Call it the ultimate in retro chic.
Plopped between three 19th-century loft buildings and the former Crazy John's carryout shop on Baltimore's west side is an unlikely symbol of urban renewal - a full-scale replica of a log cabin.
Is it an early American branch of the children's museum? Clandestine meeting place for "off-the-grid" survivalists? Memorial to the early settlers?
Did some wayward descendents of Daniel Boone take a wrong turn at the Harbor Tunnel and decide to set up camp?
None of the above. This two-story structure, which appeared in the 300 block of W. Baltimore St. this month without any building permits, is actually a mobile home, pre-fabricated to look like the log cabins of old.
For the next eight to 10 months, it will be a full-time residence for the head of a Virginia-based company hired to remove lead paint, asbestos and pigeon droppings from eight old buildings being saved as part of the $71 million, 394-unit Centerpoint apartment and retail development on Baltimore's west side.
The log cabin imagery was quite intentional, says company owner Pauline Ewald, who will live there starting next Monday. She said she sees Centerpoint's initial residents as the early settlers of downtown's west side.
"Centerpoint is pioneering the west-side renaissance," she says. "We're leading the way. We're the first in the wagon train."
The building turns out to be a high-tech log cabin as well, with a fully equipped kitchen, high-pressure shower in case of emergencies (a la The China Syndrome) and a high-efficiency washer to clean contaminated clothes.
The sudden appearance of a 630-square-foot log cabin on Baltimore Street caused something of a stir during groundbreaking ceremonies for Centerpoint on Thursday, with visitors speculating that it might be anything from a leasing center for the apartments to an interactive playroom for kids.
"It certainly has received a lot of attention," says Cass Gottlieb, a principal of Kann & Associates, Centerpoint's architect. "If it wasn't part of their marketing strategy, maybe it should have been."
The city's Design Advisory Panel never reviewed plans for it, says member M. Jay Brodie, who's also president of the Baltimore Development Corp.
"It's only temporary," says Brodie.
Ewald owns and runs SECO, which stands for Southern Environmental Companies of Ashland, Va. It's a hazardous waste abatement and environmental consulting firm that cleans up old buildings and construction sites so they can be adapted for new uses.
SECO agreed to work around the clock - three eight-hour shifts daily - to meet Centerpoint's ambitious construction timetable, which calls for the apartments to open in 2004. Because a superintendent must be on site at all times in case of an emergency, Ewald explains, she agreed to live there as part of her company's contract with the development team. That makes her, in effect, the first resident of Centerpoint.
While most construction trailers are designed to be occupied eight hours a day, Ewald says, they're built with certain chemicals and plastics that make them unsuitable as residences. Some manufacturers even post warnings to keep children out. So she looked for a trailer made with natural materials, and ended up leasing the log cabin replica instead.
"I just thought it would be a nice thing for an environmental contractor, who is coming in to make things safe for other people, to make sure that our superintendents and staffers would be safe themselves and not exposed to hazardous materials," Ewald says
Besides, she adds, "we thought [the log cabin model] was higher in quality than your average construction trailer, and Centerpoint is a high-quality development. ... We're trying to do something a little different here."
Made in South Carolina by a company called Blue Ridge Log Cabins, the dwelling has knotty pine siding on the outside and white pine inside. There's a living room on one end and a bedroom on the other, with a cathedral-style ceiling throughout. The living and sleeping spaces are separated by a kitchenette and bathroom, with a sleeping loft located above the bathroom.
"The floors are wood. The walls are wood. It's a totally 'green' building," Ewald says. "That's why we picked it. It's nothing terribly luxurious, but all the bells and whistles are here."
Centerpoint will occupy the block bounded by Baltimore, Howard, Eutaw and Fayette streets. Along with cleaning out historic buildings, SECO had to sanitize vacant lots and alleys on the property in time for the groundbreaking ceremony.
"It was so gross, we had to burn our shoes afterward," Ewald said. "There were cockroaches the size of your hand and rats as big as cats. They couldn't have had a groundbreaking on it."
SECO makes a point of hiring workers from the immediate neighborhood, including people who simply show up at the construction fence and ask for work. Ewald said the company has hired 30 people already and eventually will need three times as many at Centerpoint. Jobs pay from $8 an hour for an entry level position to $13 an hour for a supervisory job.
"I cannot tell you how impressed I've been," she says of the Baltimore employees SECO has hired so far. "They've done a heck of a job. They've already changed the character of the site."
SECO trains unskilled workers by enrolling them in four-day classes to learn about lead paint and asbestos removal, and those who successfully complete the courses receive certificates that can also help them get jobs elsewhere.
"It's one thing to hand someone a broom and say, 'Here, we have three weeks worth of work for you,'" Ewald says. "It's another to hand them a certificate and say, 'Here, you have a profession.' Once you're certified [in hazardous waste abatement], you have a trade for life."
The log cabin is a symbol for that sort of pioneering job training effort as well, she says.
"We don't want to just sweep in and sweep out and leave people in the community with nothing," she says. "I want the word to be out that a job is there for somebody who wants to work hard and needs a break."