More than $129 million awarded to Maryland community revitalization projects
BALTIMORE -- $129.5 million in funding has been awarded to seven community revitalization projects in Maryland. Several of those projects will directly impact Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Governor Moore announced Wedensday.
The Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative, which aims to help eliminate deteriorating properties in Baltimore, received $20 million for 37 revitalization projects. Those projects include the transformation of the Reisterstown Road Plaza into a community recreation and commercial space, creating space for a new grocery store at Edmonson Village Shopping Center to help improve food security, renovating 210 Charles Street into 231 apartment units, and 30,000 square feet of commercial space.
More than $23.6 million was awarded to the Baltimore Regional Neighborhood Initiative for 91 projects that support redevelopment for communities within the Baltimore Beltway. Among the funded projects are home rehabilitation programs in the Coldstream Homestead Montebello, Darley Park, and South Clifton Park neighborhoods, and repair programs that will serve senior and longtime residents in the Liberty Corridor. Also included are plumbing upgrades, pool renovations, locker room redesigns, and other infrastructure improvements at the Druid Hill YMCA.
Maryland's Seed Community Development Anchor Institution Fund has awarded $10.4 million in grants and loans to support 25 projects at higher education institutions and hospitals across the state.
The University of Maryland Baltimore County will use the funding to renovate a vacant property into academic and community space for Arbutus residents. In Baltimore City, the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center will restore the exterior of its building adjacent to the Hippodrome Theatre.
On the Eastern Shore, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore received funding to develop "The Perch," an education-based business incubator. Wicomico County will use its grant to demolish the former library and construct a new Performing Arts Center.
The fund targets community development projects in historically disinvested areas throughout Maryland.
The full list of awards is available here.