Residential Real Estate : Development News

The $120 million redevelopment of the former Gunther and National breweries in Brewers Hill is nearing completion.

The Gunther, a 165-unit apartment building at 1211 South Conkling St., opened its first units to tenants last month and the final units will be ready for leasing by March. The apartment building is the last step in the multi-year redevelopment of the two historic breweries located east of Canton.

The Gunther consists of studios, one- and two-bedrooms. Rents range from $1,390 to $2,766, says David Knipp, of Obrecht Commercial Real Estate, the project’s developer.
 
The Gunther has a restaurant space and a couple of prospective tenants have expressed interest, Knipp says. None have signed so far although he hopes to be able to make an announcement by spring.
 
Knipp says the Gunther is actually composed of four adjacent buildings, some connected to each other, that were built over time, from the mid-19^th to the mid-20^th centuries. The buildings take up almost an entire city block.
 
The Gunther Brewery and the National Brewery, home of Natty Boh, make up the total 30-acre, two million-square foot project. The project required state and local historic commission approval and received state historic tax credits. It features an office, residential and complex on Toone, Dean and O’Donnell streets, whose buildings have names like Natty Boh, Grain, Malt, Lager and Ale. It also includes the Shops at Brewers Hill, on Boston Street.
 
The renovation of the four buildings into the 250,000 square foot, five-story Gunther began in 2011.  “It was a long process that required demolition of floors and interior walls,” Knipp says. One of the four buildings was turned into a parking garage.
 
Knipp says a five-acre lot still remains in the development complex but no decision has been made what to do with it.
 
“It’s been a wild ride these last seven, eight years,” he says. “We want to catch our breath.”
 
Source: David Knipp, Obrecht Commercial Real Estate
Writer: Barbara Pash, [email protected]
 
 

Empire Homes of Maryland has bought six rowhouses in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District that it will renovate and turn into affordable, one-bedroom apartments for the disabled.

The $3.3 million project in the 1600, 1700 and 1800 blocks of North Calvert Street will result in 18 apartments when its completed this summer. Construction will begin in January.

The Baltimore City Housing Authority owned the vacant rowhouses that are spread throughout the project site. Empire Homes, a non-profit developer and property manager of affordable housing headquartered on North Charles Street, bought the rowhouses at a cost of about $10,000 each, according to president and CEO T.F. Burden.
 
“Because they are public housing properties, they can only be used for that purpose," Buden says. "They can’t be rehabbed and sold for market rate or turned into single-family housing.”
 
The rowhouses are located near Amtrak’s Pennsylvania Station and Baltimore School of Design, a public high school.
 
Each of the six rowhouses will contain three units. Rent will cost about $650 per month, with the tenant paying a maximum of 30 percent of his or her income. The city and Innovative Housing Institute, a downtown nonprofit, will choose tenants from the city’s housing choice voucher wait list.
 
Empire Homes obtained funding from several sources for the project, including $1.8 million from the state, $700,000 from the city, $300,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank and $300,000 from bank financing.
 
Last July, Empire Homes opened another affordable rental project in Station North. The Lillian Jones Apartments, at 1303 Greenmount Ave., were constructed on a vacant lot. The four-story, 74-unit building has one- , two- and three-bedroom apartments. Empire Homes and city real estate developer the French Development Company partnered on the $16.1 million project.
 
Source: T.F. Burden, Empire Homes of Maryland
Writer: Barbara Pash at [email protected]
 

Terra Nova Ventures LLC last month received approval from the Baltimore City planning office for the $17 million redevelopment of a Hampden mill into apartments, offices, restaurant and retail space.
 
The Baltimore developer expects to request building permits in early 2014 and begin construction on Whitehall Cotton Mill in the spring. Construction on the historic building will wrap up a year later, in spring of 2015.
 
David Tufaro, Terra Nova principal, says the building at 3300 Clipper Mill Road, about 100,000 square feet in size, will be divided into thirds for the different uses – one-third for apartments, one-third for offices and one-third for restaurant/retail. The plan calls for 27 rental apartments although he says it is premature to predict rents.
 
Though Tufaro is now calling the project Whitehall Cotton Mill, the name may change upon completion.
 
The building is located along the Jones Falls, where other former mills and factory buildings have been redeveloped in recent years. Among them is Mill No. 1, Terra Nova’s most recent project, the 1847 cotton mill that opened last month. Like 3300 Clipper Mill Road, Mill No. 1 contains apartments, offices and restaurant space.
 
