MAINTAINING HISTORIC STANDARDS IN LARGE PROPERTIES
Since 1983, People’s Homesteading Group (PHG), has worked as a nonprofit community development organization to provide decent, affordable housing in Baltimore. Originally focused on redeveloping subsidized units with volunteer workers, the organization wanted to expand into market-rate projects to help build more income diversity in its community. For its first market-rate projects, PHG turned to New City to rehab multiple, large, rowhomes to historic standards.
Because the three-story homes are over 2,500 square feet each, there were many details to address. New City worked with People’s Homesteading Group and Baltimore City’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) to finalize historically- acceptable floorplans for the properties. Throughout the construction process, New City took special care to ensure that all work performed would ultimately be approved by the Commission.
Despite the large size of the homes, all properties were successfully gutted and rebuilt in less than six months. The finished products are impressive, recapturing both the details and the grandeur that defined the properties when they were built over a hundred years ago. New City successfully maintained historic redevelopment standards, so PHG was able to offer a substantial historic tax credit to buyers as an additional purchase incentive. PHG was so pleased with the quality of the work, and the seamlessness of the process, that it now regularly looks to New City for assistance with its projects.
PROJECT TASKS
- Fully gut and rebuild multiple large rowhomes.
- Design a floorplan that maintains the historical integrity of the properties.
- Comply with strict renovation standards to preserve historic tax credit eligibility.
