An inactive church on Roland Avenue will be reborn as a new location for Hampden’s Golden West Cafe and up to 29 apartments, if Baltimore’s Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals approves the project.
The zoning board was scheduled to meet on Tuesday to consider a request from developer Josh Mente to use a portion of the former St. Mary’s Protestant Episcopal Church at 3900 Roland Ave. as a restaurant with outdoor seating.
Zoning board approval is needed because a restaurant is considered a conditional use of the property, which is zoned R-6. After calling the applicant up to be sworn in to testify, the five-member board decided to postpone the hearing after learning that a sign posted to provide notice about the hearing wasn’t sufficiently visible to the public or close to the sidewalk along Roland Avenue as required by city regulations. The sign was posted on the church’s front door, which doesn’t face the street.
“I think it would be an issue if someone challenged it,” said James Fields, the chair.
Mente has a contract to buy the Roland Avenue property from the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Maryland, also known as the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, which listed it for sale last year. Mente does not need zoning board approval to build 29 residences because the city’s zoning code allows up to 29 residences per acre in an R-6 district and the Roland Avenue property under consideration is exactly one acre.
The Episcopal Diocese listed the property for sale last year after Baltimore’s planning commission in 2022 approved its request to subdivide the church from a cemetery and smaller chapel on the same block. The cemetery and smaller chapel are not part of the proposed development or the pending property sale.
Redundant church
The stone building that’s targeted for conversion was constructed in the 1870s to replace an earlier one that burned down in 1863, and it hasn’t been used as a church for more than a decade.
Characterized by a steep slate roof and asymmetrical proportions, it’s one of numerous church buildings around the city that are no longer used as a worship setting — a category that architectural historian James Russiello and others refer to as “redundant churches.”
The building most recently has been used as the St. Mary’s Community Center with a variety of occupants, including St. Mary’s Outreach Center; Action in Maturity; magician and illusionist Michael Cantor and the Baltimore Academy of Defense. The last tenant was the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, which moved out in early 2023.
Lizzy Sweeney and Michael Denise of Cushman & Wakefield listed the 14,030-square-foot property for the diocese. A sale price has not been disclosed. The sale to Mente means the structure will be preserved, even though it is not protected by landmark status. It also means the property will go on the public tax rolls after decades with tax-exempt status.
‘Gorgeous structure’
During a community meeting organized last week by City Council member Odette Ramos, Mente and Golden West owner Samantha “Sam” Claassen spoke about their plans for the property.
Mente told community residents his plan calls for the former church sanctuary to be repurposed for use as a restaurant and bar, and he confirmed that Golden West Cafe is the intended occupant. “It’s a pretty beautiful space,” he said at the meeting. “It’s got a lot of architectural details that are significant,” including a number of stained-glass windows.
Mente noted that Baltimore has many old church buildings that are no longer used for religious purposes but are good candidates for renovation if new uses can be found for them.
“We have all these extra buildings that have so much character and so much meaning and so much significance,” he said. “The question for me becomes how do we refurbish these buildings so they’re still available for people to admire and enjoy? Really what we’re trying to do is take the main sanctuary, the main chapel, and be able to designate that for Sam” and “preserve it” to house her restaurant.
Mente said he is still firming up plans for the residences, which will be created elsewhere on the property as a separate phase of the development.
Claassen said at the community meeting that she is exploring plans to move Golden West from 1105 W. 36th St. to the church once its current lease expires later this year.
A leader in the Hampden business community, she said Golden West Cafe has been on The Avenue in Hampden for 27 years and this would be its third location. She said Golden West started out at 805 W. 36th St. and then moved to its current location in 2003. She said she likes the church because of its architecture and its location close to the heart of Hampden.
“We want to keep the church as it is, as much as possible,” she said. “We don’t really want to change it, aesthetically. I think it’s really beautiful. We want to maintain the stained glass. It’s such a gorgeous structure. They do not build like this anymore. “
According to its website, Golden West aims to offer “something for everyone, from classic comfort foods to Southwest treats to cozy vegan dishes.” Claussen said the restaurant would continue to be called Golden West and would feature the same eclectic menu.
She said at the community meeting that the restaurant would be open daily for breakfast and lunch, close between 3 and 5 p.m., and then reopen at 5 p.m. for dinner. She said dinner will be served until about 9 p.m. most days and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. She said Design Develop is the designer, she would need approval from Baltimore’s liquor board to transfer her Class B liquor license, and she hopes to be in the new location by fall.
‘Affinity for older buildings’
Mente plans to buy the Roland Avenue church through an entity called 410 Properties LLC. He has one partner, Jesse Vann.
Through a different entity, Mente owns another former church in Hampden, the former Grace-Hampden Methodist Episcopal Church at 1014 W. 36th St. The Romanesque Revival structure dates from 1899 and currently operates as Co-Balt Workspace. Active in both commercial and residential development for the past 20 years, Mente also rebuilt five rowhouses that are across from the church on Roland Avenue after they were damaged by fire several years ago.
Mente said at the community meeting that he enjoys working with historic structures.
“I have a great affinity for older buildings,” he said. The church on Roland Avenue “deserves to be preserved, not demolished.”
Mente said at the community meeting that his goal is for the proposed residences to be “moderately-priced market-rate apartments,” as opposed to luxury apartments. “We feel there is a saturation for luxury apartments and that there is a middle part of the market that needs to be met.”
Mente said he doesn’t contemplate building low to moderate-income housing because “it doesn’t necessarily work financially,” given other factors. He said he’s limited in what he can build on the site by setback requirements and easements that run with the deed but he is exploring ways to reuse a Sunday School wing that dates from the 1950s.
“We’re working through what to do with the additional space,” he said. “Under the current zoning, residential is allowed and seems to be the highest and best use for it, so it’s really in the stage of trying to figure out how all that works…Twenty-nine residential units is what the zoning code allows. What I know is that it wouldn’t be any more than that.”
Asked about on-site parking, Mente said he plans to meet the city’s requirements but may need to use part of the grassy area that is currently between Roland Avenue and a small parking lot east of the church. He said he hopes to close on the property in the next several weeks.
Before it postponed its hearing, the zoning board was told that Mente’s application received one letter of opposition. The letter came from Kevin Stander, a real estate investor who listed his address as 3818 Roland Avenue, a boarded-up property that is listed for auction with Alex Cooper Auctioneers. Claassen told the board that he is also Golden West’s landlord.
“I wish to object to the application for a conditional use for a restaurant with outdoor seating for 3900 Roland Avenue and I ask that the application be disapproved,” he wrote in a letter dated March 26. “The property and neighborhood are residential in character and the restaurant would have an adverse effect.”
A letter of support came from Ramos, who noted that part of the property previously was approved for commercial uses – a day care center and offices along with the church. She said she held two community meetings to notify residents about the project and the hearing.
“While there is a concern about parking, the developer is willing to add up to 20 parking spaces to accommodate the needs of the restaurant and the community,” she wrote. “Otherwise, there is support for such a use in the community. Please support this conditional use request.”
A new date for the public hearing on 3900 Roland Avenue has not been set.
Stander is one of Jeremy Landsman’s go-fers. F those guys
Hoooo hum! Just wait until 50+ Catholic Churches go on the open market when the Archdoicese does its ‘great closures’ in 2024. Some prime city land will become available and history WILL be ignored in the face of ‘development’. I’m glad this new owner is keeping the building … many Baltimore landmarks are going to be demolished soon.
Yeah, that’s a noble but bad idea. The space isn’t good, the location just terrible, and there are/will be SO MANY other spaces to expand.
Three years and it will be closed.