Johns Hopkins University and Texas-based developer seek City Council approval to build 12-story, 925-bed student housing community in Charles Village

Johns Hopkins University and a Texas-based development partner are seeking City Council approval to build a 12-story student housing community for approximately 925 students in the 3200 block of N. Charles Street, across from Hopkins’ year-old Bloomberg Student Center.

Baltimore City Council member Odette Ramos this week introduced legislation, Bill 26-0259, that would enable the developer, Maslow’s Campus Communities of Austin, Texas, to construct the housing in place of four vacant buildings that Hopkins owns at 3201, 3203, 3209 and 3211 N. Charles Street.

According to Maslow’s website, the Charles Street building will rise 12 stories and include 264 semi suite-style units that will house approximately 925 undergraduate students. SCB of Chicago is the architect, with associate principal Monica Willemsen as the lead designer, and Mahan Rykiel Associates of Baltimore is the landscape architect. A cost estimate has not been made public.

Maslow’s student housing project represents one of the biggest changes to the North Charles Street corridor since Hopkins built its $250 million Bloomberg Student Center at 3290 N. Charles St. Another large project currently under construction is a 400-bed student housing and dining facility that will replace the 1923 Alumni Memorial Residence 1 community on the Homewood campus.

Maslow’s project is intended for second-year Hopkins students. In addition to upper-level apartments, it will provide dedicated study and gathering spaces at ground level. Maslow’s calls it an “academically-oriented” community.

“JHU undergraduate students are required to live in on-campus housing for the first two years of their academic career,” the company’s website states. “This helps build a strong sense of community and provide students with valuable support and personal development beyond the classroom. The university has worked to expand its housing offerings in recent years to strengthen campus life and mitigate rising student housing costs. Led by a team with extensive experience delivering student housing, Maslow’s is committed to supporting student success through intentional design and on-site programming.”

SCB’s design calls for a symmetrical building clad in brick and cast stone, with a pronounced base, middle and top. The building is U-shaped in plan, with two wings framing a central courtyard that opens to Charles Street and the Bloomberg Student Center.

A loading dock will be located on the Lovegrove Street side to accommodate move-ins and trash disposal. A landscaped plaza will be created in front of the Abel Wolman House at 3213 N. Charles St., which community representatives wanted to see preserved on the block. The 1938 residence was designed by the noted architect Laurence Hall Fowler and served as the longtime home of Hopkins professor Abel Wolman and his family.

Targeted for demolition

The four vacant buildings that Hopkins owns and plans to demolish are:

• 3201 N. Charles St.: Gladwyn Manor at Campus Square, a three-level corner property that contains 11 apartments and a garage.
• 3203 N. Charles St.: a five-level building with 28 apartments.
• 3209 N. Charles St.: a three-story apartment building whose first-floor windows have been boarded up.
• 3211 N. Charles St.: Steinwald House, a three-story building that served for many years as the Johns Hopkins Alumni House, home of the university’s Office of Alumni Relations. It was named after Osmar Steinwald, Hopkins Class of 1928 and founder of the Alumni Relations office at the university. The Office of Alumni Relations moved out of Steinwald House more than 10 years ago. It served as the leasing office for Nine East 33^rd Street when that building opened.

Hopkins paid $9,428,500 to acquire the four properties between 1993 and 2025. As of July 1, the buildings and land have a combined assessed value of $8,213,834, according to state records.

The four buildings are not protected by local landmark designation that would trigger a review by Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP). Although it contains numerous buildings that are 80 to 100 years old or older, Charles Village is not a locally-designated historic district under CHAP’s purview.

Part of the site for the proposed building — two of the four buildings targeted for demolition – falls within the North Charles Village Planned Unit Development (PUD), a zoning area previously designated by the City Council. Ramos’ bill was introduced to amend the existing North Charles Village PUD to add the other two parcels.

Design decisions

According to The Charles Villager community newspaper, “this change will allow for meaningful engagement with the Charles Village Civic Association (CVCA)” concerning the building’s design. The CVCA’s Land Use Committee, the North Charles Village Design Review Committee and Baltimore’s Urban Design and Architecture Advisory Panel (UDAAP) have reviewed the plans.

During a review session in June, UDAAP members encouraged the design team to explore ways to make the building less symmetrical and look less like a throwback to an earlier era — what the late Hopkins art history professor Phoebe Stanton would have called “retardataire,” meaning outdated, behind the times or lagging behind current trends and approaches — but the team never came back for a follow-up review. Additional design review was completed at the staff level and the project will not be returning to UDAAP, according to the city’s planning department.

The design was meant to be “consistent with the existing neighborhood character,” Maslow’s website states. It “incorporates feedback from community stakeholders, including the Charles Village Civic Association and the City planning and design process. The design honors the fabric of the Charles Village neighborhood.”

Among the ways that the building will fit into the neighborhood, the developer says, are:

• The building’s red brick façade with cast stone accents echoes the material palette of Charles Village.
• The adjacent Abel Wolman House will be retained with an enhanced landscaped plaza and lighting.
• The building’s setback from the street is consistent with the varied rhythm existing along North Charles Street today.
• Streetscape improvements, including more generous sidewalks, will feel in line with the business and residential district along St. Paul Street.

Oct. 29 public hearing

Ramos’ council bill is one of two that were introduced this week to help Hopkins-related developments move ahead. Council member Zac Blanchard introduced a bill that would change zoning for two blocks of Mount Vernon to support a proposed expansion by the Peabody Institute, a Hopkins division since 1977.

Ramos’ bill has been referred to the council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee. Baltimore’s Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the proposed PUD amendment during a public hearing on Oct. 29.

Maslow’s is aiming to start construction in the summer of 2027, between Hopkins’ spring and fall semesters, and open the building in the fall of 2029.