Baltimore leaders break ground on 83 affordable homes in Park Heights

Baltimore and Maryland leaders broke ground on an $44 million affordable housing project in Park Heights, adding 83 apartment homes just steps from Pimlico Race Course as the neighborhood’s redevelopment deepens.

The project, called the Residences at Belvedere Place, has been in planning for eight years. It is designed to combine housing with small business space and green areas, a mix that could make the block feel more active and more useful to nearby residents than a stand-alone apartment building.

For Park Heights, the stakes are bigger than one construction site. The neighborhood sits at the center of the wider Pimlico rebuild, and the new development adds another layer to a transformation that has been moving forward around the race course for years. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and First Lady Dawn Moore recently attended a demolition ceremony for the clubhouse at Pimlico Race Course, marking a separate milestone in the track’s overhaul.

State officials have said the Pimlico rebuild will begin demolition and restoration after Preakness 150. That larger project is tied to neighborhood investment through the Pimlico Community Development Authority, an advisory group created by state legislation to guide how slots revenue is spent in the area. Its funding reach covers the Park Heights Master Plan area and nearby neighborhoods within a one-mile radius.

City leaders have also pointed to Park Heights as a neighborhood with real assets, not just unmet needs. Baltimore’s Main Streets announcement for the area highlighted the overhauled Pimlico Elementary-Middle School and Arlington Elementary School, alongside the roughly $400 million redevelopment of Pimlico Race Track. Those investments frame the new housing as part of a broader effort to keep families anchored in the community while new development comes in around them.

The question for longtime residents is how much of that change will reach current households. The project’s affordable apartments are intended for Park Heights families, while the small business space and green areas are meant to add neighborhood-serving uses that go beyond housing alone. At the same time, the work at Pimlico and around it is still unfolding, which means the benefits will arrive in stages rather than all at once.

That long horizon matters in a community of about 22,000 people across 12 neighborhoods. Under the Pimlico Local Impact Aid Fund, 10% of the new track’s net profits will go to Park Heights, with revenue beginning after one full year of operations and ending in 2032. For residents watching whether the area’s reinvestment will translate into lasting change, the groundbreaking at Belvedere Place was a visible sign that promises around Pimlico are moving from plans to construction.