Central Baltimore Partnership Taps Clipper Construction To Refresh 1700 Block Of North Charles

The Central Baltimore Partnership has partnered with Clipper Construction to refresh the exterior fixtures at the 1700 block of North Charles in Baltimore. The partnership was initiated by Jack Danna, the Director of Commercial Revitalization with Central Baltimore Partnership.

The Central Baltimore Partnership (CBP) was founded in 2006 with the mission to galvanize the renaissance of Central Baltimore. The organization aims to achieve its objectives by partnering with nonprofits ranging from small neighborhood associations to large universities and hospitals, businesses of all sizes, and city agencies active in the eleven neighborhoods and one commercial district of Central Baltimore. In the face of the rising threat of COVID-19, CBP created a Small Business Emergency Task Force to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on Central Baltimore entrepreneurs and small businesses. Jack Danna played an outsized role in coordinating and planning all aspects of the organization’s COVID-19 response for small businesses.

One of the innovative approaches suggested by the task force was the Design for Distancing (D4D) initiative. The $135,000 capital initiative co-led by the Neighborhood Design Center and the Baltimore Development Corporation in Station North was created to help businesses reopen by activating the public realm with outdoor dining, a Holiday marketplace, and enhanced carry out operations. As a part of the Design for Distancing (D4D) initiative, CBP contracted the original construction of the project in Station North. Jack Danna has now enlisted the services of Clipper Construction to pressure wash, repair, and refresh those exterior structures.

Jack Danna talks about the new partnership with Clipper Construction by saying, “We are determined to make Central Baltimore shine bright and reflect the community’s enthusiasm for the city and its common public spaces. We want to leave no stone unturned to ensure that the areas where people come together to meet, dine, and share stories are replete with the fresh perspectives and vibrant energy that the city’s residents exude in their day-to-day interactions. We hope the visual refresh will help the block better mirror the progress that the city is making in coming out of the vicious grasp of the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. We thank Clipper Construction for undertaking this project and we encourage your readers to follow Central Baltimore Partnership to learn more about similar projects that we will no doubt undertake in the near future.” More details about Clipper Construction can be read about at https://clipperconstruction.business.site/posts/640098737565935107.

On the organization’s website, CBP mentions that the aim behind the Design for Distancing program was to ask the simple question - “How might Baltimore bring its creative community together to help small businesses and neighborhoods adapt their streets, sidewalks, and outdoor spaces with social distancing in mind?” The initiative found its answer by implementing scores of programs that directly helped the small businesses that were affected by falling public mobility and foot traffic at retail locations in Central Baltimore.

As a part of D4D, Central Baltimore Partnership assisted 12 businesses to create enhanced carry-out windows with $36,000 in grants. D4D also helped 14 businesses expand outdoor dining with $70,000 in grants. CBP also created $29,000 funding for outdoor Holiday Marketplace to ensure up to 120 artists and creative makers have an in-person retail platform during the holiday shopping season. The Made In Baltimore shop will be at the center of this marketplace whose network has 70 members (65% Black/Women-owned).

From its website, some of the current activities that Central Baltimore Partnership undertakes include coordinating community participation in major projects, such as Baltimore’s Penn Station redevelopment and North Avenue Rising, expanding incentives to transform long-vacant sites including innovative commercial façade and tenant improvement programs, working with health care providers to improve residents’ health by expanding access to health care and chronic disease prevention, creating a variety of COVID19 response initiatives and programs, aiding Central Baltimore’s community centers and other youth service providers, mobilizing partners to transform blighted sites into vibrant community green spaces, and promoting the area, and all it has to offer to current residents, new home buyers, businesses, and visitors.