Hampden Catholic church, school complex sold to Mennonite group

A four-building Catholic campus that has anchored 1008 W. 37th St. for more than 150 years has been sold to a Baltimore-based Mennonite group, a transaction that could keep the property in community use while reshaping one of Hampden’s most visible corners. The buyer, Hampden Mennonite Holdings LLC, is affiliated with Hampden Mennonite Church and Hampden Christian School, and the parcel sits on 1.2 acres bounded by Roland Avenue, 37th Street, Hickory Avenue and an alley to the north.

The site’s location near The Avenue, along 36th Street, gives the sale outsized neighborhood significance. A sign on the St. Thomas Aquinas billboard this week marked the change in ownership, and the new use points toward a continued institutional presence rather than a vacant lot or a larger commercial conversion. Urban Mennonite Ministries has said the property’s four buildings fit its needs, and the group has already scheduled an HCS open house and barbecue for May 9 at 3700 Roland Avenue.

The deal also comes with land-use history that could shape what happens next. Urban Mennonite Ministries said it received a fully executed purchase and sale agreement signed by Archbishop William E. Lori on December 23 after an earlier buyer backed out over zoning issues. Environmental inspections and related reviews reportedly came back positive, but the zoning wrinkle suggests the property’s next chapter will depend on how the new owners use the campus and whether any future changes require city approval.

The sale arrives after a long period of uncertainty for St. Thomas Aquinas. The church had been closed for the past year, while the school portion of the campus was shut in 2016 because of low enrollment and physical disrepair. The Archdiocese of Baltimore had also listed St. Thomas Aquinas and four other Baltimore churches for sale last spring as part of its broader Seek the City to Come realignment, which reduced 61 city parishes to 30 worship and ministry sites after nearly two years of listening and discernment involving about 6,000 people.

Archbishop Lori said the reshaping was driven not only by mission needs but also by the condition of aging facilities, including leaking roofs, crumbling walls and failing electric and plumbing systems. In Hampden, the transfer suggests one of two paths for North Baltimore’s old church properties: a stabilizing reuse that keeps activity on the block, or the first step in a broader redevelopment shift if the new ownership eventually seeks more intensive use. The archdiocese did not respond to requests for comment.