Stavrou to Build Townhomes in South Baltimore
By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor After nearly five years without any new towhnhome construction, the South Baltimore townhome market seems to be coming back to life. Steve Strohecker broke ground a few weeks ago on a four-townhome project. He is now followed by Annapolis-based Stavrou whose project will bring 10 luxury townhomes to South Baltimore. [...]
By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor
After nearly five years without any new towhnhome construction, the South Baltimore townhome market seems to be coming back to life. Steve Strohecker 
broke ground a few weeks ago on a four-townhome project. He is now followed by Annapolis-based Stavrou whose project will bring 10 luxury townhomes to South Baltimore.
Known as Harbor Square, the development is located at 20 E. Fort Ave between Charles and Light streets, just along the border of Federal Hill. Stavrou is constructing the 10 townhomes on the site of the former CVS. The project will start with utility work on the property.
Five of the ten townhomes will be built on Fort Avenue with the other five on Birckhead Street. Sized at 1,950 square feet, each of the three-story homes will include three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, a rooftop deck, a single car garage and a single car parking spot. They will also feature fourth story wet bars with attached rooftop decks, granite finishes in the kitchens and bathrooms, hardwood floors everywhere but the bedrooms, stainless steel appliances and much more. All of this comes with a price tag of $399,999. Fireplaces and  hardwood floors in the bedrooms can also be installed but will bring the price up to almost $410,000.
According to RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), the data arm of the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. 
(MRIS), home sales in the Baltimore area were up 13 percent in May compared to a year earlier. And, 2,361 homes in the region traded hands, up from 2,084 in May of 2011, with an average sale price of $279,829, showing an 8 percent increase from $257,547 last year. As inventory declines in the Baltimore area, sellers continue to gain leverage, at least for the moment.
Stavrou hopes to pre-sell most of the units and have the first group of five homeowners moved in by the end of the year. The company has developed two other townhome projects in Baltimore, Cannery Square in Canton in 2010 and Fells Crossing in Fells Point in 2011.
Image courtesy of RE/MAX Sails.
Charts courtesy of RealEstate Business Intelligence.
