'The Wire' Actor Invests In $20M Baltimore Development Project

BALTIMORE (WJZ)--An actor made famous in "The Wire" is now trying to transform neighborhoods that played backdrop to some of the gritty scenes in the HBO series.

Wendell Pierce is investing in a multi-million dollar apartment complex with Baltimore developers.

Mary Bubala explains.

As William "Bunk" Moreland on "The Wire," actor Wendell Pierce lived and worked in Baltimore for years and virtually no show in the history of TV has better captured the complicated, broken, and tough realities of inner city life.

Now a year after the unrest following the death of Freddie Gray, Pierce believes Baltimore is worth investing in.

"The causes of the unrest is the reason I'm also doing it because I believe the social justice movement of the 21st century is economic development," said Pierce.

Pierce is part of development team behind a $20 million dollar apartment complex in Station North.

Developer Ernst Valery is working with Pierce on the 103 unit project on Lanvale Street.

The two share similar values when it comes to urban re-development.

"This neighborhood was initially about artists, artists made this neighborhood so it would be a shame if we re-developed this neighborhood and artists couldn't afford to live here anymore," said Ernst Valery, with SA+A Development.

The building will rise from a parking lot near Penn Station. On the ground floor it will have a milk & honey market, a yoga studio and an art gallery and it includes a mix of renters.

"We are putting solutions on the table by what is there now is an empty space and we are building trying to bring people to a community instead of displace people," said Pierce.

And Pierce and Valery see this project as model of an inclusive new way developers can invest in Baltimore.

"We need to have something, bricks and mortar that people can go and touch and see the numbers and say, wow it actually works," said Valery.

Wendell Pierce hopes this apartment complex in station north is just the start of his investing in Baltimore.

He says he's also looking at sites in west Baltimore.

The project should break ground in July.