East Baltimore rowhouses along East Baltimore Street, seen from Patterson Park. Photo: Baltimore Heritage from Baltimore, MD, USA, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development has closed financing on the latest phase of the Perkins Homes redevelopment in East Baltimore, Gov. Wes Moore’s office announced on Oct. 22.
According to the official announcement, the department will administer more than $49.3 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, bond financing and state Rental Housing Works funds for 150 new affordable apartments in Phases 5A and 5B. The state’s release said that during the Moore-Miller administration, the department has administered nearly $292 million for the redevelopment of Perkins Homes and Somerset Homes.
When all phases are complete, the official release said, the redeveloped Perkins Homes will have 1,346 rental units. Of those, 73 percent would be reserved as affordable housing, replacing the original 652 public housing units and adding 329 new affordable units. The remaining 27 percent, or 365 units, would be market rate. The work is part of Baltimore’s Perkins-Somerset-Oldtown Transformation Plan, the state said, and this phase will be led by McCormack Baron Salazar, which will also serve as property manager.
Vincent Bennett, the company’s chief executive, said in the official release that 715 homes are now complete or moving into construction and that every former Perkins household has been offered the chance to return. Housing Authority of Baltimore City President and CEO Janet Abrahams and Mayor Brandon M. Scott also issued statements with the announcement, stressing the partnership among the state, the city and residents.
