HOUSING DAY 2010

The Michael Group made it out to Housing Day last week despite the snow. Maryland Housing Day in Annapolis is an annual event which allows affordable housing professionals and advocates to come together to hear about the current year’s legislative agenda. It’s also a chance to talk to your representatives about the importance of affordable housing in MD. This year, the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition urged all of it’s members to make two requests to legislators:

1. Support the Governor’s request to maintain last year’s funding lever for the DHCD Rental Housing Programs and Partnership Rental Housing Funds. These funds total $21.5 million.

2. Authorize $2 million in general obligation bonds to be allocated to the Maryland Affordable Housing Trust fund. This fund is desperately needed just to bring the funding for MAHT up to the typical level.

PLEASE call your legislators and tell them to support the above mentioned issues. If you don’t know who your legislators are you can go to http://mdelect.net/ and find out.

Don’t forget: Housing MATTERS!

Starting work at Halpine Hamlet

The Michael Group is beginning work this week on Halpine Hamlet, a 67 unit garden style apartment located in Rockville, Maryland. Halpine Hamlet was purchased by Montgomery Housing Partnership back in September 2009. The fact that Halpine is located in close proximity to the Twinbrook Metro was a driving force behind MHP’s decision to purchase the property. Preserving affordable housing within walking distance of the Metro is a key victory for MHP. The Michael Group is proud to begin work on this important preservation project.

For this first phase of the project, we will be replacing 50% of the HVAC units with new, energy efficient units. We will also be replacing all of the roofs on all of the buildings.

While our official work is beginning this week, we were able to meet the staff and residents at the property’s holiday party. The Michael Group donated $5,000 for children’s gifts as well as food and drinks for the party. The residents (seen below) had a great time and we were happy to get a chance to be involved.

TMG Sponsors ULI Holiday Party

Last month, the Michael Group was the proud sponsor of the Urban Land Institute’s Holiday Party here in Baltimore! The party was held at the new Legg Mason Building at Inner Harbor East. What a view!

The Urban Land Institute is a fabulous organization to be a part of. It is made up of developers, architects, builders, engineers and others that are focused on development, the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.

We were able to reconnect with some of our old friends and colleagues.

Michael Shacklette, President of the Michael Group and David Hunter of Hord Coplan Macht

Caroline Moore, ULI Baltimore Chair and Peter Fillat of Peter Fillat Architects

Some of the Michael Group staff talking to Emmitt Smith of ESmith Legacy, Inc.

We also met some great new partners that we look forward to working with in the future.

Otis Rolley of the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance and Babila Lima from the office of the Council President.

Michael Furbish of the Furbish Company and Randon Bosch of Fritch, Whitney Bailey Cox and Magnani.

Michael Shacklette, President of the Michael Group, actor Sonja Sohn of ReWired for Change and Michael Blake of Marks Thomas Architects

It was a great party and everyone went home with some Michael Group SWAG!

Thanks to our great friends at SPIN for putting on such a great party! Thanks to Arianne Temple for the great photos!

Photos of Monte Verde

I’m sure many of you have heard ALOT about our Monte Verde Project. Too much? I don’t believe it! It’s just such a great project I can’t stop sharing about it! Here are some photos taken by Tom Holdsworth of Hord Coplan Macht. For more information on the project, contact Ellen Frost at emf@themichaelgroup.net

A Typical Bedroom

The Common Living Room

The Common Living Room

The New Hallways

The Michael Group Signs on to Help the Druid Hill Y

The Michael Group is proud to be one of the lead sponsors for several important revitalization projects that will be taking place this Spring at the Druid Hill Family Center YMCA.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Druid Hill Y, it was started in 1885 and was created by Baltimore's African American community as a vibrant center for socialization, recreation and business. This center has been serving communities of West Baltimore for over 120 years.

Despite having so much to offer and some strong and important partnerships, more is needed to properly serve the community. The Y of Central Maryland is committed to assuring this center’s vital future, but cannot they can’t do it alone. That's where we come in. There are some capital improvement projects that are critical for the Y to continue serving the children and families of West Baltimore. Some of these capital improvements include replacing the gym floor, revitalizing the locker rooms, doing some cosmetic work to the computer lab and teen space.

In late April, we will be spearheading service projects to revitalize the Druid Hill Family Center Y.  The Druid Hill Family Center serves as an anchor of youth programming vital to the fabric of the surrounding community.   The revitalization will help improve resources to the families of the Druid Hill/Upton community. If you would like to donate time, materials, cash or services, please contact Ellen Frost at emf@themichaelgroup.net

On January 30 at 9:00 am the Y will host a breakfast for alumni, community leaders and friends of the Druid Hill Family Center Y to kick-off plans for the center’s revitalization. The breakfast will take place at 1609 Druid Hill Ave. Baltimore, MD 21217.  For more information or to RSVP to this free event contact Heidi at heidiparemske@ymaryland.org

Updates to follow!

ULI Third Thursdays Are BACK!

 

The Michael Group will be sponsoring the first ULI Third Thursday Happy Hour of the new year! Come join us on January 21st at 5:30 at the Fairfield Inn at 101 President Street. This is a great opportunity to network, take a tour of the new Fairfield Inn, an amazing new Green Hotel in Baltimore and learn more about ULI. To register, check out the ULI Website for more information.

Holidays At Monte Verde

The Michael Group was happy to celebrate the holidays at Monte Verde for the 2nd year in a row! We were excited to have the Baltimore Sun there to capture the party and the joy everyone was feeling. You can read the article from Sunday’s paper here. The residents were even treated to a visit by City Council President Stephanie Rawlings Blake. We had such a great turnout! The residents were lined up outside the new community room at least a half hour before the 3pm start time.

We were so fortunate this year to have such great support from our partners and subcontractors. The Michael Group, with help from Carroll Engineering, Peristyle Design and Hord Coplan Macht provided Target gift cards for all the residents.

Greater Baltimore AHC, the owner of the Monte Verde Apartments provided holiday refreshments for the residents.

Many of our subcontractors provided groceries so that the residents could take home healthy food and drinks at the end of the party. Thanks so much to Custom Counter Tops, Archer Construction, Calumet,Thrifty, Bay Door and Hardware, Silverblatt Electrical, Shade 4 You, Accurate Plumbing and TW Perry for their contributions.

 

Many more of our subcontractors also generously provided holiday gifts for the 13 children living at Monte Verde. Special thanks to Abbey Enterprises, Colossal Contractors, One Source Windows, Admiral Elevator, Chegg Hill, Business Flooring, Avnet Systems, Judd Fire Protection, East West Carpentry, M and N Concrete and Response Tech.

Finally, Hord Coplan Macht sponsored a clothes drive at their office which allowed us to distribute gently used winter coats, sweaters, suits and dresses and kids clothing to the residents.

At the end of the party, the Monte Verde Resident present Michael Group President Michael Shacklette with a giant Thank You card in appreciation for all that he had done fore the residents!

What a great way to celebrate the holidays! Happy New Year everyone!