6105 Marietta Avenue
The formerly vacant 6105 Marietta Avenue once seemed to be a cursed, unfinishable rehab project disrupting the low-vacancy Hamilton Hills neighborhood. After many years of blight and bouncing between investors, it now towers as an opulent 3,300 square foot home to a family of three.
Before 6105 Marietta went into receivership, at least two separate investors attempted to renovate the property. It started as a petite, one-story detached house. At some point, one of the former investors added framing for a second story addition and extensions to the first floor and basement areas. But progress stopped there, abandoned for years. The unfinished property ran in a 2024 One House At A Time auction, selling to Frank Weaver of Atlantic Homes, its final investor.
Weaver owned a mortgage company for 25 years before rehabbing full-time. He says he didn’t have any construction experience but learned the industry by lending to investors and inspecting properties. In 2018, he tried his hand at the development side. After that, when it came time to renew his mortgage company license, he didn’t. He started his second career as an investor in 2019. Weaver says he’s lost track of how many properties he renovated in his career, maybe around 150-170 homes. “It’s fun for me,” he says. “I would go to work each day and come home and really never leave my office until I went to lunch most days. My job now is more exciting. I like that I’m traveling around the job sites.”
"I think they had been dealing with that eyesore for six or seven years. So, they were thrilled to have me come in and clean it up."
When Atlantic Homes acquired 6105 Marietta, the house was tangled with vines and partially open to the elements thanks to the incomplete expansions. Weaver says the previous work made the rehab process easier in some ways and more difficult in others. “The outside of the house looked awful, but inside actually looked pretty good,” he says. The largest issue was that the abandoned work was not seen by building inspectors and Weaver wasn’t confident that it was structurally sound. “I had to hire a structural engineer to come in and look over everything and certify that 20 years from now it was still going to be standing and strong,” he says. The engineer provided corrective measures and an engineering certification for the house. Some of the prior work on the first floor was not supported properly, and they had to install temporary walls, and eventually stronger beams to hold up the house. Weaver also says it was difficult to know if the foundation and footing was correctly implemented by the former rehabbers. His team had to dig up and sample spots around the house to make sure. Luckily, it all checked out. “Mostly they did pretty good work,” says Weaver.
Weaver also compliments the former rehabbers on having a decent floor plan design, but says he modified quite a bit of their layout. “They had a lot of wasted space and they only had three bedrooms upstairs,” says Weaver, “which meant when you walked up the steps, there was just this huge, almost living room area on the second floor.” To make the most of the space, he added an additional bedroom. The finished product of 6105 Marietta Avenue is grand and beautifully imposing. It boasts a whopping six bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms. The first floor is an expansive open floor plan that demonstrates the spaciousness of the house. The living room hosts custom moldings with a tray ceiling and a built-in fireplace with an entertainment unit directly above. The kitchen features quartz countertops, high-end cabinets, and a stunning gray backsplash with leaf-shaped tiles. The house also has a finished basement, a 4-5 car driveway, and a 12’x16’ deck (which the new owners describe as an at-home "getaway") overlooking a large backyard space.
Before renovation, this house was a rare sight in Hamilton Hills as one of few vacant buildings in the neighborhood. It was a sight that burdened the community for a long time. “I think they had been dealing with that eyesore for six or seven years. So, they were thrilled to have me come in and clean it up,” says Weaver. The family friendly community and roomy 6105 Marietta Avenue home welcomed its new residents in February 2025. Weaver says the family who moved in are “very astute buyers” who capitalized on the $10,000 Vacants to Value Booster grant offered by Baltimore’s Department of Housing and Community Development and mentioned in the property’s listing. "The process was relatively seamless," says Nii Sowah, the property's buyer, about obtaining the grant. "After completing the online homeownership course, I conducted an interview with my assigned counselor. After completing my interview, my certificate and paperwork was submitted to Baltimore City for processing. Our turnaround time was less than what their office projected."
"I certainly wouldn’t think I’m a big enough player to turn a neighborhood around. But if I do my one house and somebody else does a house nearby, it will have a dramatic impact.”
Now that the Marietta project is complete and transferred to delighted new owners, Weaver looks forward to the outcome of two other receivership properties he’s working on: 1718 Montpelier Street and 3163 Lyndale Avenue. These properties contrast 6105 Marietta, being smaller rowhomes in rougher condition and in neighborhoods where blight is common. But Atlantic Homes has a broad range of experience with both detached homes and rowhomes in various conditions. “The houses that are in just unlivable condition and really poor shape, that’s where my sweet spot is as a renovator,” says Weaver. “The ones that really need a lot of work take a higher level of expertise…When you put in that much work and that much value, you make a decent return for your effort.” And what also makes the job worth it, according to Weaver, is the long-term effects a rehab has on an area. “It’s rewarding to turn neighborhoods around, see the change, be a cog in the wheel. I certainly wouldn’t think I’m a big enough player to turn a neighborhood around. But if I do my one house and somebody else does a house nearby, it will have a dramatic impact.”
Weaver says he is just starting the Montpelier project as of March 2025, but has completed Lyndale and will list it for sale soon this Spring. With 6105 Marietta Avenue resulting in happy buyers and neighbors and a beautiful addition to Atlantic Homes’ portfolio, it seems the following rehabs are sure to be a success. “There’s some pride in looking at the finished product compared to what you started with,” says Weaver. “I did enjoy doing Marietta, and I’m glad you’re featuring this one.”
