Construction began this week on the conversion of a vacant Roland Avenue church to a 29-unit apartment community with a restaurant inside the former sanctuary.
Baltimore’s housing department has issued a permit that allowed construction to start at the site of the former St. Mary’s Protestant Episcopal Church at 3900 Roland Ave., dormant for the past several years.
The developers are Josh Mente, owner and founder of Blue Point Properties, and business partner Jesse Vann of Vann Development. An entity that they formed, 3900 Roland Avenue LLC, acquired the one-acre church property last April for $1.05 million from the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Maryland, according to state land records.
The stone church was built in the 1870s to replace an earlier one that burned down in 1863, and it was last used as a setting for religious services more than a decade ago. Its sanctuary was most recently used as a theater space by the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, which moved out in early 2023.
The land is zoned R-6, which allows up to 29 residences per acre. Mente has said at community meetings that he plans to construct no more than 29 apartments on the property. His plan calls for the historic church structure to be preserved, for the former sanctuary to be repurposed as a restaurant and bar, and for the residences to be created elsewhere on the property.
Attached to the rear of the church is a two-story, stucco-clad addition that was constructed around 1960 to house church offices and Sunday school classrooms. Mente is recycling that wing and building on top of it, as well as using space beneath the main building, to create market-rate apartments.
According to a copy of the developer’s application to the housing department that’s posted at the job site, the work entails: “renovation of an existing concrete 2-story building and addition of two additional stories on top for multi-family dwelling.” In addition, the application states, the project includes “construction of five 3-story townhouse units for a total of 29 apartment units, the max allowed by right for this property.”
Mente said he plans to meet the city’s requirements for on-site parking by using land east and west of the church. According to the application posted at the site, the cost of the work now underway is $900,000. Including the purchase price of the church, that brings the developers’ total investment in the site to $1.95 million, not counting the construction permit filing fee and other expenses or the restaurant build-out. The owner is listed on the housing department application as 401 Properties LLC. The project name is listed as 3900 Roland Avenue Apartments.
Golden West Café stays put
The owner of Golden West Café at 1105 W. 36th Street, Samantha “Sam” Claassen, at one point considered moving her business to the Roland Avenue development but later decided to stay on 36th Street. Baltimore’s liquor board has scheduled a public hearing for Feb. 13 to consider an application from Glenroy R. Laing of MLJ Inc. to transfer a Class “BD7” Beer, Wine and Liquor license from a business that’s no longer open, 13.5 % Wine Bar, to 3900 Roland Avenue.
Located at 1117-19 W. 36th Street, the wine bar closed permanently in 2022, but the liquor license is still active and can be transferred if the liquor board approves, according to a staff representative. The application will be considered during a hearing that starts at 10:30 a.m. on the second floor of Baltimore’s City Hall, 100 Holliday Street. Mente said in an email message that he doesn’t have a signed lease for a restaurant but transferring the wine bar’s license to the property is a way to keep it active and help attract a qualified tenant for the church space now that Golden West Cafe isn’t moving in.
Hampden Yards
Mente is also applying to transfer a “BD7” license from 861 Washington Boulevard, the former home of Mobtown Ballroom, to 1014 W. 36th Street for an existing beer garden called Hampden Yards.
Mobtown Ballroom moved last year to 30 W. North Ave. and is now called Mobtown Ballroom & Café. The 36th Street address is the location of another former church property that Mente owns, the former Grace-Hampden Methodist Episcopal Church, now a work setting called Co-Balt Workspace, with the beer garden accessible from Hickory Avenue. The liquor board is scheduled to consider his application for Hampden Yards at its Feb. 13 meeting as well.
Barn & Lodge hearing postponed
The liquor board had been scheduled on Feb. 13 to consider an application to allow live entertainment for a $4 million restaurant and events space called The Barn & Lodge at the Rotunda, 711 W. 40th Street, but that item has been postponed.
Representatives of the company planning the Barn & Lodge project, Titan Hospitality Group of Crofton, Maryland, have been meeting with leaders of the Hampden Community Council and others in an effort to gain support for their project. MCB Real Estate, the owner of Harborplace and other commercial centers in Baltimore, owns a majority stake in the Rotunda. The liquor board has not announced a new date to consider that application.
