Christmas came early this year to developers of 10 restoration and adaptive reuse projects that received more than $24 million in historic revitalization tax credits for 2026 from the Maryland Historical Trust.
The funding is expected to leverage more than $137 million in additional private investment for the projects, which include affordable housing, arts and cultural centers, and mixed-use commercial buildings with residences.
Of the 10 projects selected statewide, five will improve properties in Baltimore City. In all, the state awarded $17.1 million in historic revitalization tax credits for the Baltimore developments. That funding assistance is expected to lead to the completion of projects worth $110.4 million.
The Baltimore projects include a cultural hub inside the historic Ambassador Theater on Liberty Heights Avenue in West Baltimore; artists’ studios and other work spaces on part of the Crown, Cork and Seal property in East Baltimore; conversion of the vacant Court Square office building on Lexington Street to an extended stay hotel; apartments and retail space in the former Shofer’s furniture store in Federal Hill and a cultural center in Mount Vernon for Urban American Indian and Alaskan Native communities.
In all, 18 applicants sought more than $56 million in tax credits for more than $230 million worth of planned construction. The 2026 recipients were chosen based on criteria that include federal rehabilitation standards set by the U. S. Secretary of the Interior.
“Throughout Maryland, we are fortunate to have many historic buildings that are irreplaceable examples of great design and craftsmanship,” said Maryland Department of Planning Secretary Rebecca Flora, in a statement. “Revitalizing these places supports communities, strengthens local economies and preserves the structures that tell our story.”
‘I can’t understate how important these tax credits are and how exciting it is, five projects in Baltimore were competitive enough to be awarded,” Lauren Schiszik, executive director of the city’s preservation commission, told the panel during its monthly meeting on Tuesday.
“I personally am very excited about the Ambassador Theater, because 10 years ago I wrote the landmark nomination for that,” Schiszik said. “That designation came about because of the community advocating for saving the building because it had been abandoned for so long and it was so important to them and they were so worried that it was going to be demolished and become a parking pad. It is really exciting to see the plan for the Ambassador Theater to become again a neighborhood center, both for the community and for folks in the county. These tax credits are really going to help that happen.”
The Baltimore projects chosen to receive tax credits for 2026 are:
1. Ambassador Theater, 4604 Liberty Heights Avenue. Tax credits awarded: $3.75 million. Estimated total project cost: $15 million.
Scope of project, as described by the MHT: “The Ambassador Theater is one of Baltimore’s finest and most intact examples of Streamline Moderne architecture and a distinguished work of nationally recognized theater architect John J. Zink. Completed in 1935, it reflects a pivotal moment in Zink’s career as he shifted from ornate Art Deco to the sleek modernism that shaped his later theaters. Its streamlined façade—with black brick banding, vitrolite accents, and cast-stone medallions—retains exceptional integrity, and the interior still reflects its original layout, including rounded stairs, niches, and plaster grilles. Rehabilitation efforts will restore character-defining features such as the marquee and vertical blade sign and preserve significant interior volume and recreating its historic curved walls. The renewed building will be operated by Ambassador Arts as a cultural hub for theater, education, and the performing arts.”
2. Buildings 50 and 54 at the Crown, Cork, and Seal plant off Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown. Tax credits awarded: $1,752,940.38. Estimated total project cost: $20 million.
Scope of project: “Buildings 50 and 54 (c. 1914-16, 1931) were originally constructed with Building 54 as cork storage and Building 50 as warehouse space as part of the Crown Cork and Seal Company’s Highlandtown Plant, a historic factory complex associated with bottlecap making. The overall intent of the project is to create production space and artist studio space focused on blacksmithing, metalworking, ceramics, and fire arts.”
3. Court Square Building, 200 E. Lexington Street at Calvert Street. Tax credits awarded: $5.25 million. Estimated total project cost: $58 million.
Scope of project: “The Court Square Office Building is a 17-story Gothic Revival tower in Baltimore’s Business and Government Historic District. A uniquely ornate style for a high-rise building at the time, it features a flat roof with crenelated terra cotta pediments with bas relief and other Gothic detailing. It was purpose-built as a commercial office building in 1927 and was one of the city’s first high-rise office structures. Now sitting vacant as a result of a fire in 2021, it will be rehabilitated into an extended stay hotel and restaurant to serve downtown Baltimore.”
