By Melody Simmons – Senior Reporter, Baltimore Business Journal Aug 12, 2025
A Baltimore senior living firm is taking advantage of the struggling office market to move forward with expansion plans.
Broadmead Inc. recently spent $21.4 million to acquire a long-struggling, 61-acre office complex in Sparks and convert it into 80 large independent living units — with room to grow even more.
The leafy Highlands Corporate Park campus in the Hunt Valley corridor was once the headquarters for nursing home chain Integrated Health Services. But after Integrated filed for bankruptcy in 2000 and moved out, the Class A property at 910, 920 and 930 Ridgebrook Road plunged into distress and partial receivership.
Broadmead is planning to convert the former offices into a community called Broadmead at Ridgebrook, with roomy homes flanked by three dining halls, a spa, fitness center and outdoor walking paths. The investment will pump $110 million into the Northern Baltimore County community and bring a third new senior living complex to the area.
Jay Prince, Broadmead’s CEO, said the acquisition will position the Quaker-based nonprofit senior living group to grow its footprint in Hunt Valley. The 46-year-old Broadmead is based less than three miles away on a flagship campus at 13801 York Road, where 400 independent seniors live today.
The expansion to another campus will help clear a Broadmead waitlist as a “silver tsunami” of baby boomers continues to flood the market. Prince said the Ridgebrook conversions could take up to three years.
“It really is a perfect fit,” he said Monday. “It is a gorgeous campus and well built. It would have cost so much more to build, and there’s no way we could have built this quality today for what we paid for it.”
Broadmead has hired architects from SFCS to design the 220,000 square feet of new residential and amenity space. Work will require a gutting of the offices and a major rebuild with new floor plans to offer larger living spaces and modern amenities, Prince said.
The move marks the latest repurposing of office space as that market continues to struggle post-pandemic, with companies seeking less space or foregoing offices entirely.
“The office vacancy rate up there has not changed and is sitting at 13% to 14%,” said Tom Fidler, principal at MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate, who brokered the deal for Broadmead. “This move takes [the property] out of that inventory and envisions a new community. It was a good move.”
Broadmead’s plans must still clear regulatory hurdles with the Maryland Department of Aging. After that, the firm plans to begin marketing and selling the homes, with construction expected to follow. Price points were unavailable. The Baltimore County Council last year rezoned the Highlands Corporate Park property from office to residential, clearing the way for the site’s transition.
“We feel this was meant to be,” Prince said. “We have the option to grow in the future at the property and that’s what we love about it.”
The expanded Broadmead campus will link to the existing facility and add to a growing senior living market in Hunt Valley and Sparks.
Brightview Senior Living opened a new housing complex at the Hunt Valley Towne Centre last year in a former Sears parking lot. The facility, which sits near the dense retail center anchored by a Wegmans, Regal Cinemas and several national shopping and restaurant chains, has leased at a rapid pace, Brightview officials said.
Another new senior living community is in the works nearby, as Towson-based Bushrod Investments in February unveiled plans for new age-restricted homes to be built on 31 acres at 180 Sparks Valley Road.
Those homes, to be called The Heights at Hunt Valley, will be built by Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN). The villa-style homes are expected to list for $800,000 to $1 million, said David Gildea, principal of Bushrod, which is funding the project in a partnership with Birchwood Capital Partners.