Baltimore Organizations Line Up Financing for Stalled Housing Projects

Maryland city and state officials are looking to the public sector to turn back the clock on widespread urban decay in Baltimore.

With the city and state already providing $1.2 billion, the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) is looking for an additional $100 million to help finance struggling real estate projects through a “funders’ consortium,” the organization announced Tuesday.

The committee, led by GBC President and CEO Mark Anthony Thomas, is hoping to activate redevelopment of an estimated 11,800 vacant or abandoned houses as well as “tens of thousands” of vacant lots through the massive financing drive. It comes out to a total of about 37,000 properties, according to GBC.

“This is an important next step in building the private sector support needed to strengthen Baltimore’s neighborhoods,” Thomas said in a statement. “For institutions looking to make an impact in Baltimore, this creates an opportunity to collaborate through GBC and support the projects and neighborhoods driving our revitalization. There is significant investment and activity already underway. We want to make it easier for capital providers to see those opportunities, work together, and help move projects that can strengthen neighborhood housing markets.” 

GBC is working with housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners to hammer out the details of its private capital strategy as well as its implementation, with the funds being made available primarily through financial institutions taking part in the program before the November launch.

Organizations believe the financing will help projects in which the construction or rehabilitation costs of properties exceed the properties’ values, which seems to limit developers’ avenues for more conventional financing.

Ultimately, the goal is to help make neighborhoods that make private investment not dependent on government and nonprofit programs more attractive.

“As we work to deliver investment and opportunity to every single neighborhood of our city, private-public partnerships are critical,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “We see the impact of support from GBC and our private sector partners every single day, especially when it comes to generational challenges like the vacants crisis.”

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.