Tufaro says the 3300 Clipper Mill Road building is adjacent to Mill No. 1. Distribution firm Komar Company owns the circa 1900 building and currently uses it as its headquarters. 
 
“It’s in the middle of the city and close to everything,” Tufaro says of the location. “And the buildings are different from other areas.” 
 
The Clipper Mill Road building and property was assessed at more than $616,000 in 2008. The building is located in the Hampden Historic District, and Terra Nova’s plan requires both federal and state historic approval.
 
Source: David Tufaro, Terra Nova Ventures LLC
Writer: Barbara Pash
 

An eight-story building with 150 rental apartments and ground-floor retail is coming to 814 North Charles St. in Mount Vernon. Washington, D.C., developer Gould Property Company is constructing the $30 million project on the site of a surface PMI parking lot that it owns.
 
Joel Cherington, a consultant to Gould, says construction on the 20,000-square-foot building will begin in February and finish within 18 months. The one- and two-bedroom apartments will be offered at market rate, currently in the $1,400 to $2,600 range for the area.
 
The developer is targeting young professionals with amenities like squash courts and an indoor pool. Mount Vernon has seen a flurry of new residential and retail development as enrollment grows at the University of Baltimore. 
 
The building, so far unnamed, is located at the corner of North Charles and Read streets. It is located a half-block north of Mount Vernon Square, and a block-and-a-half from the Washington Monument. It will be built of concrete and glass, with an eco-friendly “green” roof and a LEED certification of silver at the minimum, according to Walter Schamu, president of SMG Architects, the Baltimore firm that will design it.
 
There is space on the street level for retail. Cherington says the developer hopes to attract a restaurant and two other tenants. There will be seven stories of apartments and three levels of underground parking to accommodate 150 cars.
 
Earlier this month, the city's Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation approved the Charles Street building, says Tom Liebel, commission chair and a principal with Marks, Thomas Architects. Liebel says the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association, the local community group, ALSO supports the project.
 
Sources: Joel Cherington, Gould Property Co.; Walter Schamu, SMG Architects; Tom Liebel, Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation
Writer: Barbara Pash

MOM’s Organic Market says it will open a store at The Rotunda, ending months of speculation surrounding which grocer will anchor the $100 million redevelopment of the retail, office and residential project in Hampden.

The Rockville-based company will open a 15,000-square-foot shop, its eighth in Maryland and third in Greater Baltimore. It has stores in Timonium and Columbia. The Rotunda store will be MOM's first in Baltimore City. 

“I really like where [the Rotunda] is located,” MOM’s founder Scott Nash says. “It’s close to I-83. The parking is good. We’re pretty excited about it.”

MOM’s will replace Giant grocery store, which moved less than two blocks away last year to the Greenspring Tower Shopping Center. It’s unclear, however, when MOM's will open. The first new retail shops at the Rotunda will open in 18 to 20 months, but Chris Bell, senior vice president of developer Hekemian & Co. Inc., says he is not sure whether MOM’s or what other retailers will be among them.

Nash says the store will employ between 50 and 60 and feature a “naked lunch” section similar to its Timonium store. This section will feature largely vegetarian fare, including salads, a black bean burger, a beet burger and other food items.

“We think it’s a great addition to the project,” Bell says. “Their customer is the customer we’re going for. These are health conscious, young professionals starting to populate Hampden. We think it will drive a lot of traffic to The Rotunda.”

Construction began this month on the much-anticipated Rotunda redevelopment that was stalled for years due to the recession. City officials and the developer will hold a formal groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, Sept. 18.

The redeveloped Rotunda will include a total of 83,000 square feet of new retail, a 379-unit apartment building and 1,100 parking spaces. Bell says the retail makeup will likely consist of five restaurants, a gym, coffee shop, pet store and salons. The site is also home to the Rotunda Cinemas.

Shops at The Rotunda will face a central plaza that will hold farmers’ markets, music festivals and other gatherings, Bell says.

Bozzuto Construction Co. is the general contractor while the Design Collective is the project's architect.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Chris Bell, Hekemian & Co. Inc; Scott Nash, MOM's 

Fells Point Station, a 47-unit apartment building located partially in a former police station, will open in November. The Henson Development Co. is the builder of the $13 million project, located at the corner of Bank and Broadway and managed by Mission First Housing Development Corp. in Washington, D.C., Henson's development partner.

