BALTIMORE, MD — There's a major plan in motion to turn an old, dilapidated building in West Baltimore into a cornerstone for the Union Square historic district.
Nadine Dlodlo is turning the largest building on her block into a mixed-use development.
"We can not really build a community if the young people are not a part of it so we had to gather the young people and get their input," Dlodlo told a group of students from Edmondson Westside High School.
She invited the carpentry class to learn about and tour the building she's renovating.
Everything from how it will impact the community to the history of the building.
"When they were originally built in 1885 they were separate buildings and then they were combined in 1912," said Dlodlo
The class got to see things they learn in class like how the joists are supported and the importance of character in buildings.
"A lot of them sit inside the garter pockets, see the pockets on the wall. A lot of the terms we study are right here in front of us," said Alvin Booze who teaches the carpentry class.
Many of the students plan on going into this field, whether it's in architecture or carpentry.
"What I wanna do, I wanna be in architecture," said Nardia Harley.
"I'm more interested in the carpentry stuff, the hands on side like the building that was shown today," said Dennis Edwards.
A lot of these kids live a few blocks away from the building and are excited about the opportunity for the community.
"When she mentioned this could be like a studio for artists, it piqued my interest," said Jaleel Jaramogi.
"I learned today that building stuff like this takes a lot of time and a lot of money especially important buildings like this it'll take like 12 months to do and I'm really excited to come back and see the finished product," said Jada Brown.
Nadine expects construction to start on the building in august of next year and for it to take about a year for it to be completed.
She says the students will be invited back to see the transformation of the building.
