City officials gave a boost to the Reservoir Hill and Upton neighborhoods yesterday by approving the condemnation and purchase of 49 vacant houses that the city plans to resell to responsible developers willing to renovate them.

The Board of Estimates voted unanimously to approve the expenditure of $260,160 in state grants to buy up to 36 blighted properties along Callow Avenue, Bolton Street and elsewhere in Reservoir Hill, and 13 homes in the 800 block of Edmondson Ave., near the Heritage Crossing development in Upton.

The effort is part of Mayor Martin O'Malley's "Project 5000," which seeks to seize control of 5,000 of the estimated 14,000 abandoned houses in the city and turn them over to people willing to fix them up.

"The big picture here is that we are taking ownership of Baltimore again," said O'Malley. "We are taking properties that others have left behind and putting them back onto the tax rolls."

O'Malley noted that property values have been rising in Reservoir Hill, and that the city plans to help with the community's turnaround by opening a police station soon on North Avenue near Park Avenue.

JoAnn Copes, the city's assistant housing commissioner for development, said that the city will advertise in newspapers and send letters soliciting proposals from people who want to buy and renovate the houses. She said the city will screen buyers to ensure they are responsible, and require that some units be sold or rented at market rates, while others become subsidized rentals.

Harry Peaker, president of Reservoir Hill Improvement Association, said: "We are delighted that the city is being proactive about this. Many of these homes are boarded up and in a state of disrepair. We hope this will improve the neighborhood and spur more redevelopment."