The long-vacant Catonsville Armory on Mellor Avenue is getting its first real test in years: can it actually be saved? Southwest Visions, the nonprofit now stewarding the property, says civil, structural and environmental engineers have already surveyed the building, and the results will determine whether it gets rehabilitated or has to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch.
“Right now we're just trying to figure out, can we use the building?” Jay Dillow, executive director of Southwest Visions, told WMAR 2 News. The nonprofit, a registered 501(c)(3), is organizing community engagement sessions to walk residents through what engineers find, starting with a first session on Nov. 19 and a second likely during the second week of December, though exact details for both gatherings haven't been finalized.
Engineers Weigh Environmental Red Flags
The armory's age and its decades as a military facility have left it with what Dillow described as environmental issues inside the building, according to the station's report. Whether those issues can be remediated is still an open question for the nonprofit. “Do we actually have the ability to remediate? We don't know that yet, it could be cost prohibitive,” Dillow said, per the same account — though he also allowed that fixing the building could turn out to be financially workable.
Those environmental concerns aren't new to Catonsville. Baltimore County previously treated the armory as a liability it didn't want to inherit, citing asbestos, lead, and roughly 50 years of diesel and military-equipment use on the site's parking lot, per WMAR 2 News' earlier reporting. That hesitation helps explain why the building sat empty for so long before finally landing with a steward willing to take on the unknowns.
From State Hands to a Nonprofit's Desk
The armory's ownership has bounced around in recent years. The site transferred from state control to Baltimore County and then to Southwest Visions, the article notes, a chain of custody that reflects just how unsettled the property's purpose has been. At one point in 2025, the state eyed the armory for what it described as a first-in-the-nation cannabis incubator meant to support local business owners entering the cannabis industry.
That plan didn't survive contact with the neighborhood. A group of neighbors petitioned against the cannabis incubator proposal, and the state ultimately backed off, according to the WMAR account. A Change.org petition tied to that opposition drew hundreds of supporters and explicitly called for “widely publicized community meetings to discuss the future of the Catonsville Armory” — a demand that Southwest Visions' upcoming sessions now appear to be answering directly.
What Comes Next for Mellor Avenue
Dillow said community response to the current process has been positive so far, the station reported, a notable shift after the contentious fight over the cannabis incubator. For now, though, the central question remains unanswered: whether the building can be rehabilitated or needs to come down entirely depends on cost projections engineers have yet to finalize.
Southwest Visions has continued engaging the community into 2026, according to the nonprofit's own Southwest Visions news updates, suggesting the process launched after the cannabis fight has become an ongoing effort rather than a one-off response. Catonsville residents will get their next chance to weigh in when the first engagement session convenes Nov. 19, with a second expected to follow in December.
