By Catherine Pugh
Special to the AFRO
cpugh@afro.com
On Saturday, April 27, at 12:30 p.m., the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) and its partners will celebrate the completion of Phase One of the Perkins, Somerset and Oldtown Transformation (PSO) at 201 S. Caroline Street. The completed project includes 103 mixed income housing units with 48 units for former residents of Perkins public housing units.
“We welcome back the first 48 replacement units for those former residents of Perkins. We are making good on the promises we made them. We said we would replace every unit torn down and they would have the first right of refusal to return to the newly built development,” says President of the Housing Authority of Baltimore, Janet Abrahams.
The Perkins Phase One completion is part of the over one-billion-dollar investment in East Baltimore, known as the PSO Transformation Plan. The five-year transformation plan will create a total 1,345 new apartments to replace all 629 public housing apartments built in the 1940’s.
The project was made possible by a 2018, $30 million dollar choice neighborhood grant awarded by the United States Department of Housing and Community Development(HUD).
“This project was the hole in the donut which allows us to break the cycle of poverty by including market rate and workforce housing along with quality food. We have a commitment from LIDL Food chain to place a supermarket in this community. We will bring two new parks where there were none as well as improve existing parks like City Springs,” said Abrahams.
The first part of phase one began leasing in the summer of 2021 and included 104 apartment units: 84 restricted income and 20 at market rate.
The plans for Oldtown Mall include a hotel, housing, apartments and an incubator hub for job training to help residents. A new school, serving grades K-8th is also a part of the planned development.
Partners on the PSO include The Henson Development Company and Mission First Housing Group.
“This is a celebration of our commitment to create a community of choice. Bringing all the amenities that we have promised and will make good on will make the PSO a community of choice. HABC wanted to be the first to welcome residents to the completion of this phase,” said Abrahams. “We expect that the ninth phase of this project will be completed by 2026. It takes 18 months to build. We listened, planned and moved forward. We want the community to get everything they said they needed. This represents promises we made and are keeping.”
According to the plan, available on the HABC website, the development project will “be built in nine phases with four onsite at Somerset and five phases planned for Perkins Homes.”
The celebration on April 27 will feature tours, food trucks, face paintings, photo booths, activities for all ages and vending tables for community residents.