Keswick Multi-Care Center in Baltimore plans to build a $195 million continuing-care retirement community on Roland Park land now owned by the Baltimore Country Club, its CEO said yesterday.
Keswick has agreed to buy 17 acres of club property where members once played tennis. The sale requires approval by two-thirds of the club's 2,000 voting members, with a vote set for July 15. A letter sent by the Baltimore Country Club to members said the price was $12.5 million, which Keswick confirmed.
Libby Bowerman, chief executive of the long-term-care facility, said preliminary plans call for 225 independent-living units, 58 assisted-living units and 40 beds for residents in need of skilled nursing.
FOR THE RECORD
Because of incorrect information provided to The Sun, an article and map in Tuesday's editions about a proposed retirement community on Baltimore Country Club land located the site incorrectly. The property that Keswick Multi-Care Center has agreed to buy is north of Hillside Road, not south.
The Sun regrets the error.
Keswick would build a 403-space underground parking garage as part of the construction, which could begin in 2010 if the sale goes forward and the city approves it as a "planned unit development," she said.
The complex - part of an expansion trend in the retirement industry as more Americans hit retirement age - would employ about 150. Bowerman said Keswick's campus on 40th Street in Roland Park, where 400 work, would continue to operate.
"We're almost always 98 percent occupied, and we're landlocked," she said. "We have looked at a number of other pieces of property ... but the board was very clear that they wanted to stay in Baltimore City."
Keswick and the country club began talking about six months ago. The club, which opened new tennis courts at its Five Farms campus in Timonium last summer, said other groups were also interested in buying the former tennis grounds but Keswick's project seemed a good fit.
Michael R. Stott, general manager and chief operating officer of the country club, said the money would be used to renovate the Roland Park clubhouse, part of which dates back to 1898.
"It was surplus land," Stott said of the 17 acres. "All we were doing was kind of cutting the grass ... and there was really no need for it."
Rumors have been flying in Roland Park as residents got wind that a sale might be under way.
The country club told a Roland Park Civic League official about six weeks ago that it was thinking of selling property but did not share specific plans, said Philip Spevak, president of the community association.
He said some residents favor a retirement community, as long as it's done well, but others are concerned about traffic and the loss of green space in an up-scale neighborhood known for its park-like atmosphere.
