2307 Belair Road
Likely abandoned for over 10 years, 2307 Belair Road was the last vacant building on its block. Those years of devastation vanished after just four months of rehabilitation when A Strong Foundation Inc. stepped in with support from Baltimore City’s Developer Incentive Program.
Marcus Walker leads A Strong Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating affordable housing. Walker has 20 years of real estate experience, operating under his LLC, Rosetta Roots. A Strong Foundation is a new, family-run venture he started in 2024. “The heart of our mission began with my daughter, who at just nine-years-old, noticed the deep disparities across the city,” says Walker. “She said, ‘Everyone deserves a strong foundation—housing, food, and education.’ Her words became the name and purpose of our organization.” Walker says his daughter Makayla, now 18-years-old and involved in the nonprofit’s work, noticed the philanthropic opportunities in both her parent’s careers: her father in real estate and her mother in education. “So, we combined those two efforts. The main thing we focus on is affordable housing, and then the other piece is closing the literacy gap here in Baltimore City.” Walker’s wife Kelly, who has a paralleled 20 years of teaching experience, leads the organization’s individualized tutoring program that provides city students with educational support.
A Strong Foundation’s housing efforts centered on the often neglected Four by Four neighborhood after Maryland Senator Cory McCray encouraged Walker to pursue the area. Walker sought out and won the bid on 2307 Belair Road, a property straddling the Four by Four and Belair-Edison neighborhoods, at a 2024 One House At A Time auction. “It was the ugly house on the block,” says Walker. “They’re typically the ones that I appreciate most because I know once you turn that particular property around, it adjusts the whole neighborhood.”
“We tackle a house, but we really tackle a block because we know we need to sell it. So, the appearance of all of it needs to change.”
Creating neighborhood change was the biggest hurdle in the rehab of 2307 Belair Road, according to Walker. He says a main challenge on the project was reversing neighbors’ behavior toward the property. “Everybody was used to that property being vacant and abandoned,” says Walker. “So, when it came to littering, loitering, and different things like that, we had to kind of break some behaviors. But I think it was a great opportunity to show folks how to treat the property. And at the end of the day, what I noticed is cleanliness was contagious.” His team worked with North East Housing Initiative (NEHI), a nonprofit community land trust that stewards the Four by Four community association, to help tackle cleanliness neighborhood-wide. Walker purchased new trash cans for neighbors experiencing a delay in receiving city-issued cans. His team also developed signs to deter people from littering. “We tackle a house, but we really tackle a block because we know we need to sell it,” says Walker. “So, the appearance of all of it needs to change.”
A Strong Foundation’s interest in reviving the community likely boosted their eligibility for the Developer Incentive Program, offered by the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Created in 2024, the program awarded grants up to $50,000 to developers and nonprofit organizations working to create affordable homeownership opportunities from properties with Vacant Building Notices (VBN) in Impact Investment Areas or Middle Neighborhoods across Baltimore. The funding is meant to alleviate the cost of appraisal gaps that most developers face when renovation costs exceed an affordable rate of sale. Those awarded the grant must adhere to certain criteria. For example, the renovated property must be sold for homeownership; it must be sold at a rate affordable to buyers who earn no more than 100% of the HUD Area Median Income (AMI) according to household size; and buyers must be willing to occupy the home for at least five years after purchase.
“We were the first developer in that program to complete it from beginning to end and hand it all to a homeowner."
While the limitations may scare off some developers, Walker says it wasn’t a difficult process. “There’s a difference as far as submitting paperwork for the funds,” says Walker. “But once you learn it, it’s pretty straightforward. Being able to account for everything how they want you to account for it is probably not a challenge, but a learning curve.” The program runs on $2.6 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, so it is unclear if the Developer Incentive Program will continue once all funds are allocated. Walker strongly believes that it should. “Baltimore’s vacant housing stock requires extensive work to make these properties safe, modern, and attractive to homeowners,” says Walker in a statement he provided for a DHCD Mayor’s meeting. “Without incentives like this, many developers—especially smaller, community-focused ones like myself—would struggle to take on these high-risk high-reward projects that ultimately stabilize neighborhoods and create opportunities for homeownership.”
Walker says the investment in 2307 Belair Road would have broken even if it weren’t for the grant. It also would have been a slower process. “[The grant] created a win-win,” says Walker. “They gave us half of the $50,000 midway through the project, which allowed us to accelerate a bit. I could get more done at one time without delaying the project.” The property earned its use and occupancy permit after only four months of construction, a very quick turnaround in this business. “We were the first developer in that program to complete it from beginning to end and hand it all to a homeowner,” says Walker. “I mean, there’s a lot of people taking advantage of the program, but I was told that we were the first ones to start it and actually finish it.”
"I get an opportunity to go in and meet folks, understand their needs and concerns, but then more importantly, really deliver something they’ve been waiting on for a really long time."
The formerly distressed 2307 Belair Road is now a luxurious three-bedroom home. Walker admires the improved property’s lighting and features that aren’t common to other houses on the block. This includes the living room’s built-in fireplace and feature wall, the pot-filler in the kitchen, and the finished basement that holds another room for an office or den. According to Walker, the new owner also seems to love these features, exclaiming “OMG, this is perfect!” when first entering the property. The owner is a first-time homebuyer who searched for over 10 months before finding the perfect home at 2307 Belair Road, purchased for $185,000. Walker says the owner even saw the benefit in what may have been considered the location’s negative: the block sits at a diagonal angle from the rest of the neighborhood and directly faces a public road and a graveyard. However, Walker says the buyer seemed happy about the privacy of fewer surrounding houses, being close to bus transportation, and being in walking distance to a supermarket. The neighborhood is also across from Clifton Park, which offers beautiful greenspace and historic sites like Clifton Mansion.
Walker is now working on two more receivership properties. “I think working with receivership is an awesome way of saying, ‘hey, either you’re going to work on these houses, keep them in good shape, or we’re going to put them in the hands of somebody who can do something,’” he says. “I love receivership because it gives us an opportunity to make a difference in spaces that have been sitting for 10 years.” And, along with his sheer passion for the job, making that difference is why Walker continues to do this work. His main priority on a project, he says, is connecting with and serving others. “I’m a people person, so I think the most rewarding thing is the initiation of developing those relationships. I get an opportunity to go in and meet folks, understand their needs and concerns, but then more importantly, really deliver something they’ve been waiting on for a really long time.”
