Charlestown Community

Charlestown Community

Charlestown Community was established in 1983 as a nonprofit continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Catonsville, Maryland, under the operational leadership of Executive Director Don Grove. Its financial architecture blends a self-sustaining residential model with a philanthropic foundation — the Charlestown Benevolent Care Foundation — that subsidizes residents who exhaust personal assets, a rare dual structure in senior living. The organization deploys capital primarily across real estate and healthcare infrastructure. Its showcase asset is the Charlestown Retirement Community Campus at 715 Maiden Choice Lane, a multi-building residential complex offering independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing. Financing is structured through conduit tax-exempt revenue bonds issued via the Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority, a public-private mechanism that lowers the cost of campus expansion and renovation. In addition, the community maintains a Benevolent Care Fund, a reserve deployed to support residents' continued care regardless of their financial situation. The operational scale of Charlestown Community is reinforced by its deep ties to Redwood Capital Investments, the family office of Allegis Group founder Jim Davis and Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. Redwood owns Erickson Senior Living, the management company that operates Charlestown, creating a direct conduit between the nonprofit's mission and one of the largest private senior-living operators in the United States. This relationship effectively embeds the campus within a broader platform that spans multiple states and tens of thousands of residents, though Charlestown retains its distinct nonprofit governance. Grove also maintains professional affiliations with the American College of Healthcare Executives and the National Association of Home Builders, signaling active engagement with the industry's clinical and construction disciplines. What sets Charlestown apart structurally is the Benevolent Care Foundation's separation from the operating entity. The foundation exists solely to cover care costs for residents who outlive their retirement savings, a financial guarantee that substitutes for an external insurance backstop and underpins the community's value proposition. This design — blending a tax-exempt bond-issuing CCRC, a dedicated philanthropic reserve, and a private management company relationship — creates a governance and capital model that most single-site nonprofits never achieve.