Grove Park residents upset over plans to turn Northwest Baltimore school into nursing home
BALTIMORE -- A Northwest Baltimore community is frustrated over plans to turn a former elementary school into a nursing home.
A small group of Grove Park residents with matching shirts and signs held a protest outside of Baltimore City Hall on Tuesday.
A few of them went inside and expressed their concerns for the future of the former Grove Park Elementary School at a Baltimore City Council hearing with Housing Commissioner Alice Kennedy.
"We want to make it known that we do not want a nursing home for profit in our community," Grove Park Improvement Association Vice President Steve Ward said.
Back in 2018, the school closed down due to under-enrollment.
In 2021, the city selected an organization named CommuniCare to purchase the property and convert it into a 140-bed nursing facility.
"We would like to see a multipurpose center, possibly a charter school," Ward said. "Something that will . . . be an asset"
Ward and other community members feel like this decision was made without their input.
"I just want someone to come out and talk to us about this," Marvin Briscoe of Grove Park said. "It's being really quiet."
WJZ contacted the city's Department of Housing and Community Development. The department sent over a fact sheet about the project that explains residents were given a chance to weigh in on the project.
WJZ reporter Jessica Albert asked Kennedy at the meeting if she would answer questions regarding the concerns of residents. She said she was unavailable for comment.
Grove Park residents hope the demonstration has an impact.
"This is a good way of showing that they're listening to the citizens that vote in this community," Ward said.
CommuniCare has not officially purchased the property yet.
There will be a meeting about the sale on May 25.
