Greenmount West, Baltimore

Greenmount West
Neighborhood
Street art on the side of a rowhouse in Greenmount West
Country	United States
State	Maryland
City	Baltimore
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC)
ZIP code	21201
Area code	410, 443, and 667

Greenmount West is a neighborhood in the state-designated Station North Arts District of Baltimore City. Its borders consist of Hargrove Alley to the west, Hoffman Street and the Amtrak railroad tracks to the south, the south side of North Avenue to the north, and Greenmount Avenue to the east. Residents in the area include a mix of low, middle and high income families, artists, commuters to Washington DC and working-class Baltimoreans with the majority of residents of African American descent.

The neighborhood was one of many affected by the Baltimore riot of 1968. For years, the area suffered from urban decay, housing abandonment and crime, but in recent times the area has experienced a resurgence. Artists have created live/work space in the sprawling former Crown Cork and Seal factory buildings (commonly known as the Copycat Building) along the railroad tracks. Small developers are rehabbing the two and three story rowhouses for market rate homeownership. Pocket parks like McAllister Park, Hunters Lot and Brentwood Commons were created in the area, and the neighborhood's 2002 designation as an Arts and Entertainment District further catalyzed development. The real estate bubble of the 2000s caused Baltimore's housing prices to skyrocket, and drove home buyers seeking out cheaper areas on the upswing to the neighborhood. Housing sales in 2009 ranged between $169,000 - $320,000.

Greenmount West is within walking distance to the Maryland Institute College of Art; Penn Station is directly south, providing walking-distance access to Amtrak, Light Rail and MARC commuter rail service (the latter being of particular interest to those commuting to Washington, D.C.). Mt. Vernon, Baltimore borders the neighborhood to the south.