ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Calvin Ball today joined the County’s Office of Agriculture, the Department of Recreation & Parks, Howard County Arts Council, and community members to announce the start of Phase II construction on The Capitoline Center in historic Ellicott City, with a ceremonial wall breaking. Photos from the event can be found on Howard County Government’s Flickr website.
The Capitoline Center has always been more than brick, mortar, and granite. This vision for this Center has been about creating civic infrastructure that reflects the very foundation of our community. With Phase 2, we are transforming this already-beautiful building into a completed community space where a parent can buy healthy food for your family, a young person can discover a future career or passion, art and inspiration can be created, and a new neighbor in our AAPI community will learn that they belong and are welcome here.
Located at 8360 Court Avenue at the site of the former State of Maryland's Circuit Court for Howard County courthouse in historic Ellicott City, The Capitoline Center is a hub for arts, culture, and history in the county. Earlier this year, Ball celebrated the completion of Phase I of the multi-year renovation project with the official opening of The Capitoline Center and the Howard County Arts Council’s new headquarters and the County's first Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Cultural Center.
With the commencement of construction on Phase 2, this next and final phase on The Capitoline Center will include an additional 6,300 square feet of new programmable space, specifically:
- 3,100 square feet for the County’s award-winning Roving Radish program;
- 1,700 square feet shared teaching and demonstration kitchen space; and
- 1,500 square feet of multipurpose community space.
Overseen by the County’s Office of Agriculture, Roving Radish promotes healthy eating habits by using locally and regionally grown foods in its meal kits and offering for sale at its brick-and-mortar marketplace and mobile marketplace, while creating sustainable markets for our local and regional farms. The Roving Radish’s new space in The Capitoline Center will serve as the program’s new headquarters and offer its staff a news space to prepare, package, and sell its meal kits to residents. Once complete, Roving Radish will relocate its prep kitchen from the Long Reach Village Center to The Capitoline Center. The new prep kitchen will include a packing assembly area for meal kits, a dry prep area, a wet prep area, a wash station, Dry storage, a walk-in refrigerator, and a walk-in freezer.
Since its launch in 2015, Roving Radish has prepared more than 88,250 meal kits (27 percent of which were subsidized for qualifying customers) and served 2,508 families at its marketplace (81 percent of which were subsidized). Furthermore, with 33 participating local area farms, Roving Radish has also invested more than $1,000,000 back into local farms.
“As the Office of Agriculture continues to grow, so does our commitment to connecting local farms with our community. This new kitchen strengthens that connection by providing the infrastructure needed to support local farmers, improve food access, and ensure the Roving Radish can continue serving Howard County for many years to come,” said James Zoller, Administrator of the Howard County Office of Agriculture,” said James Zoller, Administrator, Office of Agriculture.
The new teaching and demonstration kitchen space will be operated by the County’s Department of Recreation & Parks, who manages and oversees operations at The Capitoline Center. The teaching and demonstration kitchen will include several workstations and spaces, as well as dry storage and walk-in freezer space, and will allow the department to host culinary programs and rent out the facility to different users.
Phase 2 will also deliver two multipurpose rooms for Recreation & Parks programming; these rooms will complement the existing space for the AAPI Cultural Center.
“Howard County Recreation and Parks have always worked to build community and bring people together and in collaboration with Howard County Arts Council, AAPI Commission and the Roving Radish, that is exactly what is happening here at the Capitoline Center,” said Nick Mooneyhan, Director, Department of Recreation & Parks. “Phase 2 will bring even more opportunities, including two multipurpose rooms for camps, recreation programs, meetings, and celebrations, as well as the largest teaching kitchen in our portfolio, offering cooking classes for children and adults. We look forward to building upon the terrific programs and services already taking shape here and adding to the vibrancy of Ellicott City through continued collaboration and partnership.”
Phase 2 of the project will cost approximately $5.95 million, of which $5.2 million is County funding and $750,000 is federal funding from the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures grant program. The Save America’s Treasures grant will directly support the full renovation of the building’s historic cupola that sits atop the 1843 courthouse. The cupola project is part of exterior improvement work that is also taking place during Phase 2, including the restoration of historic windows in the historic courtroom and the delivery of a new Capitoline Entrance Plaza with seating and opportunities for public art as you enter the building.
“The Capitoline Center stands as a great example of how strategic partnerships between the arts, County government, and local and state leaders can achieve great things and drive meaningful community development. Phase I successfully delivered our fabulous new galleries, community black box theater, classrooms, and dedicated studios for artists which provide the critical infrastructure artists need to thrive and for County residents to actively engage in the arts,” said Coleen West, Executive Director, Howard County Arts Council. “Phase II will amplify our community impact by including the Roving Radish and a state-of-the-art shared teaching and demonstration kitchen that will draw daily foot traffic from local residents. These new amenities and increased foot traffic connect the Arts Council and local artists with a more diverse audience, elevate the Capitoline Center as a cultural hub, and benefit Main Street merchants.”
“It is my honor to witness the Capitoline Center’s continued transformation—now enriched by new additions that deepen connections across all county neighborhoods,” said Kui Zhao, Chair, Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission. “This moment is beyond just a construction milestone; it is a profound step forward for the AAPI and all communities in this vibrant county.”
“Together we share one vision: a community where history, creativity, and opportunity rise together to shape a stronger, more connected Main Street,” said Tami Shaw, Executive Director, Ellicott City Partnership.
History of The Capitoline Center
In 2021, the Circuit Court was relocated to its newly constructed, state-of-the-art facility at 9250 Judicial Way in Ellicott City. Following the closure of the historic courthouse, the County initiated a public survey to gauge the community’s interest in the future of the property. Through this survey, nearly 600 residents, business owners, and community stakeholders shared an overwhelming desire to see the building repurposed into an expanded public space, for community, cultural, civic, and food-related uses, as well as events.
In 2023 during his State of the County speech, Ball announced the adaptive reuse of the historic courthouse into a 80,000-square-foot transformative new center for arts, culture, and history. Supported by funding from the County, the State of Maryland, and federal grants, the total project cost for Phase 1 was approximately $20 million, of which roughly $9 million was funded through grants and roughly $11 million was funded by the County.
The name, The Capitoline Center, was chosen because the building sits at the top of Capitoline Hill in historic Ellicott City. It is suspected that early settlers of Ellicott City were inspired by the town’s rocky and hilly Roman geography and named Ellicott City’s ‘Capitoline Hill’ after Capitoline Hill near the River Tiber that winds through central Italy and is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Not coincidentally, The Capitoline Center overlooks Parking Lot D, where Howard County’s own Tiber River meets the Hudson branch in Ellicott City.
Additionally, the transformation of the historic courthouse into The Capitoline Center supports the policies established for the reuse of the property in the Ellicott City Watershed Master Plan, as well as provides a resource that is complementary to the existing businesses located in historic Ellicott City.
To learn more about The Capitoline Center, visit Recreation & Parks’ “Capitoline Center” webpage.