A Black-owned hospitality company has bought two of downtown Baltimore's most historic properties — the 1840s Carrollton Inn and the 1840s Plaza event complex — in what it calls its largest expansion since launching six years ago. The Oaks Hospitality Group kept on all 22 employees who previously worked at the inn and event center, and the two sites will now operate together as The Oaks Inn Baltimore at 1840s Plaza.
The properties sit in the Jonestown neighborhood adjacent to Little Italy, according to Maryland Daily Record, and together offer boutique lodging, a commercial kitchen, courtyards and roughly 40,000 square feet of event space. The event center alone can hold up to 1,000 guests, with the courtyard accommodating more than 250 additional people. The sellers were entities tied to Ronald and Anne Pomykala, owners of Baltimore County's Gramercy Mansion and Grey Rock Mansion, who first put the 1840s Plaza complex on the market in May 2024 for $5.49 million, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
A Six-Year Climb From Bethesda to Baltimore
The Oaks Hospitality Group has lodging locations in Bethesda and Cabin John and opened The Oaks Inn Annapolis in December 2023, the Business Journal reports. With the Baltimore addition, the company now owns and manages five properties across Maryland, including bed and breakfasts in Bethesda, Cabin John and Annapolis. The firm describes itself as a boutique hospitality and event management company, and the Jonestown deal marks its push from suburban inns into a full-scale urban event destination.
Co-founder and CEO Sharon Jackson Wilder said the Baltimore purchase reflects years of groundwork. “Each property has prepared us for the next one,” she said, adding that “Baltimore is a major step forward in size and in the company's ability to create jobs, bring people together and become part of the city.” Wilder has a legal and hospitality background. A graphic in the company's account shared on YouTube shows “23K → nearly $1M in 4.5 years.”
From City Museum to Private Weddings to a Regional Brand
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Quinton Wilder called the acquisition deeply personal. “This certainly has been the realization of a dream that began as a small thought many years ago,” he said, adding that doing the work “with his wife, family, friends and community” made it especially meaningful. The company has hired the 22 employees who previously staffed the Carrollton Inn and event center plaza and plans to add five to eight more positions as operations ramp up, per the Daily Record's reporting.
The buildings themselves carry a layered civic history. Before their mid-2000s conversion into private event venues and lodging, the complex operated as the Morton K. Blaustein City Life Exhibition Center within the public Baltimore City Life Museums system until that system closed in the late 1990s, according to Wikipedia. Baltimore City sold the buildings to private developers in 2003 following the museum system's closure. State property records cited by the Business Journal show the Carrollton Inn last sold for nearly $478,000 in 2005, while the Front Street venue traded for $596,000 in 2003 — a snapshot of how far downtown Baltimore real estate values have climbed since.
Historic Facades and a 1790s Suite
The South Front Street building still bears the restored red cast-iron facade of the 1869 G. Fava Fruit Company, one of only 12 cast-iron facades in Baltimore to survive the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, according to PartySlate. The 13-room boutique hotel itself is made up of interconnected early 19th-century row homes, with its oldest row house dating to the late 18th century. A LoopNet listing describes the Independence Suite as dating from the 1790s. The Fava Building spans 39,588 square feet, and the complex includes a commercial kitchen, a ballroom, and event spaces known as City Lites and Cabaret.
The properties also sit adjacent to the Carroll Mansion, the 18th-century winter home of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Oaks Hospitality Group says the acquisitions will expand its reach into larger weddings, galas, conferences, nonprofit events, cultural and civic programming, and community gatherings, with hopes of broadening programming for Baltimore residents, organizations, businesses and visitors.
Expansion and Cultural Programming
The Baltimore acquisition marks another step in the company's expansion. Jonestown has also hosted cultural programming, highlighting its role as a hub for Baltimore's civic and arts life.
