Hotel Ulysses Brings 116-Room Boutique Luxury to Mount Vernon

Hotel Ulysses, a 10-story, 116-room boutique at 2 E. Read Street in Mount Vernon, has accumulated roughly $290,000 in unpaid sales taxes, court records and reporting by The Baltimore Banner show. The collection actions highlighted by the records add a financial wrinkle to a property that opened in late 2022 and quickly became a high-profile draw for downtown visitors.

At 116 rooms, Hotel Ulysses is the largest property owned by New York-based Ash Hotels, the Banner notes, and the company has converted several vacant historic buildings into upscale hotels. The Mount Vernon location features clawfoot tubs, four-poster beds, a cafe bar and two cocktail bars and received effusive design coverage: Elle Decor called it "Baltimore’s sexiest new hotel" and Condé Nast Traveler described it as "a fantastical, spectacularly designed dive into the uncanny" and "a hotel for people who love hotels."

The hotel’s opening followed a significant construction setback. The Banner reports the hotel was nearly ready to open in January 2022 when a hot-water pipe on the top floor burst at night, causing water to spill onto the floors below for hours. Ash filed a lawsuit against a subcontractor, and the complaint says the increased moisture caused wooden doors throughout the building to split. The Banner has reported that "lawsuits involving a burst pipe in 2022 could have multimillion-dollar implications for the Mount Vernon hotel."

Mount Vernon is among Baltimore’s cultural hubs, home to the Walters Art Museum, the Mayland Center for History and Culture, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and theaters such as Spotlighter. BoutiqueHotelHub advertisement-style coverage casts Ulysses as "a fantastic find in Baltimore’s cultural center of Mount Vernon" and says the hotel "radiates flamboyant glamour" with suite names that reference John Waters. That mix of museums, music and nightlife helps explain why a boutique property like Ulysses matters to local tourism and hospitality workers.

The immediate implications for residents and visitors hinge on how the tax collection actions proceed. Court records cited by the Banner show the sales tax delinquency and related collection actions but do not include docket numbers or detailed mechanics such as whether liens have been filed or whether penalties and interest are included in the roughly $290,000 figure. The Banner also reported that two of Ash Hotels’ four other properties recently faced financial issues, but did not provide further specifics.

For Mount Vernon merchants who benefit from hotel guests and for employees who depend on steady bookings, unresolved tax collection or protracted litigation could affect operations and local revenue. The coming weeks will likely clarify whether the hotel reaches a settlement with tax authorities, resolves the subcontractor lawsuit, or faces further enforcement.