By November, a group of about 350 people are to move into the newly-renovated buildings in North Baltimore, recently bought by the University. The buildings, originally owned by the Zurich Financial Company, were bought last year. Because of their location along Keswick road, the complex has been dubbed “Johns Hopkins at Keswick.”
FSK Land Corp, a company of which the University and the Hopkins health system own 50 percent, was used to acquire the buildings. The process of negotiating the price of the buildings began last spring.
One reason the buildings were considered an attractive purpose was the time they became available for purchase. Another was the location.
“It’s two buildings, next to the Rotunda,” said University Spokesman Dennis O’Shea. “The prior owner of that complex, Zurich insurance company, had moved out, so it was vacant and on the market and certainly convenient. It’s so close to one of our campuses. There will be work going on that is relevant to all the Johns Hopkins campuses.”
Since purchase was confirmed, renovations have been going on to prepare the complex for tenants.
O’Shea said in an email that the original move in date for tenants, a group of about 350 from Johns Hopkins Medicine offices of Patient Financial Services, was in October. The delay in occupancy was due to the group’s own circumstances, independent of renovations.
As of September, renovations were both on time and on schedule, O’Shea wrote.
The driving force behind the purchase was to connect offices that would otherwise remain unconnected.
“It will evolve overtime, but primarily it is . . . not for academic uses,” O’Shea said. “It’s not for classes, its not for faculty, its not for research. It’s for administrative uses, primarily what are called the business operations of the university and information technology uses.”
The University itself is not in sole ownership of the buildings. It partnered with Johns Hopkins Health System to buy them.
“(It will house offices of) not just of the university, but also of the health system. Johns Hopkins Health and the University have bought the building as fifty-fifty partners,” said O’Shea.
O’Shea also said that having the offices will provide more collaboration, as well as other benefits.
“Johns Hopkins, both the university and heath system, had a number of offices around the Baltimore area, in the city and the county, in rented space,” O’Shea said.
“And having the purchase of the building will do two things: it will allow us to convert people from rented space to owned space, which should save money. And also it will bring together offices that do similar kinds of work and that need to be collaborating with each other and make it easier for them to collaborate.”
The property itself is close to the Homewood campus, and is comprised of two buildings, each of which is less than 40 years old. Within the buildings, there are also classroom and meeting spaces, as well as a cafeteria.
The property also includes a large parking lot.