Henson is offering one- and two-bedroom units, 3,000 square feet of retail space and 31 parking spaces in the 53,000-square-foot building. Because of the financing arrangements, 34 of the 47 units are designated for tax credit assistance for those earning between 30 to 60 percent of the area median income. This number for AMI fluctuates yearly.  The remaining units will be rented at market rate, of around $950 to $1,350, Henson Co. Vice President Dana Henson says.  

The apartment complex at 1621 Bank St. consists of the original 16,000-square-foot city police station and a new, 37,000-square-foot building that was constructed on an adjacent surface parking lot. The three- and four-story buildings are separate but a glass and aluminum exterior entry connects the two.  
 
Henson bought both the long-vacant police station and parking lot from the city in 2009 for $584,300, according to state property records. The property is valued today at about $739,000. At the time of purchase, the station was in disrepair and water damaged. The police station was listed on the National Historic Register and that required leaving the façade intact. The interior was gutted and some of the original design elements were used in the new building. The exterior of the new building matches the original station.
 
“We used historical photographs for reference,” says Henson. “The window frames, the brick – externally it looks like the historical building.”

The project is being financed by Capital One, Hudson Housing Capital, National Park Service Historical Tax Service, Maryland housing and community development department tax credits and the city's housing department.
 
Henson says the company did several market studies to determine the need for rental units in the area.
 
“This was a vacant building in Fells Point and there is so much development going on in Fells Point. It’s a bustling economy," she says, pointing to the Marketplace at Fells Point retail and residential complex as an example. "We wanted to give the community a building they could be proud of." 
 
Source: Dana Henson, The Henson Development Co.
Writer: Barbara Pash

Construction began last month on a 102-unit apartment complex in the former Provident Bank building in downtown Baltimore.
 
The first apartments at 114 E. Lexington St. will be ready in September, says Laurel Howell, senior vice president of marketing for Kettler Inc. The McLean, Va., firm will manage the property. The 11-story building will house retail on the first floor, a fitness room and iPad bar in the lobby.
 
The Lenore will contain one- and two-bedroom apartments, some of them lofts, with wood floors and granite countertops. Rental rates have not been set.
 
Gaithersburg developer Baybridge Property Group is preserving features of the 1928 historic building, including floor-to-ceiling windows. The building originally opened as a local branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Provident Bank and then M&T Bank used it until a year ago.

Several other office buildings are being converted to meet demand for downtown housing. Eighteen apartments are planned above the Carrollton Bank branch at 344 N. Charles St., which was sold in April. PMC Property Group expects to finish 70 apartments at 521-545 St. Paul St. this summer and 92 at the former Baltimore Life Insurance Co. headquarters at 301 N. Charles St. this fall. Another 445 apartments are planned at 10 Light St.

The first apartments at The Lenore are expected to be ready in September, according to Laurel Howell, senior vice president of marketing for Kettler Inc., which will manage the building. Businesses have shown interest in the two retail spaces on the first floor, she said.
 
Writer:  Wayne Countryman
Source:  Laurel Howell, Kettler Inc. 

The developer behind Milk & Honey Market and the reopening of the Chesapeake restaurant is plotting an 86-unit apartment complex on Lanvale Street next to his new food establishments, which are weeks away from opening.
 
Ernst Valery says he expects to select an architect by July for the market-rate studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments. Construction on the yet-to-be named building in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District will begin a year from now and wrap up by summer of 2015. Valery says he hasn’t yet determined apartment rates.
 
The apartment building is the latest project in a neighborhood that is attracting more interest among city officials, developers and universities. A developer hired by Amtrak has proposed shops, housing and offices around Penn Station. Johns Hopkins University is moving some of its arts programs to the neighborhood and the Maryland Institute College of Art has purchased two buildings in the area.
 
But the neighborhood could use more housing, Valery says.
 
“Its a step toward making the neighborhood really great and realizing its full potential,” Valery says of his project.
 
Valery says he is now securing financing for the apartments and declined to provide details until the plans are finalized.
 
Station North’s Milk & Honey Market and the new Chesapeake Restaurant will open in two to three weeks, Valery says. It will be the city’s second Milk & Honey. The other one is located in Mount Vernon. Chesapeake, which will focus on regional cuisine, bears the same name as the restaurant that shuttered a quarter century ago. The property has since been vacant.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Ernst Valery

Bel Air developer Stonington Partners is planning 25 new townhomes in a former Natty Boh warehouse in Brewers Hill.
 
