Several JHU-Owned Charles Village Vacant Houses To Be Demolished For Green Space
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Seven Johns Hopkins-owned rowhomes in Charles Village are set for demolition beginning later this month.The homes along West 29th Street are in a state of disrepair and uninhabitable, according to Johns Hopkins Senior Director of Planning and Architecture Lee Coyle.The property will be converted to a Hopkins-maintained public green space and there is no current plan for development in its place, Coyle said.The university purchased the seven buildings—5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 17, and 19 W. 29th Street—from 2000-2019 for a price totaling $3,715,500, according to state property records. Many of the properties were once used as private, off-campus student housing."We wanted to take them off the market because didn't feel like it was a safe environment for our students," Coyle said.Public records show the houses were built around 1900. Five of the seven properties have Vacant Building Notices issued by Baltimore City in 2020, which is when Hopkins originally announced plans to demolish them.Some neighbors wish the properties could be preserved as they are across from Wyman Park Dell, a 16-acre public park and serve as the northern anchor to the Charles Village community."It's like a piece of Baltimore history," Imani-Jade Johnson said. "Just to fix it. People need homes right now."The 6-8 week demolition will begin in late February. Hopkins officials say salvage companies will recycle or re-use as much material as possible before demolition. A magnolia tree on the corner of Maryland Avenue and West 29th Street will be preserved too.
