New Housing in Barclay Neighborhood Announced

City and State Provide Funding for Redevelopment in Barclay Neighborhood

Construction on additional 15 homeownership units will start this summer

300 vacant and blighted properties slated for redevelopment

The Strategic Demolition and Smart Growth Impact Fund assisted the Housing Authority of Baltimore City with demolition through deconstruction and site preparation costs for Phase II of the Barclay Redevelopment Project. The amount of the award is $220,000. The developer announced today that an additional 15 homeownership units will be started this summer.

Part of Phase II is focusing on increasing home ownership in the Barclay neighborhood and will result in the construction of 30 new market rate homes and a 30,000 square foot community park.  A total of 23 existing vacant buildings will be cleared, 18 vacant lots will be excavated and sites will be prepared for development.   Telesis Baltimore Corporation is the master developer for the project.  Project partners include the Department of Housing and Community Development of Baltimore City, the Housing Authority of Baltimore City, People's Homesteading Group and the Jericho Re-entry Program.

The entire Barclay Redevelopment Project includes the redevelopment of over 300 vacant and blighted properties in the Barclay neighborhood (of which 199 will be rental units and 123 will be homeownership).  While this phase of the project does focus on market-rate housing, the goal of the project is to create a mixed-income community.  Project construction began in 2010 and 72 units of affordable rentals and 20 homeownership units have been completed to date. Phase II of the Redevelopment began in December 2012 with the groundbreaking of an additional 69 unit rental development. Construction on an additional 15 homeownership units is projected to start in summer of 2013.

“The Strategic Demolition and Smart Growth Impact Fund award of $220,000 for Barclay will enable us to deconstruct 22 houses in and adjacent to the 300 block of 20 ½ street,” said Catherine Stokes the project manager for Telesis.  “The additional 15 housing units will be started this summer.”

Barclay is one of ten neighborhoods that are part of the Central Baltimore Partnership.  “Barclay is a key partner in the CBP,” said Joseph McNeely, the group’s executive director. “Every community needs market rate housing of this caliber, and we’re very happy to see the state of Maryland and the City of Baltimore making this type of strategic investment.”

In March the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development awarded $2.5 million to nine projects throughout the state under the new Strategic Demolition and Smart Growth Impact Fund. The funds will leverage an additional $30 million in public and private investments.