In March 2020, the Johnston Square Partners completed and received approval from the City for the Johnston Square Vision Plan, a comprehensive strategy based on a year of planning and input from over 100 residents and stakeholders. We are now working together to implement the goals of the Plan, relying on our tried-and-true model of community-driven reinvestment, intensive regeneration of abandoned properties, and data-supported neighborhood solutions.

Transforming Johnston Square will involve $160 million in local investments, including: infill redevelopment of abandoned properties into for-sale and rental homes; multifamily and mixed-use developments; commercial and manufacturing spaces for local workers and entrepreneurs; and a network of year-round parks, playgrounds, gardens, and greenways. These investments are already underway: we have rebuilt a cluster of 13 abandoned properties, advanced construction of a 60-unit affordable apartment building, and supported the $2 million revitalization of Henrietta Lacks Park into a state-of-the-art recreational facility. Our work will be supported by $10 million in impact investments from Baltimore residents, along with substantial support from the State of Maryland, the City of Baltimore, and several philanthropic partners.

This project will complete ReBUILD’s 20-year plan to stabilize an area of East Baltimore between Penn Station and Johns Hopkins Hospital into a sustainable and right-sized network of safe, healthy, opportunity-rich communities without displacing their existing residents. We believe this plan will become a model for the recovery of Baltimore’s hyper-segregated high-poverty areas.