The Wharf Rat bar and restaurant in Fells Point sold today for $941,600, in an online auction by Alex Cooper Auctioneers.
The high bid was $880,000, and a seven percent buyer’s premium led to the final sale price.
The buyer’s identity was not immediately disclosed. According to Jared Block of Alex Cooper, the buyer is a “successful local restaurateur” who has another establishment “close to Fells Point” with a Baltimore City liquor license and intends to be an owner-operator at this location.
“It was a successful sale,” Block said. “The seller wanted to sell the business and the property and we found a ready, willing and able buyer…Everybody left happy.”
The auction was an “owner retirement sale” on behalf of the Oliver family, which has operated the Wharf Rat since 1987. The building at 801-803 South Ann Street is one of the oldest bars in Baltimore, a landmark dating from the early- to mid-1700s. The sale included a seven-day beer, wine and liquor license along with the two-and-a-half-story corner building with frontage on Ann and Lancaster streets and a large covered outdoor seating area along Lancaster Street.
Online bidding started on October 2 and ended at 1 p.m. today. The opening bid was $500,000. The high bid early this morning was around $720,000. In the final minutes of the sale, bidding rose in $10,000 increments from $840,000 to $880,000, evidence of multiple bidders.
The Wharf Rat has remained open through the sale period and is expected to remain open until the buyer takes over in the next 45 to 60 days. Block said he couldn’t say if the buyer will keep the Wharf Rat name but the sale did include the intellectual property and all furniture, fixtures and equipment. He said more details will be revealed when the buyer settles on the property and makes a formal announcement.
