April 13, 2023
The Housing Authority of the City of Baltimore is a long-time client of EJP. In 2022, Choice Neighborhoods released a new funding source for existing grantees to supplement the higher cost of building materials and Covid-related setbacks . EJP served as grant writer for two out of the 16 grant recipients.
The large-scale overhaul of the Perkins Homes site in East Baltimore has snagged another federal grant.
The Housing Authority of Baltimore City, or HABC, and a group of private developers this week were awarded $10 million by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help fund a third phase of the Perkins Homes redo. The funds will be added to a previous $30 million grant from HUD in 2018.
The federal Choice Neighborhoods program grant is the second such award from HUD for the project to remake 200 acres south of Johns Hopkins Hospital into a mixed-income community anchored by a public park and new elementary and middle school. The project was awarded a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods grant in 2018 to kick off the relocation efforts of existing tenants and demolition of the residences that originally opened during World War II.
Baltimore officials also approved a $105 million tax increment financing package for the project in 2020.
The sweeping, so-called Perkins-Somerset-Old Town redevelopment was unveiled in 2018. It includes new affordable housing at the site of the former Somerset Homes public housing complex nearby Old Town Mall and will cost about $1.1 billion. A total of 1,360 mixed-income housing units will be created along a new street grid with new infrastructure. The area will include a large park and link the Harbor East neighborhood and Johns Hopkins Hospital, two anchors that are bookends of the site.
HUD announced the $10 million grant this week. Baltimore was one of 16 cities to receive funding under the latest round of Choice Neighborhoods Supplemental awards that are designed to help spur the redevelopment of severely distressed "HUD-assisted" properties into mixed-income communities.
"Choice Neighborhoods is breathing new life into communities with new housing, parks, grocery stores, jobs, and services," said Adrianne Todman, HUD deputy secretary, in a statement. "These new opportunities would not happen without meaningful community engagement and community planning."
HABC officials said Thursday the first apartment units at the Perkins site will be ready for tenants next year. The latest Choice Neighborhoods grant will pay for an upcoming phase of the project at Perkins and Somerset sites. More demolition of existing Perkins Homes buildings is expected to take place later this month, said Ingrid Antonio, HABC spokeswoman.
"This was a competitive application process, and we are thankful for the continued collaboration with our partners as we work towards the completion of the PSO Transformation," said Janet Abrahams, HABC's CEO, in a statement Thursday.
From the Baltimore Business Journal:
https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2023/04/13/perkins-redevelopment-baltimore-hud-grant.html
By Melody Simmons
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