The Weinberg House in Pikesville is nearing the end of a roughly $14 million top-to-bottom overhaul that kept residents in place while crews modernized almost every apartment and swapped out major building systems. The CHAI-run senior property now sports new kitchens and bathrooms, fresh flooring, upgraded heating and air-conditioning, modernized elevators and more energy-efficient systems. Construction moved floor by floor, with tenants rotated into vacant units for about 60 days at a time. CHAI says only the common areas still need work and the full project is scheduled to be completed by July 31.
How the financing came together
To pay for the rehab, CHAI pulled together a layered financing stack that mixed federal, state and county assistance with debt and tax-credit equity. HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration for PRAC conversions, which allows older Section 202 senior properties to shift to long-term Section 8 assistance and borrow for capital repairs, is what made the recapitalization possible, according to HUD. As outlined by AGM Financial, the package included a $6.46 million FHA-insured mortgage along with public agency lending from Maryland DHCD and Baltimore County DHCD.
Inside the units and resident moves
The renovation touched nearly every apartment and common space, swapping out bathrooms and kitchens, installing new cabinets and flooring, and upgrading elevators plus heating and cooling systems for better efficiency. "This is kind of a once-in-a-generation redevelopment of the property," Catherine Stokes, CHAI's vice president of housing planning and development, told the Baltimore Jewish Times. Instead of moving tenants offsite, crews worked in vertical tiers and temporarily relocated residents into empty units for roughly 60-day rotations while each stack of apartments was completed, the report says.
The numbers behind the rehab
State bond materials and project filings show Weinberg House was built in the mid-1990s with 116 one-bedroom units, and they spell out the multiple funding layers that supported the preservation effort. A 2023 Maryland bond fact sheet details proposed pieces of the capital stack, from DHCD loans to low-income housing tax credit equity and county support, that typically accompany RAD and recapitalization deals. Taken together, those documents help explain why preservation transactions often appear larger on paper than the headline construction figure alone.
Residents' reaction and what's next
CHAI CEO Lisa Budlow said the upgraded building will be a great asset to residents and the Pikesville community, a view echoed as residents moved back into redecorated, updated apartments highlighted in CHAI's own updates. The organization presents the rehab as part of a broader Preservation Project aimed at revitalizing thousands of units across its portfolio so older residents can stay rooted in place. With the last common-area work expected to wrap by the end of July, CHAI says Weinberg House should be ready to serve another generation of seniors with safer, more efficient housing.
