Robin Godwin: Little Havana Renovates Its Event Spaces, Plans a Future Cafe Facing Key Highway

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Little Havana Renovates Its Event Spaces, Plans a Future Cafe Facing Key Highway

Little Havana at 1325 Key Hwy. in Federal Hill recently completed some renovations and was approved to expand the footprint of its liquor license to cover its entire 14,981 sq. ft. waterfront building. This is the latest round of investment for the Cuban-themed restaurant that has been open since 1997.

Little Havana was approved in December by the Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore City for its liquor license expansion. While the restaurant and event spaces were previously in the footprint of the liquor license, there were areas of the building that weren’t covered that could potentially be used in the future.

The Little Havana ownership team of Marc Gentile and Tim Whisted plans to eventually add a smaller cafe to a retail space at the corner of Key Hwy. and Webster St. This space was previously leased to a flooring business. Gentile said they plan to get more serious in planning for the concept and layout of the cafe in about a year, but they will use the space in the meantime as an additional private event space. The space has the potential for outdoor seating along Key Hwy.

Little Havana also renovated its other two event spaces so it can more easily accommodate multiple private events and larger events. This included renovating a hallway between the two event spaces and updating floors, walls, and a bathroom. Each space has an adjacent outdoor patio.

Gentile said the Baltimore restaurant scene is always changing and it’s great to rely on private events for more consistency and to know ahead of time how busy a shift will be. He said the private spaces allow the staff of about 40 to work year-round as opposed to having a larger staff during the warmer months when the outdoor patio on the Inner Harbor is open.

Little Havana also added new first-floor closets and a divider in front of the kitchen. It removed a long hallway in the women’s room. Gentile said a next phase of bathroom renovations will come in the near future.

Retail space at Key Hwy. and Webster St.