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Leaders of the Baltimore City Child Care Resource Center scouted out nearly two dozen locations before moving the 35-person office from downtown's Charles Plaza.
At first, the resource center's leaders concentrated their search on what they knew best: downtown's central business district.
But the need for economical space close to public transportation sent them scouring the city's comers instead of its core.
After much researching, Baltimore City Child Care Resource Center settled on a fairly untested area unknown to some of its employees: Carroll Camden Industrial Park in Southwest Baltimore.
"It was an unknown to them," said Terri Harrington, a Shapiro Co. LLC commercial real estate broker who represented Baltimore City Child Care Resource Center. "They are an office user and there are not a lot of office users there right now."
That is what the Baltimore Development Corp., or BDC, is trying to change.
The quasi-public economic development organization recently spearheaded an urban renewal plan for the industrial park, which is bounded by Camden Street, Washington Boulevard and interstates 95 and 395. Completed in December, the plan aims to convert the sleepy 500-acre industrial area on either side of Russell Street into a vibrant commercial gateway into the city - particularly into Baltimore's redeveloped west side.
Recommendations include upgrading the public infrastructure throughout the park acquiring vacant or underutilized properties and making some land-use changes to protect certain industrial land, while allowing for office and retail complexes on other parcels. The renewal plan is expected to accelerate commercial growth at Carroll Camden that started about three years ago. Already home to about 160 businesses and 6,000 employees,...