Station North Arts, Culture, & Entertainment District Strategic Plan

Mr. Gross completed a Strategic Plan for the Station North Arts & Entertainment District in Baltimore. Station North is one of a handful of Maryland State-designated arts districts that offer income and other tax benefits for arts-related businesses. Mr. Gross led a team of consultants that assessed the market potentials for mixed-income housing, office, retail, entertainment, industrial, and cultural space (theatres, galleries, etc) in the district. He also conducted extensive community outreach and garnered significant community participation through an extensive interview process, stakeholder focus groups, and a full-day visioning effort. Key issues in this African-American community related to rapid gentrification of housing, resulting in a loss of affordability for existing artists and other residents; retail corridor degeneration, lack of economic opportunity, and the loss of key anchor cultural venues. Based on the community’s input and on the economic analysis, concepts were developed for redevelopment and a full implementation plan was produced for soft programming to assist the Station North arts organization cope with and plan for change. The District is now a successful example of arts-based urban revitalization.