BALTIMORE, Md. — On Monday, local and state leaders unveiled the Hammond at Greenmount Park and the first Enoch Pratt Free Library branch to open in 15 years in the heart of Johnston Square.
WATCH: A facelift for Baltimore's Johnston Square
“This project represents the kind of community-driven investment that my administration is committed to,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, “One that build neighborhoods from within, creates affordable homes, and restores opportunity block by block.”
The new library is expected to provide unique educational opportunities for the community that didn’t exist before. At the same time, mid-income apartments built adjoining it address one of the most basic needs.
“Feel it,” said Maryland Housing Secretary Jacob Day, “Feel that cold on your skin, on your hands and on your face and remember that what this work means is 109 families will not feel that tonight.”
For a community that suffered from disinvestment for decades, a 54-million-dollar project like this once seemed virtually impossible.
Now, in place of 42 vacant lots, there has risen the centerpiece of East Baltimore’s redevelopment effort, which will carry the name of the Hammond couple who spent the last 12 years fighting to make their vision a reality.
“We got gardens. We got murals. We got clean streets. We got youth that come up and show up and help us. We’ve got resident leadership,” said Regina Hammond of the Rebuild Johnston Square Neighborhood Association.
“Each small step prepared us for this big one, and for anyone listening here and wants this to happen to your neighborhood, it can happen.”
