BALTIMORE (Map, News) - One of the most blighted sections of the city has taken a giant step toward revitalization.

Federal, state and city officials were all on the same page when they came together Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the first of many new buildings being constructed as part of a $1 billion project slated to revitalize a large portion of East Baltimore in the next 10 years.

When completed in 2007, the 282,000-square-foot building at 855 N. Wolfe St. will be the first piece of the Science and Technology Park at Johns Hopkins.

Officials said the 2002 partnership involving the city, state and communities of East Baltimore is beginning to huge pay dividends.

“Johns Hopkins is one of our biggest job generators that we failed to harness in past years,” Mayor Martin O’Malley told The Examiner before the ceremony. “This is a tremendous opportunity for Baltimore’s future.”

Before the project reached it current momentum, the Greater Baltimore Committee raised $1 million to help support East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit that acts as the arm of the partnership, said Donald C. Fry, president of the committee.

Fry said that when completed, the renewal of East Baltimore will act as a catalyst for the rest of the city.

“It’s like dropping a pebble in a pond,” Fry said. “You’ll get a ripple effect.”

Aris Melissaratos, secretary of the Maryland Department of Economic Development, expressed enthusiasm for the project’s potential.

“It is the total rebuilding of an entire community,” he said.

The boundaries of the 80-acre project run from Broadway to Madison Street to Collington Street and the railroad tracks. It was one of the city’s depressed areas with a 56 percent vacancy in some sections, according to city data.

When completed over the next 10 years, the science and technology park will boast 150,000 square feet of office and retail space. It will also include 1,500 new homes for buyers with mixed incomes. Officials estimate the project could generate about 6,000 jobs.

The kinds of jobs the project will generate is particularly important, Joseph Haskins Jr., chairman of East Baltimore Development Inc., told The Examiner.

“This will create opportunities across the board from entry level to highly credentials positions,” he said.

Haskins, who is also the president of The Harbor Bank, said he and others stood steadfast in their hope for transforming the area when others had “written off the neighborhood.”

On Wednesday, The Examiner will explore another project that is breathing new economic life into Baltimore.

Funding for project

» Baltimore: $30 million

» State: $22.5 million

» Federal: $21 million

Source: East Baltimore Development lnc.

cdembeck@baltimoreexaminer.com