Roland Park Place to Expand Into Historic Villa Assumpta Site

Roland Park Place is expanding to add a new senior living site at historic Villa Assumpta on North Charles Street near Towson, the organization announced Wednesday. The Baltimore-based retirement community, which owns and operates a senior living campus across from The Rotunda in Hampden, plans to begin construction and renovations on the Towson facilities in late 2028 and open in fall 2030.

This is the first offsite community for Roland Park Place, which opened its doors in 1984 and is Baltimore City's first and only accredited Continuing Care Retirement Community. The announcement comes as the region's population ages and demand for full-service senior living options continues to rise, Sam Guedouar, president and CEO of Roland Park Place, said in a statement. "As more older adults seek to remain connected in this area, this new campus will allow us to welcome them with the same commitment to community that has defined RPP for more than 40 years," Guedouar said.

The Villa Assumpta campus is located on a nine-acre property at the corner of Charles Street and Bellona Avenue. The School Sisters of Notre Dame purchased the property in 1937 to host its nun training program for young women, and the congregation helped found Baltimore's Notre Dame Preparatory School, the Institute of Notre Dame, and the University of Notre Dame of Maryland. Villa Assumpta was home to the congregation for more than 70 years; the Maria Health Care Center once occupied the lower levels but shuttered in 2021, and about 37 nuns moved to Stella Maris, a nursing home and long-term care facility in Timonium, as the School Sisters of Notre Dame's Atlantic-Midwest Province prepared to sell the Charles Street property last fall.

Sister Nancy Gilchriest, the School Sisters of Notre Dame's provincial leader, endorsed the transition. "We are very grateful the Holy Spirit has brought Roland Park Place to work beside us," Gilchriest said in a statement. "Roland Park Place's thoughtful vision ensures that the legacy of the School Sisters of Notre Dame lives on in new ways at our Charles Street property. Both RPP and SSND look forward to further engaging with the community and the County to make this transition possible."

Roland Park Place's existing campus on West 40th Street sits at the boundary of Roland Park and Hampden. The Hampden community includes two buildings of one- and two-bedroom independent living apartments, an arts and education center, dining, and short- and long-term care. The Villa Assumpta acquisition allows the organization to add residential capacity without touching that footprint. The new community is envisioned to feature independent living apartments, with additional services and amenities to be determined as planning proceeds.

Design firm Hord Coplan Macht, which has worked with Roland Park Place on prior projects, has outlined an ambitious program for the organization's broader reinvention that includes a market café, bistro, pub, formal and private dining, expanded fitness facilities, a dedicated movie theatre, and a new 200-seat arts and education center. The plan also calls for converting existing nursing space into two memory care households of 13 suites each, with two secured gardens; two renovated long-term care households of 14 suites each; renovated 16-suite short-term rehab space; 60 new independent living apartments; and a 150-car under-building parking structure. The project is targeting LEED Homes Silver certification.

Transforming the Villa Assumpta site helps RPP grow without changing its original campus footprint, repurposing an existing space in keeping with community values and long-term care trends prioritizing diversity, independence, individuality, and safety. Additional services and amenities for the new campus will be determined during the planning process, with construction not expected to break ground until fall 2028 and the first residents two years behind that.