A former hostel at 17 W. Mulberry St. is undergoing renovation and will provide affordable housing for individuals exiting homelessness, under an agreement between the building’s owner and Baltimore’s Department of Housing and Community Development.
The city’s spending panel, the Board of Estimates, this month approved a request from the housing department to grant $300,000 to 17 W. Mulberry LLC, the building’s owner, to provide “five years of supportive affordable and fair-housing related services” for nine individuals who will reside at 17 W. Mulberry St. The period of the grant is from May 7, 2025 to May 6, 2030.
The building’s owner is an affiliate of Episcopal Housing Corporation (EHC), a non-profit organization that was founded in 1995 and has offices on Roland Avenue.
According to its website, EHC is a developer of affordable housing and community facilities and it collaborates with like-minded organizations to provide housing services and resources for some of the most vulnerable and underserved citizens of Baltimore City and central Maryland.
Its mission, adopted in 2005, is “to respond to God’s call to establish justice for those most in need by building affordable housing and creating the foundations for healthy and sustainable communities.”
Affordable option
According to state land records, 17 W. Mulberry LLC acquired the building on June 15, 2020 for $640,000. The seller was an affiliate of Hostelling International USA (HI USA), a nonprofit group based in Silver Spring, Maryland.
HI USA had operated it as the HI Baltimore Hostel, part of a network of about 50 hostels around the country and affiliated with another group with 3,500 hostels around the world. With 38 beds, it was one of the most affordable options available for travelers seeking inexpensive lodging in or near downtown Baltimore. It closed on October 19, 2019 and was listed for sale that fall.
The building has been undergoing renovation for more than a year. Last fall, scaffolding was erected on the sidewalk in front of the Mulberry Street façade as a crew restored the brownstone façade, and a permit for installation of the scaffolding is still in a lower window. At present, the arched front entrance is boarded up and the front steps are blocked off with yellow “CAUTION” tape. On Thursday, a construction worker wearing a reflective vest could be seen walking around on the first floor.
Daniel McCarthy, executive director of the EHC since 1996, did not respond to a request about the scope of work inside and the status of construction.
According to information presented to the Board of Estimates, the housing department had made a conditional grant award of $300,000 to the owner in June of 2023, and this month’s approval is the finalization of that agreement.
“The rental housing units included in this project will be designated for perpetually affordable housing and will be inhabited by citizens of Baltimore City with income earnings at and below 30 percent of the Area Median Income (“AMI”) in an effort to create permanently affordable housing in Baltimore City,” according to the housing department. “This commitment provides…$300,000.00 to 17 W. Mulberry, LLC to fund case management services for 9 residents that will inhabit affordable units included in the project.”
‘All kinds of people’
With three stories and a basement, the 7,408-square-foot brownstone was constructed around 1900 as a private residence and later converted to a multi-family building. It was a hostel in the 1980s, then turned into apartments, then turned back into a hostel in 2006. A spokesperson for HI USA said in 2019 that it was put up for sale primarily because it had maintenance issues that weren’t financially feasible for that organization to address.
When it was a hostel, the building accommodated thousands of budget-conscious travelers over the years. It originally was called the Baltimore International Youth Hostel but the word ‘youth’ was dropped by the last operator because it took in visitors of all ages.
The building’s upper floors contained four dorm-style rooms with bunk beds (two rooms for females, one for males and one coed) and one private room. The average daily rate during the last year of operation was $24 to stay in a dorm room and $65 for the private room, with a two-week maximum.
The hostel also welcomed locals for social gatherings, concerts, art exhibits, movie and game nights, poetry readings and other cultural events.
Frank Pratka, who worked there from 2006 to 2016, said the hostel got a wide range of guests. He said in a 2019 interview that he met many travelers who could have afforded more luxurious accommodations but wanted to save money and were willing to share space with others.
“We got all kinds of people,” he said. “That’s what I liked about working there. You can’t assume what anybody does or is. We had doctors. We had lots of academic types. We had someone who looked like a housewife but she was a truck driver. They all understood what it was about. You have to like mingling with the other guests, and you can’t be too picky.”
‘A huge asset’
James Lane, the hostel’s community engagement coordinator before it closed, and now a musician who performed at Artscape this month, said in a 2019 interview that the hostel was “a huge asset” to the city.
“The travelers loved it. The employees loved it. Everybody loved it,” Lane said. “We were a huge asset to the city of Baltimore.”
Pratka said he was sad to see it close.
“This hostel was a place that gave out-of-town people a chance to see that Baltimore is a pretty cool town,” he said.
