Investing in Neighborhoods - City Arts Apartments

In December 2010, residents began moving into the newly completed City Arts Apartments in Baltimore. Within just three months of opening, the 69-unit apartment building was fully occupied. Designed with artists in mind, City Arts Apartments is emblematic of the positive change a partnership of public and private investors can drive.

City Arts Apartments is the first residential building development of its kind in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District’s Greenmount West neighborhood since the 19th century. Previously owned by the city, the site had remained vacant for decades. The 1.2 acre lot was awarded to the City Arts development team – Homes for America, TRF Development Partners-Baltimore and Jubilee Baltimore – through a public selection process.

TRF Development Partners-Baltimore is a partnership of TRF and Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), a broad-based community organization rooted in Baltimore’s neighborhoods and churches. TRF DP-Baltimore’s efforts are supported by a wide range of investors, including the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Charlesmead Foundation, Jewish Funds for Justice, Johns Hopkins University, Rouse Company Foundation, M&T Bank and T. Rowe Price Foundation.

The City Arts Apartments project drew a $2.6 million investment from the Tax Credit Assistance Program, part of the federal stimulus funding. Bank of America provided a $1.3 million loan and $9.3 million in tax credit equity, invested through Enterprise Community Investments. 

City Arts combines affordable housing with community revitalization. Artists have the opportunity to pursue their craft near home, while the gallery and performance space will turn the neighborhood into an arts destination for the city. 

The apartment building has 58 units targeted to artists of low and moderate income, plus 11 units reserved for non-elderly disabled persons from the Public Housing Waiting List. City Arts also features a professionally-managed gallery and performance arts space on the building’s first floor.

Building on the momentum City Arts Apartments has created for the neighborhood, TRF DP-Baltimore will break ground on City Arts Townhomes in the next few months. City Arts Townhomes will feature 8 for-sale, energy-efficient townhomes on a site adjacent to the apartment building.