Baltimore, Md., April 17, 2006 – Five future scientists of the New East Baltimore Community turned over the soil at a ceremonial ground-breaking event held today for the first building of the Science and Technology park at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), part of a billion-dollar revitalization project of an historic East Baltimore neighborhood.
More than 100 guests, including area residents; the foundation community; corporations; the Johns Hopkins community; and Maryland civic and state officials Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., Senator Barbara Mikulski, Rep. Elijah Cummings, and Mayor Martin O’Malley applauded as Ashley Keys, Kyenna Miller, Sheyna Mikeal, Jessica Blizzard, and Brandon Fortune - all award-winning science scholars from the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School - marked the symbolic start of the new life sciences building construction. The building will sit on about 30 acres of the 80-acre site adjacent to the JHU medical and research complex.
Bolstered by a $10-million commitment from the John G. Rangos Sr. Family Charitable Foundation for collaborative basic science research in the new life sciences park, the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences at JHU will occupy the largest share of the building. The Institute of Basic Biomedical Sciences combines the School of Medicine’s biological chemistry, biomedical engineering, biophysics and biophysical chemistry, molecular biology and genetics, molecular cell biology, neuroscience, pharmacology and molecular sciences, and physiology programs.
The grand vision of New East Baltimore includes new housing, streetscapes, an expansion of educational opportunities, a partnership with Dunbar Senior High School, an Urban Institute for Teaching and Learning, new businesses, new transportation options, and the creation of up to 6,000 jobs, with a third for high school graduates, a third for college graduates, and a third for those with advanced degrees.
The Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership, a joint venture between Forest City Enterprises and Presidential Partners, a consortium of four Black-owned companies, is developing the initial 31-acre first phase. East Baltimore Development Inc., a nonprofit corporation empowered by the City of Baltimore, is overseeing the development of the entire site.
