BALTIMORE — Plans for an all-outdoor restaurant are moving forward in the heart of Hampden.
Baltimore's zoning appeals board recently approved a plan for a yet-unnamed restaurant at 3601 Hickory Avenue, behind the former historic Grace United Methodist Church building on The Avenue (which has long been a co-working space for various businesses).
The church is a designated landmark structure, and the Hickory Avenue property was partly a parsonage for the former church.
The plan is to put about 12 to 15 tables, for a total of about 50 seats, on two levels at the property. Tim Conder told the board he had originally intended a beer garden, but neighbors were opposed to that, so it is now being called a restaurant.
"We changed the name because we could see that will be upsetting," he noted.
The restaurant would only be open in warm weather, from spring to fall. Conder said there's no proposal for heated tents or anything similar.
Conder also said he had already put more than $200,000 into the restaurant before learning that the city permit office had failed to realize that the property had split zoning, and later revoked the permit for the restaurant.
