For several years, Susan Snyder tried to persuade her husband, Michael, to leave Pikesville, their home base of more than 35 years. About a dozen years ago, he agreed to rent an apartment at HarborView in Federal Hill.
Six months later, they were the proud owners of the same condominium they rented in the high-rise building. They successfully downsized from a three-story, four-bedroom house to an “unencumbering” one-bedroom condo with a den on the 17th floor.
“We found out less is more,” says Susan Snyder. “We really didn’t need all the space we had lived in for many years.”
Like the Snyders, many empty nesters choose to consolidate and move to the city.
“They downsize, wanting to get closer to the action,” says Ken Roche, a realtor with Coldwell Banker. “A walkable community proves attractive for these folks. It’s a more active lifestyle and social life. They tend to migrate from the suburbs to the city to be co-located with the action.”
According to the Greater Baltimore Jewish Community Study released in 2010 by The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, 32 percent of the Jewish population in the greater Baltimore region lives in the city. The study found downtown Baltimore, east and west combined, was home for about 3,700 Jewish households, and city ZIP codes counted 9,700 households that identified as Jewish.
“I do see a lot of people whose perspective changes once kids are out of the house, and they realize they value community, walkability, a fun lifestyle and water access more than a big house,” says Jen Holden, a realtor with Long & Foster.
After living more than three decades in the Greenspring and Stevenson areas, Royce and Michael Hendler made the move 13 years ago to a three-bedroom, four-story townhouse on Canton’s waterfront.
A main reason, Royce Hendler says, was to minimize her husband’s commute to Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf & Hendler, the law firm where he still works full-time after nearly 50 years. The now two-mile commute has improved both their professional and social lives, she says.
“I was ready for a change and to try the experience of living in a community where you could walk wherever you wanted to go,” says Michael Hendler, who enjoys viewing the harbor and boats from his living room window.
On the weekends, the Hendlers often take long walks culminating in dinners in Canton or Fells Point, as well as take advantage of the other amenities offered by city living. They hold memberships at the Merritt Athletic Club and the Jewish Museum of Maryland.
The Hendlers praise the plethora of shopping options in the city, from grocery stores to box stores similar to those at the newly opened Foundry Row in Owings Mills. They also enjoy access to plenty of health care options. The offices of their dentists and physicians are all located downtown.
City life also attracted the Snyders. They say they enjoy walking to social activities and attending celebrations at such places as Fort McHenry, Fells Point and the Parade of Lighted Boats at the Inner Harbor, as well as sledding down Federal Hill in the winter. They call their frequent trips to museums, including the kinetic sculpture parade at the American Visionary Art Museum just a half-block away, “enriching and horizon-broadening.”
“Here, we feel a part of the downtown community,” says Susan Snyder.
When they moved, she says she and her husband purged themselves of extra furniture, dishes, linens and items they “didn’t need anymore. We didn’t find we missed anything.”
But the Snyders didn’t lose their old friends in the transition. They also made new friendships downtown.
Susan Snyder says their old friends were originally surprised by their move from Pikesville. But the only real surprise, she says, was “we ended up liking it more than we thought we would.”
Linda L. Esterson is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.
Photo of Michael and Royce Hendler by Steve Ruark
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