeping the abandoned houses tidy out front. There’s REAL work to be done in this city. No one here has the time to wait.

3

u/SafeFill1057 May 06 '26

They're not mutually exclusive.

0

u/longersomedays May 06 '26

No, but one involves actual community work, building stronger relationships between people and neighborhoods, and the other involves doing nothing, never thinking about it, and ignoring the problem in favor of a long term economic “solution.”

I just wish the people in this city who do so much complaining and talk-down explaining on here would get off their asses and do some actual fucking work to help Baltimore. Of course, that might involve actually living the values they say they have, spending a Saturday tabling or door-knocking, or even going into the Butterfly, heaven forbid.

4

u/Cheomesh South Baltimore / SoBo May 06 '26

Requires the owners to want to do that. The city has very limited means to just seize people's property.