The former home of Rita St. Clair Associates is one of two prominent Charles Street buildings that were sold at auction Tuesday for bids totaling more than $1.3 million.
Alex Cooper Auctioneers conducted the sales of 1009 and 1011 N. Charles Street in the Mount Vernon historic district. The online-only auction began on January 23 and ended at noon on Tuesday.
According to auctioneer Paul Cooper, the building at 1009 N. Charles Street brought a top bid of $500,000. With a five percent buyers premium, the sale price was $525,000.
The building at 1011 N. Charles Street brought a top bid of $740,000, Cooper said. With a five percent buyers premium, the sale price was $777,000.
The five-level, 10,019-square-foot building at 1009 N. Charles Street for many years was the home of Rita St. Clair Associates, a well-known interior design firm that St. Clair opened in 1967 and began scaling down in 2017. It also has four parking spaces.
St. Clair, who is married to the artist Joseph Sheppard, divides her time between Maryland and Italy. Her interior design projects include The Polo Grill for restaurateurs Gail and Lenny Kaplan; Velleggia’s in Little Italy; Petit Louis in Columbia; and the public spaces at the Residences at the Ritz Carlton in Baltimore. She also designed furniture for the luxury manufacturer David Edward and others.
The four-story, 7,680-square-foot square foot building at 1011 N. Charles Street has five occupied apartments on the upper levels; first-floor office space that is currently vacant, and six parking spaces. For many years, St. Clair operated a shop called “Findings” on the first level, a place where she sold furniture and decorative arts items that she collected on her world travels. In 2017, when St. Clair began downsizing, Alex Cooper held an auction at which the designer sold many of the items that she had accumulated. The potential gross annual rent at full occupancy for 1011 N. Charles Street is estimated at $106,000.
The identities of the building purchasers have not been disclosed. The sellers were: 1009 N. Charles LLC for 1009 N. Charles Street, and 1011 N. Charles LLC for 1011 N. Charles Street.
Alex Cooper also offered to sell both buildings together, and the top bid for the combined parcel was $1.19 million before the buyers premium. Since the two separate bids brought a higher total, the auction for the combined parcel was cancelled and the separate bids were accepted. Both buildings are zoned for commercial use.
I pray Baltimore comes up..I bought a home here and had backup sewage that destroyed by first fl half bathroom and part of my basement ceiling..the neighborhood has drug dealers out everyday like a 9 to 5 job..but two houses being renovated very close near to my home..hopefully development will push drug dealers out..Cops need to move loiters just posting on blocks wtf
Situation you describe are some of the reasons one can buy two and three story all brick row houses here for $6,000 – $100,000 and why hardly anyone of the 7,000,000 or so residents of greater Washington will not step foot in here much less buy even though the West Baltimore MARC station is only a 30 minute or so ride to New Carrollton with its soon to have connection to the Purple Line by 2027 g-d willing or to Union Station.