4. Shofer’s Furniture, 930 S. Charles St. Tax credits awarded: $3,366,445. Total estimated project cost: $16.8 million.
Scope of project: “The former Shofer’s Furniture showroom building is located in the Federal Hill Historic District. The building dates to 1886 though its current architectural features date to ca. 1893 when Meyer C. Hecht, owner of Hecht’s Company Furniture Store, purchased it and added the stylistic elements that are in keeping of numerous other Hecht’s stores in the area. In the 1930’s Harry W. Shofer purchased the building and ran it for many years as Shofer’s Furniture showroom and store. The store permanently closed in 2021, and the building is currently vacant. The proposed project will re-open large window openings and reconfigure the interior spaces to allow for ground-floor commercial spaces with apartment units above.”
5. 12 W. Chase Street in Baltimore. Tax credits awarded: $600,000. Total estimated project cost: $3 million.
Scope of project: “Located in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon Historic District, this Greek Revival townhome was built c. 1890 as an elaborate single-family home with a doctor’s office and later served as headquarters for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows’ Sovereign Grand Lodge. Now owned by Native American LifeLines, it will be transformed into a cultural center for Urban American Indian and Alaskan Native communities across Maryland, with spaces for a dental suite, mental health counseling, business center, a large teaching kitchen, and other gathering areas.”
Projects elsewhere in Maryland:
6. Old Hyattsville Post Office on Baltimore Avenue in Prince George’s County. Tax credits awarded: $149,908.80. Total estimated project cost: $749,544.
Scope of project: “Located in the Hyattsville Historic District, the ca. 1925, masonry building formerly housed a post office and dates to when this section of Hyattsville was rapidly developing along Baltimore Street, a main commercial corridor in this area. In 1935 the building became a bakery, then a sub shop, and later a church. The currently vacant building will be rehabilitated with new windows and a storefront system as well as interior finishes and will contain spaces for two retail tenants.”
7. Odd Fellows Hall on S. Washington Street in Talbot County. Tax credits awarded: $600,000. Total estimated project cost: $3 million.
Scope of project: “This former Meeting Hall for the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) sits prominently on the corner of Washington and Dover Streets in the Easton Historic District. Eclectically designed and built in 1879, the building retains a number of IOOF symbols and original decorative features, a highly intact meeting hall on the fourth floor, and is still known today as Odd Fellows Hall. As a result of this rehabilitation project, the building will house a folk-art museum for one of the pre-eminent collections in the United States that includes original pieces of IOOF history.”
8. Heist Building on S. Potomac Street in Washington County. Tax credits awarded: $308,266.39. Estimated total project cost: $4 million.
Scope of project: “Constructed in 1885, the Heist Building is a three-story brick commercial structure located within both the Hagerstown Historic District and Hagerstown Commercial Core Historic District. Throughout its history it has served several commercial uses, as well as a home for the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. The street-level storefront has undergone significant alterations over time, and the decorative cornice has been removed. Both features will be restored and reinstated to achieve a more historically appropriate street presence based on historic documentation. The building will retain its first-floor commercial use and introduce new apartment units on the second and third floors.”
9. Moller Pipe Organ Co. Building on N. Prospect Street in Washington County. Tax credits awarded: $5 million. Estimated total project cost: $21.9 million.
Scope of project: “The Moller Pipe Organ Company building is a late-19th century industrial factory building that occupies a large site north of downtown Hagerstown and immediately adjacent to the former Cumberland Valley Railroad Yards. This evolved industrial building is two- to three-stories in height, masonry construction, and has a central, expansive three-story high production space with large arched windows with projecting wings for industrial manufacturing and office spaces. At one point in time the Moller Pipe Organ Company was the largest producer of pipe organs in the country and was in business on this site for over 100 years. Currently vacant, the building will be converted into 65 residential units, 55 of which will be affordable housing.”
10. Washington Street School on W. Washington Street in Washington County. Tax credits awarded: $3,754,748.40. Total estimated project cost: $18.7 million.
Scope of project: “Located approximately one mile northwest of downtown Hagerstown, this large school sits on an elevated rise in the West End neighborhood. The Washington Street School was constructed in three building campaigns, starting in 1916 with a three-story Beaux Arts section. In 1941, the Board of Education built an addition to the school in the form of two wings on either side of the original school building. This was quickly followed by another addition in 1946 to house a combined gymnasium and auditorium and connector to the original building. The school closed in 1977 and since has had several different commercial uses though it is currently mostly vacant. The former school building will be rehabilitated into a senior living facility with eighty-four independent living units and a memory care facility.”
Great projects but many of us are mystified on how the MHT found NOTHING worth saving at Pimlico Race Course. Not the Stakes barn, which housed most of the Derby winners or the magnificent cantilevered Mid Century Modern stair case in the Clubhouse.