Catherine Caskey This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Baltimore City Paper: Home Front (November 7 - November 13, 2001)

   www.citypaper.com/2001-11-07/f - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/30/2002   Last Visited: 10/30/2002

   Catherine Caskey of Pennrose Properties shows off one of the spacious apartments in the company's rehabbed Riviera building.
   
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   To that end, Pennrose Properties' Catherine Caskey has attended several meetings to talk about her company's successful redevelopment of the Riviera apartment building on Druid Park Lake Drive, which used private and public funds to create a mix of subsidized and market-rate rental units.
   
   Pennrose reopened the 86-year-old Riviera in October 2000, after it purchased the six-floor building from the city and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Using a mix of federal, state, and city funds, Pennrose returned the building to its original floor plan of 54 units (it had been redeveloped into more than 80 apartments) and restored its historic architecture to its former grandeur. Because the project relied in large part on government money, the units are a mix of subsidized and market-rate rentals, with rents ranging from $550 to $950 a month.
   
   Now Pennrose is doing much the same thing with the Chateau, another historic apartment building along Druid Park Lake Drive; construction is slated to begin in May. Pennrose has an option to buy blighted properties near the building and tear them down to make room for tenant parking (as it did for the Riviera).
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   While Pennrose is not interested in "going after one or two properties at a time," says Caskey, director of the local office, it did recently hold preliminary talks with someone who owns more than 100 properties in the neighborhood.
   
   The very visible resurrection of the Riviera, coupled with the success of the new townhouse development Spicer's Run just across North Avenue from Reservoir Hill, show that the community's long-term housing health requires offering something more to potential residents than big historic houses and low-interest loans. The people filling these new developments are not the homesteaders of yesteryear; they want to live in the city but don't want to swing a hammer in exchange for a great mortgage.

2. 2. Housing needs

   www.mddailyrecord.com/current_ - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/13/2001   Last Visited: 12/13/2001

   Catherine Caskey, director of the Maryland office of Pennrose Properties Inc., which is planning the Lofts at Lexington, a 250- to 270-unit loft-style apartment complex on the West Side, agreed. "I believe in this market 100 percent. The thing that we're lucky about is you've got such a stable market in the University of Maryland."
   
   The study, to be formally released within weeks, also found that empty nesters will comprise a small portion of the downtown housing market - about 6 percent. Young professionals will form the bulk of the demand, or 86 percent, and traditional and nontraditional families about 8 percent.
   
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   "I think it's a great way to get the younger $30,000 to $40,000 group in there," Caskey said.

3. 3. Factory designs attract urbanites

   www.mddailyrecord.com/current_ - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/5/2001   Last Visited: 9/5/2001

   New construction just rents up , said Catherine Caskey , director of the Maryland office for Pennrose Properties. The developer is seeking a PILOT , or payment in lieu of taxes , from the city , as well as additional funding for the project. It will present drawings to the city's Design Advisory Panel for architectural review tomorrow.
   
   Creating the unfinished industrial look from the ground up is a much easier feat than renovating a historical structure , she said. It's a huge advantage. You don't have to work around existing columns..
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   You can create your own look as you go , Caskey added.
   
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   A $3.5 million renovation under way at Lexington Market is a boon to the project , Caskey said. People who go [ to the apartments ] or rent there can pick up dinner..
   
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   Caskey says she expects the Lofts at Lexington , which will sit at the westernmost edge of the West Side , to attract University of Maryland students and employees as well as young professionals and empty nesters from outside the city.
   
   You just have this incredible captured audience , she said. It's going to be a real draw..