Construction begins at O’Donnell Heights site

Construction has begun on about 70 new townhouses in O’Donnell Heights, marking the next phase in the rebuilding of what was once a sprawling public housing site in Southeast Baltimore. The developer, a partnership of Michaels Development Co. and AHC Greater Baltimore, said it expects the 68 rental units to be complete in 2018. The first new 76 units on the 62-acre site, which once held about 900 units, opened in 2014. Half of the units in this phase will be subsidized with project-based vouchers; the other half are reserved for residents earning no more than 60 percent of area median income. About 23 of the units will be open to previous residents of O’Donnell Heights, a public housing development located at 6301 Boston St. that dated to the 1940s. The Housing Authority razed 600 units there in the 2000s, citing rundown conditions and vacancy in the barracks-style development, which was constructed as wartime housing for defense workers and converted to public housing after the war. In 2010, the Housing Authority selected Michaels and AHC to lead redevelopment of the area, which was renamed Key’s Pointe, a reference to the Key Bridge, which is visible from the property. The master plan calls for 925 new units to be constructed over 10 to 15 years, with a mix of subsidized housing, market-rate apartments and owner-occupied units.

Towson nursing home manager pleads guilty

ity pleaded guilty this week to a scheme in which he stole residents’ personal information to open credit card accounts, spending more than $70,000, the Maryland U.S. attorney’s office said. Salah Eldean Sood, 35, of Lutherville, who ran Holland Manor Eldercare, was charged with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, after federal prosecutors said he opened credit card accounts using patients’ stolen information between July 2014 and January 2016. Sood collected six credit cards in the names of the residents and added himself as an authorized user on those accounts to make purchases, prosecutors said. Maryland health officials first began investigating Sood after Baltimore County fire personnel were called in June 2015 to take a resident to the hospital, and noted that the facility was unsanitary and that the patient’s injuries potentially stemmed from a lack of proper medical care, prosecutors said. The patient died two days later. State officials revoked Holland Manor’s assisted-living program license on Sept. 25, 2015. Baltimore County officials returned to Holland Manor in December 2015 for a fire alarm. Prosecutors said county officials found two residents who had been left alone. Officials found one resident restrained in a bed and comatose, prosecutors said. Further investigation revealed Sood opened the credit card accounts in the names of three residents. Sood and prosecutors have agreed to sentencing of between 48 to 52 months in prison. Sood is also required to pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses: $74,753.24. Sood did not have a current attorney listed in online federal court records.