In 1989, Elizabeth Banks and her siblings sold the beautiful, historic 138-acre Belward Farm to Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for $5 million. At the time, the property was estimated to be worth $54 million. What accounts for the substantially reduced sale price? According to Ms. Banks’ heirs, the sale was contingent upon an agreement with JHU that the majority of the Belward Farm property would serve the university primarily for educational and research purposes.
By all accounts, Ms. Banks was a staunch preservationist. She is reputed to have resisted the offers of developers for the family’s property for years, even going so far as chasing them off her land. But she apparently had a soft spot in her heart for JHU and the assurance that they would do the right thing, in her eyes, with her family’s property. They were not, after all, developers.
In 1997, JHU and the family agreed on a plan to build a 1.4 million-square foot satellite campus on Belward Farm. The plan has since morphed into a 4.7 million square feet high rise commercial office park with high density, residential development.
Which brings us to the lawsuit that has recently been filed by the “Family” in Montgomery County Circuit Court. According to Tim Newell, nephew of Elizabeth Banks and the Family lawyer, “Early in the process, we made known to the University the Family’s objections to its current plans. Instead of working with us to address these concerns, the University has simply maintained that its new plan is not at odds with what my Aunt Elizabeth had in mind,” Newell said. The Family strongly disagrees. It is sad and ironic that Johns Hopkins, the University my Aunt was so fond of, has become the type of developer that she tried so hard to protect the Farm from. It is unsettling to think that a Family with the best of intentions to support a University and preserve a farm of historic importance have had their legal rights and donative intent ignored by the gift’s recipient, Johns Hopkins University.”
In 2010, Preservation Maryland, along with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and local historic preservation organizations advocated for the preservation of the historic core of the site and the consideration of reduced density development of the farmstead. We further encourage all involved to ultimately consider the wishes of those who owned and protected Belward Farm before its sale to JHU.
Stay tuned: we’ll keep you updated on court actions going forward.
Marilyn Benaderet
