Astor Court Apartments

For many years, The Abell Foundation has supported educational reform, introduced new curriculum and enrichment programs, encouraged alternative teacher certification, and emphasized the importance of teacher and principal recruitment in efforts to improve the quality of education for Baltimore City public school students. One of the most important determinants of increased student achievement is the quality of classroom teachers. Teachers new to the system often report being overwhelmed with the demands of their new jobs and lacking support to encourage professional development. With modest beginning salaries, new teachers also have limited options in the housing market. Since the retention rate for new teachers is low, the Baltimore City Public School System must hire an average of 700 to 800 new teachers every year. The challenge for the Baltimore City Public School System is to seek and attract the best, brightest, and most capable teachers.

Several years ago, the Foundation was contacted by a developer,Michael Rock, who had an interest in redeveloping first-floor commercial space in the Astor Court building in Charles Village. The building, at the highly visible intersection of 25th and St. Paul Streets, had sat vacant for nearly ten years. Eventually the building was foreclosed, and delinquent taxes and water bills accumulated. The Foundation agreed to be a partner in the redevelopment project if the upper floors could be converted to apartments for incoming teachers to the Baltimore City public schools. The project was designed to provide spacious and comfortable apartments at reasonable rents to new teachers and give them an opportunity for interaction and support from fellow teachers. The project provided an opportunity to offer quality housing to new teachers, remove an eyesore from the neighborhood, convert the vacant building to a productive tax-paying use, and breathe new life into a part of the Old Goucher College historic district. Teach For America and the Baltimore City Teacher Residency Program have become the prime sources for recruiting and training new, alternatively certified teachers, often from outside Baltimore City. Astor Court Apartments is both a marketing tool,encouraging teachers to consider Baltimore over other cities, and a retention tool to help support new teachers in their first years of teaching.

The project financing involved multiple partners, including M&T Bank, Fannie Mae, the Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development, the Baltimore City Health Department’s Healthy Start Program, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the Maryland Historical Trust, Mercantile Bank, Community Capital of Maryland, St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the developer, Michael Rock. As an historic renovation, the project qualified for local, state, and federal historic tax credits.The Abell Foundation provided loans and guarantees to complete the $6 million project financing.

The building’s central location within the city and its proximity to the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus and other colleges offer convenient access for school commutes and completion of teacher training and certification requirements. Completed in the summer of 2005, demand was brisk and the apartments were fully rented to Baltimore City public school teachers for the 2005-2006 academic year. The Daily Record awarded the project an“Innovator of the Year” award in 2005.