Demolition of the warehouse between South Eaton and Fagley streets will begin early next year and construction on Merchant Hill homes will begin shortly thereafter. The Merchant townhomes feature an open-floor plan and industrial look.
 
The homes, with an average of 2,300 square feet and prices starting at $500,000, will be move in ready by late 2014, says ReMax Preferred Realtor Trent Waite, the agent for Merchant Hill. Waite says the development cost has not yet been determined. 
  
Merchant Hill joins two other Stonington residential developments in East Baltimore:
 
•  Merchant Point: The 17 townhomes in the 1700 block of Aliceanna Street in Fells Point will be ready at the end of August. Prices for the 2,600- to 3,200-square-foot homes start at $659,000. All homes have been sold.
 
•  Merchant Square: Work on the eight townhomes in the 100 block of South Ann Street in Fells Point will start late May and will be completed by the end of the year. Four homes are currently under contract. Prices start at $530,000, with an average square footage of 3,250.
 
While high-end rentals have been sprouting up around Fells Point and other downtown neighborhoods, like the $70 million Union Wharf apartments opening in May, buyers are “figuring out they’ve been paying $3,000 in rent when they can have $3,000 in equity,” Waite says.
 
Home prices in Baltimore City rose 26.4 percent in March, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems.
 
Waite says Stonington Partners has built a niche in developing custom look homes in urban neighborhoods.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Trent Waite, Realtor, ReMax Preferred
 

Urban Design Group LLC  is going green for the Riverside Wharf project in South Baltimore. The sustainable architectural firm in Fells Point has designed a green roof for the building, the first project under Baltimore’s Key Highway South Urban Renewal Plan.

Urban Design Group is bringing sustainable measures to two other high-profile projects in Baltimore: the new Merchant Point townhomes in Fells Point and the renovation of the Inner Harbor's World Trade Center, which will be done this year.
 
Urban Design President Michael Burton says he expects the $10 million Riverside Wharf project to be done in 2014. Caves Valley Partners is developing the former industrial site located along Key Highway at Lawrence Street into a 100,000-square-foot, three-story building with parking garage.
 
On the main floor, Walgreens drugstore will occupy 14,000 square feet along with other retailers; the upper two floors have 31,000 square feet of office space; a parking garage accounts for the remaining space.

He says the green roof will enable the building to comply with Baltimore’s green building standards and the state’s storm water management regulations.
 
Passed by the City Council in 2007, green building standards apply to new and existing commercial and multi-family residences over 10,000 square feet.

For the almost 8,000-square-foot green roof, a layer of soil and plants that can withstand weather and wind is laid on top of a drainage system. “The building occupies an entire city block. You’ve got to find a way to deal with storm water management,” says Burton.

Merchant Point involves the conversion of a church into a private school and office space, an existing building into offices and 18 new rowhouses. Located at the intersection of South Ann and Aliceanna streets, the townhomes will be ready this summer and are sold out. Urban Design Group used sustainable construction material and created an urban garden to meet the city’s green building standards.
 
The Maryland Port Authority awarded a contract to Pepco Energy Services to install energy-efficiency measures in several buildings, including the 40-year-old, 30-story World Trade Center.
 
Urban Design Group designed a geothermal system for the building’s mechanical systems. The system pumps water from the Inner Harbor through the building’s mechanical systems. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and federal Environmental Protection Agency had to approve the design.
 
Burton founded Urban Design Group in 2009. In 2011, the company moved into the incubator, Emerging Technology Center at Canton. Last February, the company graduated from the incubator and moved to an office in Fells Point.
 
During its time in the incubator, revenue tripled to over $1 million in 2013 and the staff doubled to nine. Urban Design Group is looking to hire a project manager.
 
Source: Michael Burton, Urban Design Group
Writer: Barbara Pash; [email protected]

The developer of the $70 million Union Wharf apartments is hoping to attract tenants with the Fells Point building’s “South Beach” vibe when it opens next month.

The Bozzuto Group's 320,000-square-foot building at 915 S. Wolfe St. features 281 apartments and 12,000 square feet of common space, with a fitness center, bar, screening room, infinity pool and three courtyards. Union Wharf will also include a 4,400 square feet of retail space at the corner of Thames and Wolfe streets, which Bozzuto expects to lease to a restaurant.

