Friday, January 26, 2007
East-Side Biopark spends $60M to acquire properties
The city's effort to revive a low-income East Baltimore neighborhood with new housing and biotechnology companies will grow next year as officials begin to acquire more than 900 properties north of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Jack Shannon, CEO of East Baltimore Development Inc., the organization leading the east-side project, said the total cost for acquiring properties, relocating families, demolishing buildings and preparing land in the new 57-acre second phase is estimated to be $60 million.
The total project is planned for 88 acres.
Shannon said it will be a challenge to get the needed funding. So far, it has received financial backing from the city, state and federal governments and nonprofits.
"Given the positive momentum we've been able to achieve, along with the overall consensus that we need to continue to advance the work we're doing, we should be able to assemble the necessary resources," Shannon said.
With a biotech building on the 800 block of N. Wolfe Street under construction and expected to be finished by spring 2008, the 31-acre first phase of the project is well under way. Nearly 400 families have been relocated, and hundreds of rowhouses north of Johns Hopkins Hospital have been demolished.
In the project's first phase, homeowners were given an average of $153,000 to compensate for the loss of their home. Officials have pledged that residents of the second phase will get the same level of benefits.
EBDI has spent the past year meeting with neighbors and community groups to develop a plan for the next stage of the project. Shannon estimated that 300 families will be required to move from the neighborhood.
One of those people is Donald Gresham, president of the Save Middle East Action Committee, a neighborhood group representing residents of the area. Gresham, who lives on the 900 block of N. Castle St., said he would like to move into some of the new housing being built, but he worries about whether he will be able to afford to a property and pay increased property taxes.
"My desire is to stay right in the neighborhood," he said.
Gresham said his group is being heard by EBDI. "We are now at the table," he said.
Residents of more than 100 of the 1,040 properties in the second phase will be able to stay in their homes, Shannon said. ¶ 4:25 PM
The city's effort to revive a low-income East Baltimore neighborhood with new housing and biotechnology companies will grow next year as officials begin to acquire more than 900 properties north of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Jack Shannon, CEO of East Baltimore Development Inc., the organization leading the east-side project, said the total cost for acquiring properties, relocating families, demolishing buildings and preparing land in the new 57-acre second phase is estimated to be $60 million.
The total project is planned for 88 acres.
Shannon said it will be a challenge to get the needed funding. So far, it has received financial backing from the city, state and federal governments and nonprofits.
"Given the positive momentum we've been able to achieve, along with the overall consensus that we need to continue to advance the work we're doing, we should be able to assemble the necessary resources," Shannon said.
With a biotech building on the 800 block of N. Wolfe Street under construction and expected to be finished by spring 2008, the 31-acre first phase of the project is well under way. Nearly 400 families have been relocated, and hundreds of rowhouses north of Johns Hopkins Hospital have been demolished.
In the project's first phase, homeowners were given an average of $153,000 to compensate for the loss of their home. Officials have pledged that residents of the second phase will get the same level of benefits.
EBDI has spent the past year meeting with neighbors and community groups to develop a plan for the next stage of the project. Shannon estimated that 300 families will be required to move from the neighborhood.
One of those people is Donald Gresham, president of the Save Middle East Action Committee, a neighborhood group representing residents of the area. Gresham, who lives on the 900 block of N. Castle St., said he would like to move into some of the new housing being built, but he worries about whether he will be able to afford to a property and pay increased property taxes.
"My desire is to stay right in the neighborhood," he said.
Gresham said his group is being heard by EBDI. "We are now at the table," he said.
Residents of more than 100 of the 1,040 properties in the second phase will be able to stay in their homes, Shannon said. ¶ 4:25 PM
