New Senior Home To Take Over Historic Grounds

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — A new senior living community is coming to Towson, taking over the historic grounds that made up a Catholic convent.

The Villa Assumpta complex, which served as the home of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, was clinched in a deal with the Baltimore-based Roland Park Place. The site is located at the corner of Charles Street and Bellona Avenue.

The continuing care provider announced the agreement Wednesday.

“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,” said Sam Guedouar, president and CEO of RPP.

“As the region’s population ages, demand for full-service senior living options continues to rise.”

The 9-acre complex will be built out to accommodate 120 independent living apartments, according to the Baltimore Business Journal, which reported that the agreement closed to the tune of $12.5 million.

The Catholic Review reported that funds from the sale will go toward the care of retired nuns.

Construction is expected to get underway in 2028, with residents cleared to move in by 2030.

Villa Assumpta has been owned by SSND since the late 1930s.

The property was bought at the time to house women training in the church's novitiate program. It was more recently used as a retirement home for members of the SNND Atlantic-Midwest Province.

Lauren Ciotti, director of communications for the Atlantic-Midwest Province, told the Catholic Review that the transition has "been a challenge" for the nuns.

“It is emotional, but it’s also something that they accept, to go where they’re called,” she said.

The SSND helped to found Baltimore's Notre Dame Preparatory School, the Institute of Notre Dame, and the University of Notre Dame of Maryland.