The first time Charles and Claire Wenzel downsized, they went from a 4,200-square-foot rancher to a 3,000-square-foot townhouse.

This time, they decided to downsize to a 1,300-square-foot, one-level living space that offered them several amenities including a covered parking garage, fitness center, clubhouse, business center and swimming pool. But what the Wenzels chose was not a condominium. Instead, they decided to go one step further by getting rid of their mortgage and moving into the new Towson apartment complex, Dulaney Crescent.

"We live in Myrtle Beach part of the year, and with the apartment we can just close the door behind us and go," said Claire Wenzel.

Dulaney Crescent is Towson's first rental apartment complex to be built in more than 20 years. It also is the first residential development to take advantage of tax credits offered by Baltimore County.

In the heart of Towson, the 264 apartments are adjacent to Dulaney Valley Shopping Center and across the street from Towson Town Center.

While the area is known for its revitalized commercial corridor, new residential construction in the Towson district is almost nonexistent because of a shortage of land. But the developer of the project, Consolidated Equities Corp. of Lutherville, found a way to reuse existing residential property. The company is banking on the notion that people want to move back to urban areas and into communities that combine living, working and recreation.

"Commute times and traffic congestion have really festered on people. In recent years there has been a trend across the country to move back to the city and closer to where they work, live and play," said Todd Tilson, a principal with Consolidated Equities Corp.

Experts describe the national apartment market as soft in part because low mortgage rates have helped spur another record year in real estate sales. Even so, Tilson and partner Robert Becker said, demand for the new complex is strong.

"Apartment living offers tremendous flexibility, which has been a huge attraction," Tilson said. "There's enough of a population that exists of people in flux in their life who are not ready to dig their feet into a permanent situation."

The $20 million redevelopment of the property involved knocking down 60 older apartments and designing the new building to fit on a 3.4-acre parcel. The doughnut design has four levels of apartments wrapping around a central parking garage.

Residents are assigned a parking space on the same floor as their apartment and the garage is hidden from the streetscape. Also within the "hole" of the doughnut are two outdoor courtyards.

Consolidate Equities Corp. builds and manages apartment complexes throughout the Baltimore and Washington area, but this was its first redevelopment project.

"The answer to how to redevelop an urban in-fill site was to achieve a density that would make economic sense to do the project in the first place," Tilson said.

It also helped that Baltimore County government supported the project, which is in the county-designated Towson revitalization district.

"We worked with them quite a bit on this project. We wanted higher-end residential development in our older business areas because that automatically brings in consumers," said Andrea Van Arsdale, director of Baltimore County's Commercial Revitalization Program. "We thought this would be good for Towson as a whole."

It was the first residential project to take advantage of the county's commercial revitalization tax credit. Only commercial development was eligible in the past. The county extended the tax credit to include certain residential redevelopment projects when Dulaney Crescent was proposed.

The credits are designed to encourage developers to provide parking for the projects they build.

"This was one of those situations where we were just looking at commercial redevelopment with the tax credit," Van Arsdale said. "When this project presented itself, it became the impetus for it to be offered to residential projects because it just made sense to help offset the garage costs."

The development of the four-story project is somewhat unique to Baltimore County, said Arnold F. Keller III, planning director for Baltimore County.

"What's really nice about this project is you get a good density, it comes off visually with good appeal and it's not in a tower or high-rise," Keller said. "It conserved land remarkably well. We are excited about it and believe it will serve as a model."

Dulaney Crescent's one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments feature 9-foot ceilings, large kitchens, prewired Internet access and full-size washers and dryers. Many apartments come with a gas fireplace and some have vaulted ceilings and lofts. The rent varies between $900 and $1,800 a month. The Wenzels, for example, pay $1,525 a month.

Although the apartment market continues to remain "soft" according to the Washington-based National Multi Housing Council's October survey, Dulaney Crescent developers said they are ahead of projections.

"There appears to be a pent-up demand from anyone who lives in this area and was looking for something like this," Becker said.

The first tenants moved into Dulaney Crescent in early September. The project is expected to be completed by spring.