Pless and Elizabeth Jones, are spearheading a three phase $200M project to help trigger a major revitalization of the entire Broadway East neighborhood. Their initial project, which they call the Equality Equation, is located on five acres of land at the corner of Belair Rd and Sinclair Lane, off US Highway 1 northeast of downtown Baltimore. They are the first of a group of change agents, a team of collaborators who take on the jobs of raising money, organizing the people who will build the project, then steward, maintain and manage the space to completion.
This ambitious effort is the culmination of many years of planning, meetings and coordinated effort involving dozens of people, regional community and non-profit organizations and federal, state, regional and local agencies.
For the past two years, the Jones’s have worked closely with Baltimore City District 12 Councilman Robert Stokes and Doris Terrell, President of the New Broadway East Community Development Association to foster and develop strategic partnerships with Baltimore City Community College, Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, Maryland Higher Education Commission, Maryland DHCD and Maryland Department of Disabilities.
The project is the cornerstone development for what many believe is going to help change the paradigm for inner city socio-economic advancement, redirect the future development of Baltimore, and serve as a model for similar efforts in other urban communities in the nation.
The Broadway East Greenprint Set the Stage
The undertaking is guided by the recently completed Broadway East Greenprint, a high-level master plan and strategy document developed by a design team led by Unknown Studio Landscape Architecture & City Scape Engineering of Baltimore. The Greenprint was developed with a $200,000 funding grant awarded in 2019, which was provided by The Chesapeake Bay Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns (G3) Grant Program funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region III (EPA), and the Chesapeake Bay Trust with support from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The funds were provided by Bloomberg Family Foundation.
The Greenprint was presented to The Greenprint Steering Committee which includes American Communities Trust, Baltimore City Department of Planning and Office of Sustainability, New Broadway East Community Association, and a veteran run group The 6th Branch.
Vacant lot is one of over 900 similar pieces of property in Baltimore.
The Greenprint offers colorful visualizations to guide the conversion of the over 900 vacant lots in Broadway East’s neighborhood landscapes and public space improvements that achieve the goals for a healthier and greener environment. The document contains prototype designs for sustainable underground storm-water drainage and infrastructure to reduce runoff and pollution, enhance streetscapes with more trees and canopied walkways, artistic fields of colors painted by local artists, and seasonal gardens planted and maintained to maximize the enjoyment of the outdoors.
Graphic from the New Baltimore Greenprint.
The Broadway East Project
Pless Jones, who has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Virginia State University, has been doing general contracting for federal, state and local government agencies in Baltimore and nationwide for over 20 years. His wife Elizabeth, with a degree in Information Systems and Decision Sciences from Virginia State University, switched from a career as a Systems Engineer to one as an Educator; also, she received a Masters of Divinity with an emphasis in Christian Education from Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.
The husband and wife team successfully leverage their many years of contract and construction experience, to develop the capital stack that leverages current public subsidies, grants, and resources for their projects.
Their research shows that successful inner-city developments must serve the local interests in ways that generate enthusiasm, pride and active engagement in the community. With this as their foundation they created a special program that captures their operating principles called “The Equality Equation”.
“People who live in Broadway East, those legacy citizens, are at the heart of the development,” said Pless Jones. “Work opportunities, affordable housing, health services, 21st Century job training, food services, social resources and environmental amenities are all economic anchors that double as paths to wellness that make life more productive and enjoyable for all the neighboring residents.”
“The Equality Equation goes beyond traditional investment in retail, services, and real estate. We place the people who live in the inner city – the disadvantaged citizen, at the center of all planning and development”.
Elizabeth explains, “a traditional coffee house, small craft brewery, yoga studio and bike shop, signals to inner city residents that they will soon be displaced. As a consequence, they feel neglected and forgotten. Our focus in Broadway East is to develop those wellness anchors that enable us to heal our community in place. We are going to focus on building an Industrial Park for Workforce Development, the Baltimore Athletic Live & Learn Center, and the Broadway East Wellness Center” to prime the economy in Broadway East.
