824 N Calvert Street Lofts

The Calvert Street Lofts are a 56-unit apartment community in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood that also incorporates a 25-car garage and 10,000 square feet of retail space. Inspired by the latest trends from Soho to Singapore, the community is on the cutting edge of contemporary interiors and new construction. The property’s private, secured parking garage is also the first of its kind in the area.

The project involved retrofitting several existing large rowhomes into additional residential floors, new interiors, private parking, and first-floor retail space. The rowhome north of the garage was also removed so that a full-height addition could be built and merged with the existing building.

EBA provided structural engineering design services from start to finish for the $17 million renovation project. The new, lightweight construction consists of cold-formed steel and wood framing. EBA designed the entire transfer floor level at the existing roof to carry the additional residential loads and transfer the loads to the foundation.

Reusing the existing buildings’ “bones” to create the new loft-style living proved that creating a beautiful new structure does not require demolishing the existing structure. Reusing and retrofitting existing structures reduced the need for new material, slashed the amount of material sent to landfills, and maintained the aesthetic of the surrounding neighborhood.