The investors stepped inside the marble-floored lobby of Vivo Baltimore and tasted blood in the water. They came wearing suits, sunglasses and boat shoes — one sported a hefty gold chain. They took phone calls, crossed their arms and eyed the competition.

They circled like sharks. They left like minnows.

Going once. Twice. Three times. The two residential buildings sold after a single bid from the lender: $25 million.

Wednesday’s auction was a mixed sign for the future of downtown as a residential neighborhood. As demand for hotel rooms and office space declines, city officials have been encouraging investors to convert them into apartment buildings. That’s what happened to Vivo Baltimore.

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In 2022, California-based Vivo Investment Group bought adjoining hotel buildings at 101 W. Fayette St. and 110 W. Baltimore St. for about $22 million. Vivo converted the 27-story towers into 550 apartment units with the plans to rent them at relatively affordable rates. The rent for some studio apartments started below $1,000 a month.

To buy and renovate the towers, Vivo borrowed $45 million from Los Angeles-based Parkview Financial. But by 2024, Vivo Baltimore was bleeding money and Parkview Financial foreclosed on the property.

From right, Paul Cooper, vice president of Alex Cooper Auctioneers, shows sale terms for the recently foreclosed on Vivo Baltimore towers to the winning bidders, attorneys Natalie C. Gibson and David S. Musgrave of Gordon Feinblatt LLC, and Leonidas Milas, representative of the lender, L.A.-based Parkview Financial, following a quick auction in the Vivo Baltimore lobby in which Parkview bought back the property for $25 million, in Baltimore, MD on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
From right, Paul Cooper, vice president of Alex Cooper Auctioneers, shows sale terms for the recently foreclosed on Vivo Baltimore towers to the winning bidders, attorneys Natalie C. Gibson and David S. Musgrave of Gordon Feinblatt LLC, and Leonidas Milas, representative of the lender, L.A.-based Parkview Financial, following the auction on Wednesday. (Wesley Lapointe for The Baltimore Banner)
The entrance to the foreclosed on Vivo Baltimore towers, which were converted from hotels to apartment buildings during the pandemic, is seen from West Fayette Street following a quick auction that sold the towers back to the lender for $25 million, in Baltimore, MD on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
Wednesday’s auction was a mixed sign for the future of downtown as a residential neighborhood. (Wesley Lapointe for The Baltimore Banner)

The foreclosure triggered the auction, where anyone willing to make a $2 million deposit could sink their teeth into a prime piece of downtown real estate. In the end, there wasn’t even a nibble.

According to a listing from the auction house, about 37% of Vivo Baltimore was leased as of February, and the property was generating about $275,000 a month in total income.

A representative for Parkview Financial bid $25 million — effectively offering to buy the buildings from itself — and all the other fish swam away.

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Parkview Financial will take full ownership of the property after the sale is approved by a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge, a process that could take months, explained auctioneer Paul Cooper, vice president of Towson-based Alex Cooper.

It’s unclear what Parkview Financial will eventually do with the property. Leonidas Milas, a vice president at Parkview Financial, attended the auction, but declined to comment.