Welcome to Beacon House Square

Director of Partnership Development Joshua Galloway shakes hands with team members at the Beacon House Square groundbreaking ceremony.

Beacon House Square is an adaptive reuse project in Baltimore City that has been many years in the making. In late April, members of the New Ecology team attended a very powerful groundbreaking ceremony for this exciting project.

Beacon House Square is comprised of two historic church buildings, the oldest dating to 1893. The property, formerly known as St. Joseph Monastery School, will be repurposed into 80 units of permanent supportive housing and emergency shelter for Project PLASE (People Lacking Ample Shelter and Employment), in partnership with Beacon Communities LLC. Various partners, political representatives, and community organizations have been involved in the fruition of this project.

As part of the renovation the project is pursuing Enterprise Green Communities and ENERGY STAR Multifamily New Construction certification via the ASHRAE compliance pathway. This is no small feat for an existing masonry building that will retain many of its historic features.

Senior Energy Rater Alexander Haworth recently visited the site. “It was great to meet the team, walk the site with demo ongoing, and begin to identify some of the secrets and challenges that even the best made architectural drawings can never fully capture or anticipate. Beautiful building, beautiful purpose. I hope to document more in the months to come as construction progresses.”

Project PLASE originally purchased the property in 2012, so it’s been a long-time coming! It will be exciting to see the building transition into permanent housing in the upcoming months.