Chris Taylor believes in cities.
“Being in the city allows you to reinvent yourself,” said the developer, who is in the process of reinventing the school attached to Our Lady of Pompei Church at Pratt and Conkling streets.
The school building will be renovated to house 27 apartments, largely one-bedroom units but with a few two-bedroom and studio units as well.
A former school teacher who weathered a rough patch or two before becoming a developer, starting with a single house, Taylor knows something about “reinventing yourself,” as do the ex-offenders he has given a second chance to round out his crew. Taylor’s company, Urban Space Developers, does most work in-house, reserving sub-outs for specialty work such as plumbing and electric.
As he courted support for the Pompei project with Highlandtown residents in a community meeting last winter, he gave out his cell phone number and offered to lead tours of his other projects, including another apartment rehab – fully rented soon after completion – at the former St. Patrick’s school in Upper Fell’s Point. He has also been very active on the west side, particularly in Union Square.
“We like to be in the areas that aren’t shiny right now, this minute, but are going to get there, and we want to help them get there,” Taylor said.
“Frankly, Highlandtown is high end for us,” he added. “I think it has a bright future.”
At the community meeting, resident Nick Kirley expressed support for the project.
“Very rarely does somebody come into Highlandtown and want to drop a couple of million bucks on anything,” he said. “I’m willing to give it a chance, and I live across the street.”
The project, which the Southeast Community Development Corp. supports, will help revitalize an intersection that currently has several vacant buildings.
If his previous projects are any indication, Taylor predicts that the typical Pompei tenant will be “probably female, young, 20s to mid-30s, and probably working somewhere in the city.”
The apartments will be rented at market rate.
“It’s going to be a very high end, well done project, managed by a solid company that is here in Baltimore,” says Taylor.
“We’re as local as you get,” he added. “My partners live in the city; I live in the city. Our income taxes go back to the city.”