Renewing Baltimore: a talk with two housing restoration pioneers

This week brought news of some positive signs in the area of real estate development in Baltimore. As five buildings near completion in the Port Covington Project on the city’s Southern tip, it was announced that two development firms have been chosen to lease and provide marketing for the next phase of the project. MAG Partners is based in New York. It is a woman-owned firm. MacFarlane Partners is a Black-owned firm based in San Francisco. And on Monday, the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore released its annual report that shows a slight uptick in the number of businesses and residents in the area around the Inner Harbor. But when it comes to the other 276 neighborhoods in Baltimore, the story is often not about growth, but decay. Tom's guests today lead two organizations that are turning that trajectory around. Sean Closkey is the founding president of ReBUILD Metro, which is working to transform neighborhoods on Baltimore's East side. Bree Jones is the founder and CEO of Parity, a development company that restores abandoned properties on the West side of town. Sean Closkey joins us on our digital line; Bree Jones joins us on Zoom.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.