Transaction will keep Hotel Monaco Baltimore and B&O American Brasserie open
Mon, 03/07/2011

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the management company for the 202-room Hotel Monaco Baltimore and B&O American Brasserie — which have been tenants of the historic B&O Building since 2009 — has agreed to buy the portion of the structure occupied by the hotel and restaurant for approximately $33 million.

The present owner, Baltimore & Charles Associates, spent about $65 million to buy and renovate the B&O Building from 2007 to 2009.

Additional office and retail space in the 13-story landmark at Charles and Baltimore streets will be sold to a separate buyer, an affiliate of Kenwood Management Co. of Bethesda, for about $1.3 million.

The transactions were recently approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Gordon as part of a liquidation plan crafted to make sure the building is sold and the hotel and other spaces stay open. The hotel and restaurant have 132 employees. The 105-year-old building must be subdivided in a “condominium regime” before various parts of the building can be sold to different parties.

Lawrence Yumkas of Yumkas, Vidmar, Sweeney & Mulrenin, the Annapolis-based law firm that represents Baltimore & Charles Associates, said he expects the transactions to be complete in the next three to four weeks.

The B&O Building opened in 1906 as the headquarters for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. and was converted to a hotel and office complex. The Hotel Monaco occupies space on floors 2, 3 and 7 through 13 (which was renumbered 14). The restaurant is at street level. Floors 4, 5 and 6 contain office space.

Baltimore & Charles Associates filed for bankruptcy court protection last year. The group is an affiliate of ARC Wheeler of Philadelphia, one of whose principals, Hal Wheeler, died last year.

Edward Gunts, The Baltimore Sun
[email protected]