In East Baltimore, a new housing complex offers more than just affordable units — it’s also providing low-cost Wi-Fi and a built-in library to bridge the city’s digital divide.
“If we hadn’t been able to lease the city’s existing fiber infrastructure, there’s no way the service could have been provided at such a low price.”
Gretchen LeGrand, senior program manager for digital equity at the Deutsch Foundation
On Monday, the Johnston Square community celebrated the opening of The Hammond at Greenmount Park, a $55 million apartment building built on what were once vacant lots. The building provides the discounted internet setup by tapping into a unique aspect of Baltimore’s infrastructure: the city’s ownership of its own fiber network.
While planning the building during the COVID-19 pandemic, partners saw how unequal internet access affected work and school opportunities. That experience underscored the need to ensure residents could get affordable internet, said Sean Closkey, president of ReBUILD Metro, the community developer leading the project.
“It became clear to us that having safe, reliable and affordable connectivity in this world isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s a need-to-have,” Closkey said.
Baltimore is one of the few cities that owns its underground conduit system, meaning it can decide how and where to expand its cable network to support public projects and services. That control also lowers barriers for new internet providers looking to enter the market by building off the city’s existing infrastructure, instead of having to build new cables, which cuts costs.
Through a $60,000 grant from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, The Hammond’s developers were able to leverage this advantage, wiring each unit with a fiber-optic cable and Wi-Fi router.
Residents can get internet service for $20 a month through local provider Port Networks or choose Comcast if they prefer, according to Gretchen LeGrand, senior program manager for digital equity at the Deutsch Foundation.
The development offers 109 units starting at $634 a month — $800 lower than Baltimore’s average rent cost — and will provide housing for 12 formerly homeless families. Plus, a 9,000-square-foot library on the building’s ground floor will be the first new Enoch Pratt branch in 15 years.
Affordable internet meets housing
The new development with access to affordable Wi-Fi comes at a critical time for internet affordability.
In Baltimore, 12% of households lack internet access, with the majority of those located in low-income communities.
Recent federal shifts have only added further limits to addressing the digital divide.
In 2024, the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provided a $30 monthly subsidy for low-income households, ended, making it harder for many families to stay online, per a recent study from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.
Plus, the Trump administration is moving to roll back a Federal Communications Commission rule that forces internet providers to share basic details about pricing and service quality — a hard-fought rule change designed to increase transparency around the hidden fees often bundled into internet bills.
Baltimore’s unique internet infrastructure provides some advantages to help tie low-cost internet to affordable housing.
Last year, Baltimore’s Office of Information and Technology awarded a $2 million grant to the nonprofit internet provider Waves to use the city’s network to deploy a fiber-optic connection to 12 low-income apartment buildings.
Deutsch’s LeGrand hopes that The Hammond can set an example for other affordable housing efforts in Baltimore, too, as the city focuses on revitalizing vacant properties.
“If we hadn’t been able to lease the city’s existing fiber infrastructure, there’s no way the service could have been provided at such a low price,” LeGrand told Technical.ly via email. “We hope this pilot will serve as a model for new development throughout the city.”
