Former Federal Hill Bed & Breakfast Property Sells for $400,000 at Auction

The former Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast property at 1 E. Montgomery St. sold today at an Alex Cooper ‘Substitute Trustees’ auction for $400,000. It was sold to the property’s lender M&T Bank. The sale will go through a 30-day closing process.

The bidder from M&T Bank could not comment on the purchase or the future use of the property.

Scarborough Fair closed in July 2017 and the property has sat vacant for more than a year. Scarborough Fair had multiple owners over its multi-decade history.

The property consists a 4,350 sq. ft. building with seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms on 2,148 sq. ft. of land. The bed & breakfast, which has experienced wear-and-tear over the years, features a small, dated kitchen; multiple stairwells; and several living rooms.

The property had a commercial hotel zoning, but is now zoned R-8 Residential.

Former Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast co-owner Ellen Scarborough told SouthBMore.com that she’d love to see the property return as a bed & breakfast. “It was a business much-beloved by neighbors who delighted in a place for their visiting relatives to stay and was considered a very positive addition to the neighborhood. It would be a shame to see it broken up in some way and to do so would certainly be an expensive project,” she said.

Ellen and Ashley Scarborough converted the former office building into a bed & breakfast in 1996. They sold the business in 2007.

A neighbor attending the auction showed SouthBMore.com pictures of a large water leak that took place at the property in January when the property was vacant.  The leak caused damage to an adjacent home. Only one of the two water meters connecting to the property were shut off at the time of the leak, according to the neighbor.

This article has been updated

About the Author: Kevin Lynch

Founder and Publisher of SouthBmore.com, longtime resident of South Baltimore, and a graduate of Towson University. Diehard Ravens and O's fan, father of three, amateur pizza chef, skateboarder, and "bar food" foodie. Email me at Kevin@InceptMM.com and follow me on Twitter at @SoBoKevin.