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A rendering of the Residences of Notre Dame is shown at 901 Aisquith Street, the former home of the Institute of Notre Dame, an all-girls Catholic school that educated some of the prominent Catholic women in Baltimore. (Courtesy of CAM Construction)

School Sisters of Notre Dame complete sale of former IND buildings


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Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Schools

The downtown campus of a closed school, which once educated some of Baltimore’s most prominent Catholic women, has officially been sold, according to the order of sisters that owned it for more than a century and a half.

The School Sisters of Notre Dame announced Dec. 23 in a news release that it completed the sale of its property at 901 Aisquith St., which once housed the now-closed Institute of Notre Dame.

The Institute of Notre Dame was founded by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1847. After 173 years, the school was shuttered in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, declining enrollment, the economy and an aging school building in need of substantial capital improvements, according to the sisters. The property also houses the Caroline Center, an S.S.N.D.-sponsored ministry, which provides women education and career skills training in the health professions and the field of construction. 

The property will continue to house the Caroline Center as well as more than 100 affordable senior housing units, operated by Severn Development and CAM Management. On Dec. 6, 2024, the S.S.N.D. announced the pending sale of the IND property, but it first had to undergo several reviews by the Maryland Historical Trust and the National Parks Service, for compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for historic rehabilitations. 

“From the very beginning of this process, the School Sisters wanted to be certain that the future of Caroline Center and the surrounding community would be taken into consideration when redeveloping this treasured building,” the sisters said in a news release. “With the professional assistance of Cushman and Wakefield, the development team of Severn Development Company and CAM Management were identified as the appropriate buyers who would preserve and respect the history of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and allow Caroline Center to remain in its location.”

The IND Alumnae Association, now housed at Notre Dame of Maryland University, has continued service in the local East Baltimore community and provided scholarships to students who attend other Catholic high schools in the greater Baltimore area. They now support students in girls’ Catholic high schools with annual grants.

The group provided more than $45,000 in grants to all-girls Catholic schools in the Baltimore region the past two years.

IND counts among its graduates former U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

“We believe Severn Development Company and CAM Management are the right partners to rejuvenate the beloved IND by providing affordable housing for seniors and the opportunity for Caroline Center to continue as a workforce development center for women,” the sisters said in the media release. “The dream that the Institute of Notre Dame embraced on Asquith Street in 1847, to provide educational opportunities for people to reach the fullness of their potential, will continue with this affordable housing opportunity and the Caroline Center sponsored ministry.  

The S.S.N.D. congregation is an international community of women religious who educate, believing that the world can be changed through the transformation of persons. The sisters and their colleagues seek to empower women, youths and persons who are poor or marginalized and strive to change systems of poverty and injustice. More than 1,700 School Sisters of Notre Dame minister in 27 countries. 

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