Department of Veterans Affairs Taps New Developer for Fort Howard Project

After years of stops and starts, The Department of Veterans Affairs has selected Montgomery County developer Timothy Munshell to create a continuing care retirement community at the 94-acre Fort Howard campus, according to a recent report in Baltimore Business Journal.

The Veteran's Administration asked for bids this summer after its first attempt to redevelop the property failed. The lease agreement with Fort Howard Development LLC, headed by Munshell, is reported to be similar to the one previously awarded in 2004—and later terminated—with Federal Development LLC.

That agreement included the construction of a $100 million, 1,300-unit rental unit complex for seniors.

The Veteran's Administration operated a 377-bed medical center at historic Fort Howard from 1943 until it closed in 2002. There are 36 structures and buildings on the property, but only one remains in operation. It is used as a Veteran's Administration outpatient clinic, accessible by shuttle.

Fort Howard Development LLC proposed a facility that includes independent-living housing, assisted-living housing, recreational facilities, restaurants, office space and out-patient clinical facility, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

According to the Baltimore County Historical Trust, which put Fort Howard recently on its "Endangered Places" list, the Veteran's Administration guidelines also required that developers set aside 10 acres for a state nursing home. 

The company will develop the site under an enhanced-use lease project that will provide discounts and priority placements for veterans and their spouses, according to a Veteran's Administration news release reported in the Gazette newspapers.

Munson told the Baltimore Business Journal in June, when he was considering a bid, that he believed the Fort Howard project could be part of a larger revitalization of the scenic, North Point Peninsula waterfront area, including a redevelopment of the former Bethlehem Steel site there.

The Veterans Administration will lease the campus to Fort Howard Development LLC, which will be responsible for financing, designing, building, managing and maintaining the development, according to reports. The Veteran's Administration said previously it would give preference to developers whose housing units would give priority to veterans and their spouses, which Munshell's proposal did, according to the Gazette.