Howerver, I have resrvations about how this will impact the community's living standards as the development will immediately border some neighborhoods and could bring unwanted environmental impacts and noise. 

. :-)With that being said what you were doing is definitely a gamble.

Unless you really know Baltimore I consider buying there gambling , not investing .

I wouldn't bet on either at this stage but if you like a gamble...

For some reason, I thought the former US steel site was near the Illinois / Indiana border, not downtown Chicago, but I must have been mistaken.Is the project going to be on the Chicago Riverwalk, as your picture indicates?

Trying to weed people out at local REI meetings to be possible mentors is also gamble and a huge time suck.

There are a lot of D areas that border C to C+ areas, but that can change in three houses.

I am sure there are lots of different reasons for it. well they were replaced by those crossing the border 750k out of 42 mil probably not that big of an impact.. traffic is still really heavy I was just there last weekend in the SF bay area no signs of the state looking like some of the dead cities one finds in the rust belt or deep south.

With the possible exception of lands that might border the Las Vegas metro area it would take decades to build infrastructure and jobs in these areas to attract dwellers there.

To depend on the rates to drop substantially to cover refi cost is a gamble.