The Barn & Lodge restaurant at The Rotunda is holding its grand opening Tuesday, two years after it expected to serve its first meal.

Titan Hospitality Group started discussions with mixed-use property The Rotunda during the pandemic and initially planned to open in 2024, spokesperson Scott Selman said. They ran into unexpected structural problems with the old building.

The historic 729 W. 40th St. building was originally used in 1921 to generate energy for the first location of the Maryland Casualty Company. The structure included tunnels to different parts of the development and other “things you didn’t know are there until you start digging,” Selman said.

“It kept leading to waiting for permits,” he said. “It was a scramble to get it open.”

The Barn & Lodge is a flagship for the Anne Arundel County-based hospitality group, which now has 11 locations. The 11,000-square-foot space includes an area for casual dining and a private event space, referred to as “The Barn,” which seats up to 100 people.

The restaurant is designed to feel like an “elevated farmhouse,” according to a company press release, fitted with preserved iron trusswork and exposed brick. On the menu is a smattering of seafood and pastas, which are made in-house, and other proteins like braised beef short ribs. They’ll start rolling out a brunch service in the next month.

The Barn & Lodge will host live entertainment, despite prior pushback from neighbors. In 2024, residents across the street from The Rotunda complained that Titan Hospitality Group had broken off negotiations over noise control, hours of operation and off-street parking. Selman said those conversations resumed and the restaurant now has a license to play music on Thursdays and Fridays.

“We’re not putting on rock concerts, we’re a restaurant,” he said.

The Rotunda already holds outdoor concerts called Rotunda Rocks from May through September every Friday.

Selman said Titan Hospitality Group has expanded by opening restaurants close together, such as in Columbia, where the seafood restaurant Smashing Grapes and the other Barn & Lodge sit across the street from one another.

The clustering allows the eateries to share resources and not compete over customers, due to locations’ disparate concepts. Concerns over the rising cost of food and critical materials like linens require the company to think strategically about minimizing costs, especially as people become more selective about where they’re eating, Selman said.

“There’s only so much we can control within our four walls,” he said, “so we need to make sure we’re operating as efficiently as we can.”