Blakehurst Retirement Community

Towson, MD

The renovation of Blakehurst Retirement Community was driven by one clear and lofty goal: Add a new layer of elegance — and a few wow factors — to an already topline retirement community.

The client and architect crafted a plan to upgrade nearly every public space from the hallways leading to residents’ apartments to the community’s flagship dining room, The Chesapeake. There, crews executed a complete upgrade that features new floors, an accent wall, vaulted ceilings, bold lighting and a new open-concept kitchen that enables diners to see high-end meals prepared.

Elsewhere, crews renovated the aquatic center and locker rooms, expanded an outdoor area for the Terrace Bistro, and transformed the community’s convenience store. They created the new Ridge Pub which features elaborate coiffured ceilings, and completely replaced the community’s main commercial kitchen. In the main entrance and grand stairway, they installed a new stone fireplace, huge pendant chandeliers and other upgrades.

The 2.5-year, 10-phase project required crews to not only deliver exquisite results but operate with extra care.

“We could be demolishing a ceiling grid, tearing out wallpaper or ripping up carpet in a hallway when an 80-year-old resident would walk out of their apartment and into an area where we were working. And since the hallways in the resident tower are only six feet wide, we couldn’t put a temporary partition down the middle and work on one side,” said Mark McGovern, Project Manager at Mullan Contracting. “I told everyone to treat this job like you’re working in someone’s living room. If anybody walks through, stop what you’re doing and be nice to them. They also had to maintain a very clean, orderly construction site.”

The phased renovation of public spaces, restaurants and other areas meant that extensive communication with the client, project partners and Blakehurst residents was also essential.

“I would go to community events in their auditorium and directly communicate with residents,” McGovern said. “Sometimes, there were over 250 people and I’d spend an hour answering their questions.”

The construction team faced other challenges.

Successive, previous alterations to electrical systems presented crews with existing conditions that didn’t meet code. Remediating those issues nearly doubled the cost of the project’s electrical work.

When it came time to rebuild the main commercial kitchen, the team had to devise a new way to meet the community’s food-preparation requirements.

“We brought in tractor trailers to create temporary kitchen facilities,” McGovern said.

A 53-foot trailer positioned at Blakehurst’s loading dock was outfitted as a full commercial kitchen. Another 24-foot trailer functioned as a dishwashing facility and two storage units provided cold storage and dry storage.

While the results of all the construction efforts are beautiful, McGovern says the best result of the project is unseen. “In two and a half years of construction, working around all those people, we didn’t have a single injury to a resident, a Blakehurst worker or any of my people.”

Featured in this article: Mullan Contracting, Ariosa & Company, Spellman Brady Interior Design, Moseley