American Brewery Building
Maryland| Posted: 10/16/2008
The community, project partners and stakeholders gathered to celebrate progress on the rehabilitation of the former brewery building into nonprofit office space for a social services provider, Humanim.
Credit: Humanim, Inc.
The Project
The American Brewery Building in Baltimore, Maryland has witnessed decades of severe decline in its East Broadway community. Vacated in 1973 after brewery operations ceased, the brewhouse steadily deteriorated while the surrounding neighborhood sank into poverty and crime surged. Various redevelopment schemes were proposed and failed. Finally the building was gifted to the city and in 2005, development rights were awarded to Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse (general contractor), Gotham Development (project manager) and Humanin, Inc. (developer). Humanin, Inc., a social services organization based in Columbia, Maryland, saw extraordinary potential in the massive 1887 brick Italianate structure. It afforded Humanim the opportunity to deliver its job skills/employment training programs to the doorstep of a needy community, consolidate its 250 employees in one central location and bring much needed job creation and capital investment to the area. The $25 million rehabilitation of this significant architectural and historical treasure has also catalyzed a number of exciting developments in East Baltimore that herald a bright future for this disadvantaged community.
Our Partners
The clear preservation and community development impact of this project made the National Trust for Historic Preservation an enthusiastic ally. The National Trust Loan Fund supported the project in its early phase when other lenders were hesitant. NTLF and Bank of America each contributed a $375,000 predevelopment loan which stabilized the building until constructing financing was in place. NTCIC, the for-profit subsidiary of the Trust that invests equity in certified rehabilitation projects, also stepped in with a $5.43 million historic and New Markets Tax Credit equity investment.
Humanim CEO Henry Posko had this to say about the project: “The National Trust for Historic Preservation was an early supporter of our project. Humanim’s vision to bring workforce development services to the building and the Trust’s focus on preservation and community revitalization made us natural partners from the beginning. While we had completed several capital projects over the years we are grateful that they stood by us as advocates and advisors on such a challenging adaptive reuse. The recent removal of the scaffolding revealed not just the grandeur of the façade, but acknowledgement that both history and a vital community are preserved…outcomes that are precious to both Humanim and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.”
The project is progressing well and a spring 2009 grand opening is planned.
For more information on this project, refer to NTCIC's profile on the American Brewery building.
For more information contact:
National Trust Loan Fund
202-588-6360
www.ntloanfund.org
nationaltrust_loanfund@nthp.org
