This developer has a long string of successes at urban revitalization, from Boston to Baltimore. The Ship's Tavern District has been the hole in the doughnut. As the Christina Riverfront has taken shape over the past couple of years, along with a new courthouse on Walnut Street and the education and historical district further up Market Street, lower Market has remained in a state of persistent blight. It threatened to cripple the entire downtown redevelopment scheme. This project should begin to fill that gap.
Skeptics abound, as is usually the case.
It's both an enormous opportunity and a daunting challenge. And the rot changes the kind of people willing to use it. Lower Market Street has defied all other efforts to stop its downward spiral. It has affected the rest of the downtown commercial district. If Renaissance Corp. can reverse the fall, it will have given the city its first real chance to recapture its vibrancy.