Lyneir Richardson came to Baltimore five years ago with a big idea: Get people who live near a rundown shopping center — civic-minded people, or people who want an affordable investment with a possible long-term payoff — to help fund redevelopment and bring in new tenants. A real estate investor with a social mission, Richardson started with Walbrook Junction Shopping Center in West Baltimore, purchasing it for $6.2 million. Then he and his Chicago-based social enterprise, TREND, offered, at $1,000 minimum, part ownership in the shopping center.  They hoped to raise $35,000 through crowdfunding as a first step, but ended up with nearly 10 times that amount from 130 local investors. “It resonated with people that having a small ownership stake matters and that this was an opportunity for Black community economic development,” Richardson told me at the time. “The thesis is that people having a small investment will patronize, protect and respect the shopping center, and that it will strengthen the neighborhood.” Richardson and TREND used the money, along with some state and city funding, for improvements to the shopping center — a new roof and facade, repaved parking lot and an upgraded security system. They recruited some new tenants. But then came a serious setback: Rite Aid bankruptcy. The demise of the chain pharmacy forced Richardson and TREND to find a new tenant for a 10,000-square-foot space adjoining the Save-a-Lot supermarket that anchors the Walbrook Junction Shopping Center. “We said no to a Dollar Store,” I was pleased to hear Richardson say the other day as he spoke of the need to find the right tenant to best serve the community. He had been hoping to land a health-related service, maybe a primary care practice, perhaps a bank branch.  Lyneir Richardson The patience appears to be on the verge of paying off: In June, Smart Steps, a preschool and childcare center, will move into the space, offering an array of educational and enrichment services for kids, including those on the autism spectrum, from six months to 13 years old. Smart Steps has been in operation since 2003, with two full-time centers and eight summer programs across the city. The new location will be called Smart Steps Academy. After Walbrook got underway, Richardson took on an even bigger project in Edmondson Village, again asking for small investors to buy into his plan to revamp an old shopping center. He was on the verge of doing this when something horrible happened — a mass shooting outside an Edmondson Village fast-food restaurant in January 2023. A teenage boy was killed and four others wounded.  “I got 10 calls asking me, ‘Are you still going to go through with the deal, are you committed to the project?’” Richardson told me after the shooting. “My company was set up to do retail development in majority Black neighborhoods because, if a retail and commercial corridor is disinvested or blighted, it brings down value in the neighborhood. It attracts crime. It attracts civil disorder. So, in some respects, I’m leaning in now. It has made me more passionate about getting this to the finish line.” Richardson raised hopes for Edmondson Village after the shooting. He also raised money from 200 investors who are now, with TREND, co-owners of the shopping center. And, with another $7.5 million from the city, things are happening. Edmondson Village is being transformed.  On Monday, Richardson held a celebration event to present a progress report on the village’s redevelopment. “We’re a year away from eating an apple out of a store,” Richardson said, referring to the Aldi supermarket that will be among new tenants. “Everything takes time, but things are moving in the right direction.” The list of tenants, both established and incoming, include Ascension Saint Agnes Primary Care, a DTLR (Downtown Locker Room) store, Charley’s Cheesesteaks, Dunkin, Quickway Japanese Hibachi, United Postal Express, Walter P. Carter Child Care Center and a Platinum Amala Spot, a West African restaurant. Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland will build a new headquarters on land behind the shopping center. The fast-food restaurant, where the mass shooting took place, has been renovated and has a new facade. While construction continues within chain-link fencing, motorists on Edmondson Avenue see signs telling of the realization of Lyneir Richardson’s big, mission-driven idea for the old shopping center: “200 Community Investors. . . 40% Women Investors. . . . 33% West Baltimore Investors . . . 53% Black Investors. . . . 42% Baltimore Investors. Local Ownership. Local Pride.” Longtime columnist Dan Rodricks writes weekly for Baltimore Fishbowl. He can be reached at [email protected] ...read more read less