Lender buys back historic St. Alphonsus school building 

Posted: 7:49 pm Thu, June 3, 2010
By Anna Isaacs
Daily Record Business Writer

After foreclosing on the historic St. Alphonsus School building in downtown Baltimore earlier this year, Regal Bank & Trust Co. bought back the property for $500,000 in an auction Thursday.

The school had closed in 2002 due to disrepair, and plans were in place to convert the building into New York-style condominiums. Upper Marlboro-based Phoenix Developers LLC had planned to spend $5 million on renovations to be completed by 2008, but work continued into last year before shuttering when the company could not secure additional financing.

Paul Cooper of Alex Cooper Auctioneers, who oversaw the auction, said an open house was held Wednesday, and about six groups of developers showed up.

Cooper said just some of those groups attended Thursday’s 2 p.m. auction — mostly lawyers, bankers and spectators, while an occasional skateboarder would part the sea of suits standing on the sidewalk outside the building on West Saratoga Street.

But within seconds of reading the paperwork, St. Alphonsus was sold to the tune of half a million dollars back to the bank that had stalled releasing money for construction of the condos.

The property dates to the late 1700s and was part of former Maryland governor and colonial politician John Eager Howard’s estate.

Phoenix Developers bought the building for $360,000 and began construction in spring 2007. Flags and posters on the building still advertise 19 lofts for sale.