By Melody Simmons – Reporter, Baltimore Business Journal

Baltimore was named as one of six national finalists for a $30 million federal grant that would help jumpstart a proposed $1 billion redevelopment in East Baltimore.

The Choice Neighborhood program grant funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would pay for demolition and new housing for residents of the 688-unit Perkins Homes. A development partner said last month that the project could also include razing the 393-unit Douglass Homes nearby, but that was not a part of the HUD grant.

The entire redevelopment will total about 200 acres south and west of Johns Hopkins Hospital and the application sent to HUD said the $30 million “will leverage more than $540 million in committed funding and investments from public, private and nonprofit partners.”

If the grant is received, the application said, the first phase could begin this year.

Click here to read the full article and Mission First’s role in the project.