“These projects will anchor the community and provide immediate, tangible economic benefits as well as low cost home loans to the people in the community, helping them create a viable foundation for affordable home ownership” she added.
By design, people will live close to where they receive their industry recognized credentials. The fact that they can work right in the local community allows them to benefit from the development of their neighborhood as trained members of the skilled workforce on the frontline of developing it. This enables hundreds of individuals to support and transform their families for generations through low-cost home ownership, propelling transformation of the community and citizens simultaneously.
Project is nearly ready to break ground
Phase 1 is shovel ready and the demolition permit has been approved. Demolition, engineering and site work will take approximately 8-10 months to complete. The effort focuses on cleaning up the blight at the Northeast entrance to Baltimore at 1940 to 1970 Belair Road.
The demolition of the old Goetz meat packing and slaughterhouse building will make way for the construction of the Industrial Park for Workforce Development. The site has also received permits for a convenience store and gasoline station.
The Park will continue the State’s commitment to enhance inner city development activities while supporting the recently completed Lillie Mae Carrol Johnson Girls School also on Sinclair Lane.
Phase II, which involves the construction of the Workforce Development Facility and other structures, will take approximately 12-18 months to complete.
Phase III envisions over $125M is residential construction on the 220 acres to the south west of the project location. Funding for this effort will not require additional government allocations beyond current resources, subsidies and grants, but will utilize public-private partnerships to secure capital from private equity, pension funds, real estate investment trusts and other financial mechanisms in order to fund the development. This mechanism has been shown to result in the creation of quality affordable housing, that improves market rate value while maintaining an affordable payment structure.
It Really Takes a Village
The Jones worked for several years to meet with people, strategize the ideas, discuss the mechanism, build the personal and professional relationships and coordinate with dozens of people, government and organizational entities, and financial experts. Here are some of the key players and a description of the role they play in the efforts.
Councilman Robert Stokes was able to connect with the right city agency partners and community partners. He engaged the state Department of Housing and Community Development to get involved in our project and helped acquire the support and engagement of the Housing Commissioner.
Doris Terrell, as the President of the New Broadway East Community neighborhood association, partnered on the master redevelopment of the Broadway East community. She championed the project in spite of the problematic history and performance record of other contractors and developers.
Chris Rockey, PNC Bank, helped shape the project to make the development financeable. He arranged meetings with the numerous major stakeholders which resulted in their support and commitment to the project.
Michael Thomas, Baltimore City Community College, saw the benefit that a facility like ours would have on our community and helped develop the conceptual foundation for the workforce development facility. His encouragement helps open up more doors to subsidizing workforce training for the disadvantaged citizens of Baltimore.
Todd Scott, of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, kept Lt. Governor Rutherford and Secretary Holt aware of the challenges of the projects in dealing with Baltimore City government, and helped solidify relationships for the project. He worked closely with Roger Campos, Asst. Secretary of DHCD, Roger Campos to coordinate with people in the city government.
Isaiah Ellis, Maryland Higher Education Commission, helped guide the development of the pro forma documentation and so that they would meet the minimum requirements needed to receive revenue.
Jade Gingerich, Director of Employment Services, Maryland Department of Disabilities offered expertise and perspective on addressing poverty in the inner city, which is critical to serving this specialized demographic.
Hopes for the Future
Despite the raging pandemic, construction activity is about to get going, raising optimism that economic and population declines will be reversed in the very near future. Many other Baltimore neighborhoods have entire blocks of empty buildings that have slowly decayed and collapsed over time.
The Jones seek to use sustainable smart design in every aspect of the construction of every inch of space in what was once a dense urban industrial setting.
“We’re razing run-down, decrepit buildings to clean soil and leveling vacant abandoned and overgrown inner-city lots that have stood empty for years and turning them into places people will really want to live and work in,” Pless said. “We dream of turning these neglected and forgettable spaces into people-oriented, highly attractive, and eminently livable diverse urban communities.
As we are successful here, we will set an example to the adjacent neighborhoods, as well as sister cities and the rest of the nation. We are establishing a new model to lead everyone in a needed direction to breathe life into the future.
