An experiment in neighborhood revitalization.
Growing Greenmount is an effort to revitalize a decaying neighborhood business district through a combination of real estate redevelopment and small business incubation.
Once a thriving main street and a national symbol of city life in America, Waverly business district is now a downtrodden retail strip full of month-to-month tenants, offering very little to the clientelle in the surrounding neighborhoods. Yet it is one of the very few areas of retail located within walking distance of Johns Hopkins University, and a
The Waverly Main Street Project is a bold, exciting venture which, utilizing a combination of public and private funds, seeks to rebuild, rebrand and revitalize a once-vital section of downtown Baltimore. Conceived by Barrus as both a philanthropic and economic boon to Baltimore, and by studying the success of similar main street ventures both in Baltimore and around the country, Barrus is already in motion and taking the project from drawing board to reality.
In an effort to reactive several vacant or underutilized commercial properties in the Waverly retail district, Barrus, along with its partners, is working to create small, multi-purpose spaces that function as co-working hubs and retail and office spaces along Greenmount Avenue. The initiative’s goals are twofold: to breathe new life into a neighborhood business district that has struggled for decades and to provide an opportunity for Baltimore-based new and small-scale businesses.
The Community
From its origins in the mid-1800s as the main street of a sleepy little town, to the retail district of a turn-of-the-century summer retreat, to one of the city’s strongest and most frequented commercial districts in the mid-1900s, the Waverly Shopping District has rightfully earned its place in the hearts and history of Baltimore City. Today’s Waverly Shopping District, however, while surrounded by strong and desirable mixed-demographic neighborhoods and within close proximity of two major universities, shows very little of its former glory and falls short of satisfying all retail needs of the surrounding neighborhoods and their residents.
The Growing Greenmount campaign was formed with the sole mission of turning the historic Waverly Shopping District once again into a vibrant shopping district through cleanup, commercial redevelopment, greening, and community arts.
The Goals
Name of Initiative
Meet our Partners
Community solutions and programming are best developed through collaborative and participatory processes. The Growing Greenmount campaign aims to engage the surrounding Waverly and Baltimore communities in all its redevelopment efforts ….
Through the help of our partnering organizations, we will be able to provide the necessary support to local entrepreneurs looking to expand and help to guarantee their long-term success along Greenmount Avenue.
Waverly Main Street
Maryland Small Business Development Center
Baltimore Community Lending
Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
Neighborhood Design Center
Himmelrich PR
