Baltimore Announces Multi-Billion, Multi-Year Infrastructure and Housing Investment Plan

City officials unveiled a multi-tiered infrastructure and housing strategy today that pairs a six-year program of new pools, a youth sports complex, affordable housing developments, road and sidewalk repairs, and sanitation upgrades with a $6.9 billion Downtown RISE master plan and a 15-year housing redevelopment effort. The housing program carries $1.2 billion in public commitments and aims to leverage $5 billion in private financing to revitalize more than 37,000 vacant or at-risk properties and influence another 33,000 houses and lots.

The six-year package specifically lists new pools and a youth sports complex alongside targeted affordable housing developments and basic service work such as road repairs, sidewalk upgrades, and sanitation improvements. The city’s broader fiscal strategy, Securing Baltimore’s Future, ties these investments to three cornerstones - Core Service Delivery, Infrastructure Investment, and Tax Competitiveness - and projects the combined initiatives will “generate over $1 billion in net resources over the next decade.”

Downtown RISE, framed as a $6.9 billion living master plan for the central business district, names major interventions including upgrades to the Baltimore Convention Center, restoring the Red Line transit project, and redesigning the downtown street grid to improve safety and navigation. The plan calls for sidewalks, street resurfacing, lighting, trees, and public gathering spaces at Harborplace, Eutaw Street, and Pratt Street, and builds on Project Livable to connect the Stadium District to Harbor East with safer crosswalks, bike and scooter lanes, and small parks or plazas. Funding for Downtown RISE is expected from stakeholders and partners, existing city and state tax revenue, and by leveraging federal and state funds through the American Rescue Plan Act.

A 15-year housing strategy led by the Greater Baltimore Committee, the Mayor’s Office and BUILD Baltimore and coordinated through Reinvest Baltimore - established by Gov. Wes Moore in October 2024 - is presented as a block-level approach to vacancy. That program’s organizers describe it this way: “Unlike programs focused on single buildings, Baltimore's strategy addresses vacancy at the block level—recognizing that housing stability, neighborhood vitality, and quality public spaces go hand in hand.”

Parks and recreation are woven into the package: Rash Field’s $16.8 million makeover across 7.5 acres includes a nature park, adventure park and skatepark, with a planned glass pavilion designed by Gensler. The city also points to past recreation investments - a $120 million initiative that opened four new recreational centers and delivered 23 new or renovated pools - as a foundation for the new six-year facilities work.

Transit nodes figure prominently. Baltimore Penn Station, the city’s 1911-built hub that serves more than three million Amtrak and MARC passengers a year and ranks as the eighth busiest station in the nation, is already in phased revitalization begun in spring 2021 by Amtrak with Cross Street Partners and Beatty Developers; later phases could add up to one million square feet of office and retail and a companion facility tied to high-speed rail planning.

City materials stress the initiatives are complementary but operate across different horizons - six, 10, and 15 years - and emphasize partnership. “The goal of the Plan is simple: to keep Baltimore growing and ensure residents thrive,” the city plan states, and the Downtown RISE document calls itself a “living document” released for public engagement with the intent to “continue the mayor’s commitment to hearing from all corners of the city to plan for the future of the downtown in partnership with all Baltimoreans.” The package sets ambitious numeric targets and a phased timetable; implementation will unfold over the coming years as funding, phasing, and neighborhood-level plans are finalized.