The 5000 block of Baltimore Avenue has seen some changes in the last few years, notably with a few new businesses joining the corridor. Vix Emporium offers a collection of gifty items, mostly made by locals. Pound Cake Heaven is a small local bakery with especially tasty pound cake, as you might expect. And one of these days, maybe the long-planned Babylon Bistro will open its doors as well.
When we passed by recently, we stopped dead in our tracks when we spied another business on the block which wasn't there before. At some point over the summer, event space Petite Fete opened their doors at 5042 Baltimore Ave., on the first floor of a building that had been sitting vacant and blighted for years. A couple years ago, there was talk that this building and a few of its neighbors would be demolished and the site would be redeveloped by the Mercy Wellness Center, but it looks like that plan fell by the wayside. It's also worth noting, the neighboring buildings still look like they're in rough shape but they look much better than they did previously.
New owners bought 5042 Baltimore Ave. back in 2014 and now the entire building seems to be in active use. The adjacent buildings are all under the same ownership as before, and we wonder whether the owners of these buildings could be inspired to sell sometime soon. The owners 5040 Baltimore Ave., at least, seem to have done a little to improve their property, perhaps the block could get another business soon at this location.
Lest you think that everything is hunky dory on this block, there's still a bunch of blight across the street. Man, these buildings must have been so amazing once upon a time.
So while it's true that this block is slowly making incremental progress, it still has a ways to go. We're optimistic though, that in the years to come, the progress will continue and eventually all the vacancy will get filled.