Cap Ex is assisting Lovely Lane United Methodist Church in a multi-phase project to transform an underused chapel and fellowship hall into the Lovely Lane Arts and Neighborhood Center. As the Mother Church of American Methodism, Lovely Lane UMC is a National Register property and cultural asset in Central Baltimore. As owner’s representative, Cap Ex assists Lovely Lane in developing phasing strategies and budgets, hiring and overseeing contractors, and complying with the requirements of multiple public and private funding sources, including the Maryland Historical Trust. Work on the initial phase began in 2021 with a prestigious grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places that leveraged significant matching funds.

Groundwork Kitchen prepares young adults for employment in culinary fields with on-the-job training at a full-service restaurant, carry-out and catering facility. The nonprofit Paul’s Place Inc. engaged Cap Ex at a critical time in the project’s development. Cap Ex led procurement and oversight of design and construction teams, guided board leadership through development scenarios, and assisted the client in closing on New Markets Tax Credit financing. Cap Ex helped the client to navigate a number of challenges, from brownfield remediation and stormwater management compliance to supply-chain delays resulting from Covid-19. Today the facility provides a new gateway to Pigtown Main Street with a full-service restaurant and catering service, offering training to 60 young adults annually.

In 2018, Local 24 faced a difficult search for a new facility to house its growing training programs. Cap Ex helped Local 24 see the potential of expanding its existing facility in Laurel, MD with a two-story, 4,500 SF addition. As owner’s representative, Cap Ex assisted Local 24 in creating early budgets and gaining approval from its board, procuring design and construction teams, developing scope, and pricing progress drawings to ensure alignment with available funds. Despite Covid-19, the project completed ahead of schedule and under budget.

The leadership of Beth Am Synagogue originally planned an addition to the 1922 synagogue and moderate renovation of the existing building. After the cost of relocating underground utilities made the expansion infeasible, Cap Ex worked with the client and design team to create a plan to fully renovate the synagogue’s 10,000 SF lower level. The revised plan retained all of the essential elements first envisioned for the addition including a new chapel, a library, children’s classrooms, a social gathering hall, and kitchen modernization. Under Cap Ex’s leadership, the project was completed within the original budget and on a particularly tight schedule.