Bon Secours Gibbons Apartments, 80 units of affordable housing for families as well as individuals with disabilities, is the first new construction on a historic mixed-use campus in southwest Baltimore.
Saint Agnes Healthcare purchased the 32-acre Cardinal Gibbons High School campus, which also had been the former site of Babe Ruth’s alma mater St. Mary’s Industrial School, to provide the community with a healthy and safe place to live, work, and play.
Bon Secours Baltimore Health System and its development subsidiary Unity Properties teamed with Saint Agnes and development consultant Enterprise Homes to create the one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes for households earning between 30% and 60% of the area median income.
“You have this former community institution, which was the Cardinal Gibbons High School that is no longer functioning, but the presence of our housing and whatever else comes on the campus will be a great adaptive-reuse and continue to be an anchor for the community,” says George Kleb, executive director of housing and community development for Bon Secours Baltimore Health System.
The development, completed in June, was designed to achieve LEED Silver certification and includes a highly efficient HVAC system, water-conserving features, Energy Star appliances, and energy-saving light fixtures.
Family-focused amenities also include a fitness room, a large community room with a big-screen TV and kitchenette, and common-area WiFi. Resident lounges with different functions, including a study area, electronic gaming, and board games, are on each floor.
The $19.5 million development was primarily financed with low-income housing tax credits allocated by the Maryland Department of Housing & Community Development (MDHCD). Capital One provided the housing tax credit equity through Enterprise Community Investment as well as a permanent loan. Additional financing included HOME funds from the city of Baltimore, a Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta Affordable Housing Program grant, and MDHCD Rental Housing Program funds.
“The health-care industry continues to change, and Saint Agnes Healthcare is working to be as relevant to people when they are well as when they are sick,” says Keith Vander Kolk, vice president of Ascension Health and president and CEO of Saint Agnes Healthcare. “Gibbons Commons supports that direction. As we open this first project on this historic property, it reinforces our confidence that the lives of those in our community will be impacted in the most positive way.”
