Previously an independent apartment building, the Academy on Charles is set to be the newest second-year dormitory building for the 2026-27 academic year. The building features a 320-student capacity, where each suite contains a kitchen and private or shared bathrooms, depending on the size. Floor plans are not currently published for student dormitory rooms, but they are expected to follow current apartment layouts. For comparison, Scott-Bates Commons houses 600 students, McCoy Hall houses 500 including first-years, Homewood Apartments houses 200, Bradford houses 150 and Rogers House houses 20.
The new dormitory intends to support the removal of the Alumni Memorial Residence (AMR) I as a housing option. According to a University spokesperson, AMR I will be demolished this semester; as a wider plan, the University plans to build a new dormitory and dining hall on Freshman Quad. In an email to The News-Letter, a University spokesperson detailed these plans.
“Once construction on the AMR I building is complete, it will serve as residential housing for first-year students. The University intends for The Academy to continue as a JHU residential housing option once construction on AMR I is completed,” they wrote.
To convert the building into a dormitory, the University will not need to implement any major renovations; instead, it will primarily increase security and residential staff.
“The Academy will be very similar to other JHU residence halls in terms of safety, staffing, and student support, while offering apartment-style living options and on-site amenities like other JHU residential housing,” the spokesperson wrote. “The building will be staffed by a professional residence hall director who will reside in the building, and it will have JHU-provided 24/7 security. Like our other residential housing, resident assistants will also live in the building and provide student-centered community programming and events for residents.”
The Academy features studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments, with in-suite laundry facilities, a gym, a library and an entertainment room. While tours officially begin on Feb. 28, these amenities have excited current freshmen for their second-year housing prospects. In an email to The News-Letter, freshman Minal Mustafa shared her thoughts on the option in comparison to McCoy Hall, which only contains double bedrooms in four-member suites.
“I think it’s great that the Academy is being introduced as a new housing option. It would provide all sophomores with single rooms within suites, which is currently not an option available to sophomores in McCoy,” Mustafa wrote. “However, the only discouraging factor is that it’s pretty far away from campus relative to other housing options... Since the tours start on the 28th of Feb, the only downside is that it gives students 2 days to make their decision before selection day, so it would’ve been better if tours were spread out across a longer period of time.”
The Academy is located at 3700 N. Charles St., about a four-minute walk from Homewood Field and a 10-minute walk from the Bloomberg Center for Physics & Astronomy. Freshman Raniah Imran corroborated Mustafa’s sentiments, adding her perspective on the building’s distance from campus.
“We haven’t been able to tour the building yet, but I’ve seen a video of a walkthrough, and it has a lot of amenities like an in-unit washer/dryer and a full kitchen, so it’s really nice. I know some people may complain about the distance, but I feel like it’s equally as far as [Homewood Apartments], and I think it’s a nice addition for housing,” she said.
According to a University spokesperson, the University acquired the Academy in fall 2023 with the intention of increasing on-campus housing options; however, it did not publicize this purchase to the student community until fall 2025. Students signing leases for the building until the current 2025-26 academic year shared that they did not receive official University notice. Non-Hopkins affiliates and graduate students must move out of the building by July 2026, but rising seniors may remain in their apartments. In an email to The News-Letter, a junior choosing to go under the pseudonym “Chloe,” who currently resides in the Academy, shared her experience with University communication and future plans.
“The first official communication I have is from early October, but I heard about it from word of mouth almost as soon as I moved in. I don't have to move out as a rising senior, but I don't want to be subject to dorm security again (i.e residential advisors, signing people in), so I'm moving to another building,” Chloe explained.
Junior Nyle Dar, also a resident at the Academy, shared a similar experience in an email to The News-Letter, noting that the University has recently been promoting other apartments for current junior student residents. Dar explained that, while he heard from peers that the University bought the Academy when he moved in, he did not expect the conversion into a dormitory to happen this quickly.
“Recently, they’ve been sending lots of emails about [the dormitory conversion], and it seems like [the University] wants us to move out. They keep telling [residents] that apartments in Nine East are open. I think this does affect my residence. My roommates and I are wondering if we should stay or not, since it’s already expensive and being [within] university housing would suck,” Dar stated.
The University stated, however, that they contacted residents of the Academy about this matter since 2023.
“We have been in contact with residents of The Academy since the initial purchase to ensure students were informed about the transition timeline and have the support and information needed to meet their housing needs. Undergraduate students who are eligible to remain at The Academy, including rising seniors, have been offered priority,” a spokesperson wrote. “Our Off‑Campus Housing Office has provided one‑on‑one support and hosted in‑person and virtual information sessions to help residents identify alternative housing options and ensure a smooth transition when The Academy becomes JHU residential housing.”
When asked about their thoughts on the dormitory option to begin with, both Dar and Chloe expressed dissatisfaction with the decision. On the one hand, Dar felt concerned about the year disparity in the building.
“I'm not a fan of [the Academy being a dormitory]. I don't wanna live with underclassmen as a whole senior. I also don’t want to live in University housing because there [are residential advisors], and you have to sign in people,” Dar explained.
Chloe agreed with Dar’s sentiments, adding that she wished the University would communicate its intentions earlier during her apartment search.
“Obviously it's frustrating on my end, especially since I could have avoided having to move if I signed a lease elsewhere at the beginning of the year, but the building and rooms are very nice and the location is ideal if you spend a lot of time at the [recreational center] and/or [the Bloomberg Center for Physics & Astronomy],” Chloe added.
