Near the intersection of East Chase and McDonogh streets in East Baltimore, most rowhouses have shattered windows, boarded-up doors and weedy lots. The sign on the vacant corner grocery has faded.
These are among the 150 or so homes that are left after hundreds more were razed and residents displaced in the first phase of a huge urban renewal project just north of Johns Hopkins Hospital. East Baltimore Development Inc., the private nonprofit group transforming more than 100 acres of the Middle East neighborhood into a biotechnology park, housing, shops and offices, is now taking on its first big housing rehab project.
The goal is to attract buyers, who will pay an undetermined market rate, potentially from among the employees of Hopkins and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. But EBDI says it's also beginning to fulfill a promise to give displaced residents a chance to own a stake in the transformed community.
FOR THE RECORD
A photo caption with an article yesterday about new offices and apartments in East Baltimore mistakenly identified the new development as a group of homes that will be renovated.
The Baltimore Sun regrets the errors.
Plans call for restoring many of these homes to their late 19th-century appearance on the exterior and remodeling the interiors with energy-efficient features. EBDI will kick off the project today, starting with two homes on East Chase Street.
The group says it hopes to sell homes first to relocated residents or to those whose homes are being targeted in the next phase of development. Displaced homeowners will be eligible for a new "house-for-a-house" program to allow them to trade their old homes for the renovated ones.
Like the first relocations, in which nearly 400 households were moved out of Middle East, the next phase of development is stirring controversy.
So far, East Baltimore Development, in a partnership with developer Forest City Enterprises, has completed a biotech building and two apartment buildings. Some residents in the blocks slated for preservation worry that they're going to be pushed out.
"We have not had homeownership opportunities available, and that is why this is so important," said Jack Shannon, president and chief executive of EBDI. "It's something that has not been easy to accomplish but represents a critical milestone for us and for the community as well."
The Save Middle East Action Committee Inc, which represents area residents, said it is encouraged to see the first rehabs start and had worked with EBDI to come up with the house-for-a-house program. But representatives said they worry about this next phase of development and its impact on residents.
