Dr. Bill Thomas in the Baltimore Business Journal

October 05 - 2007

Stadium Place developer pitches $10M plan for site

Baltimore Business Journal - by Sue Schultz Staff

Nicholas Griner | Staff

Mitch Posner is leading new development at Stadium Place in Baltimore.

A new $10 million long-term care facility and office and retail space could finish off the redevelopment of about 30 acres at the former Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

As part of the roughly $90 million project, known as Stadium Place, the Govans Ecumenical Development Corp. expects to submit plans to the state Oct. 5 for approval of its proposed long-term care center to serve 49 residents.

The center could be the first in Maryland to experiment with a new concept in skilled care for elderly residents known as the Green House.

Mitch Posner, executive director of Govans, known as Gedco, said the Baltimore-based nonprofit also is considering adding office and retail space to the site with services designed to cater to elderly residents.

"For a small nonprofit like us, this is a huge project," Posner said.

Gedco aims to house about 500 residents at the site. About 255 residents live in the three buildings already developed by Gedco. The nonprofit broke ground on a fourth building Sept. 27 and expects to break ground on a 146-unit condominium development over the next two months.

The long-term care center will divide the 49 residents into separate housing floors with private rooms and community living space patterned after single-family housing.

The Green House concept, already in 34 sites nationally, features smaller housing units with groups of elderly needing skilled care. It also links the skilled-care facilities with retirement housing and retail designed for elderly shoppers.

"America is moving away from institutional models and more toward community living," said Dr. Bill Thomas, a geriatrician and professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore County's Erickson School and founder of the Green House concept.

The nursing home construction boom in the 1960s and 1970s has left many communities with aging and deteriorating facilities. With the industry moving away from replacing or rebuilding these facilities, building Green House sites can often be financially challenging for nonprofits and developers.

"In this early phase, costs could be a stumbling block," said Thomas.

Nationally, a $10 million, five-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will help developers and nonprofits launch new communities in each state, said Thomas. Gedco will receive some of that money for technical support, design and training, but not toward the construction of the long-term care center.

The Maryland Health Care Commission will need to approve the new facility at Stadium Place before Gedco can begin construction.

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