BALTIMORE — A nonprofit that has been restoring abandoned East Baltimore houses says it has now gotten vacancy rates in the Johnston Square neighborhood to less than 15 percent.
Johnston Square, just east of I-83 and north of the Central Booking complex, has about 800 properties.
Roughly 150 of them were vacant at the start of 2024. Now, ReBUILD Metro has rebuilt 28 of them over the past 12 months, according to a press release.
Sean Closkey, President of ReBUILD Metro, said:
Ten years ago, ReBUILD made a commitment to Johnston Square residents that we would work with them to eliminate the vacancy plaguing their neighborhood. While we still have lots of work to do to reach that goal, our tremendous progress shows that it is well within reach.
ReBUILD Metro announced it just redeveloped four historic rowhouses, on East Preston Street, one of which is now available for sale for more than $300,000.
The three others will also be sold to "aspiring homebuyers," said the company, noting two more properties on the block have been stabilized for future redevelopment.
Besides doing the restorations, ReBUILD has made repairs or facade improvements to eleven existing homeowners on the block.
It's just one of several major efforts in recent years to reverse the decades-long blight in Baltimore.
Check out WMAR 2 News' coverage on vacant home in Baltimore.