 “We’ve modeled it close to the amenity spaces that surround a courtyard and the pool on resorts that we’ve seen in places like South Beach,” says Jeff Kayce, vice president of Bozzuto Development.

The market-rate apartments are a mix of studios, one, and two-bedroom units, starting at $1,610 for a studio and topping out at $3,125 for a two-bedroom and a den. About 40 apartments have been leased so far.

Bozzuto is targeting potential renters who are looking for “something unique in Fells Point, who like that neighborhood feel,” says Union Wharf Property Manager Blake Nicholson.

Demand for rentals in downtown neighborhoods remains very high. A 2012 report from the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. notes that occupancy remains “very strong,” at more than 96 percent. The Downtown Partnership’s Outlook 2017 report predicts that downtown could easily add nearly 6,000 new residential units over the next five years.

Union Wharf is just a few blocks east of Harbor Point, where nearly 2 million square feet of office, retail, restaurants, and hotels are being developed. The office space includes the future home of energy giant Exelon Corp.

Bozzuto expects Union Wharf will be certified LEED silver as it has Energy Star appliances, energy efficient windows, and 90 percent of the construction waste was recycled.

 “It is really an amenity for the neighborhood and an anchor for that corner of the building there,” says Kayce.

The space is being marketed by H&R Retail, with no confirmed tenant as of yet.

The site is redevelopment of a former industrial property, at various times it was a concrete plant, an oyster packing facility, and an ice house.

“It’s a trophy location, it’s on the water, it’ on a cobblestone street in the heart of Fells Point, so it has wonderful historical context,” Kayce says. “That’s obviously why we’re attracted to it.”
 
 
Writer: Amy Landsman; [email protected]
Sources: Jeff Kayce, Bozzuto Development vice president, and Blake Nicholson, Union Wharf property manager 

Developer Howard Chambers is spearheading a six-story, $6.5 million apartment, office and restaurant project at the vacant Mount Vernon building where his great-grandfather once ran one of Baltimore’s oldest design firms.
 
Chambers says he will break ground on 1010 North Charles St. between November and March of next year, adding 35 market-rate apartments behind and above it as part of the 47,000-square-foot project. The building will feature a mix of studio and one-bedroom units, with an average size of 640 square feet. Residents will have access to a rooftop patio. 
 
The building will contain a 2,850-square-foot restaurant with outdoor dining. The type of eatery remains wide open, Chambers says. The building’s second floor will be turned into office space. Chambers says he is still working on the final configuration of the building.
 
1010 N. Charles St. was once the headquarters of 108-year-old design firm, The H. Chambers Co., which moved to Baltimore office building Montgomery Park in 2006. It most recently housed Bath Time Inc., a showroom containing high-end faucets and other bath hardware that closed four years ago. 
 
The Mount Vernon Belvedere Association, The Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation and the city’s planning department have all signed off on the project. Engineering studies are underway.
 
Mount Vernon’s many transportation options make 1010 North Charles an attractive location for apartments, Chambers says. “Right next door there are 14 Zipcar spaces, the bus line to and from Hopkins, the train station to and from D.C. is three or four blocks north of the site, so apartments make a tremendous amount of sense.”
 
Mount Vernon has attracted more interest from developers as enrollment at the University of Baltimore has grown from 5,000 to 7,000 in the past five years. Since UB doesn’t have dorms, many of those students are clamoring for nearby apartments. Plus, Chambers thinks 1010 North Charles will attract hospital workers from Mercy Medical Center and Johns Hopkins Hospital, as well as faculty from University of Baltimore's new law school building set to open next month.
 
 
Writer: Amy Landsman; [email protected]
Source: Howard Chambers, president of 1010 North Charles LLC

Construction of the first two residential and retail buildings for massive Baltimore County development Metro Centre at Owings Mills will wrap up by next month. The first will open in May and the second will open at the end of June.

The buildings, called Metro Crossing, are both five-stories high, with retail on the ground floor and rental apartments on the upper floors. The buildings are mirror images of each other. The two buildings split evenly a total of 56,000 square feet of retail space and 232 one- and two-bedroom apartments. 

A number of retail leases are in final negotiations, says Lynn Abeshouse, managing principal of real estate brokerage firm Abeshouse Partners. Until contracts are signed, Abeshouse declined to give specific names but says possible tenants include fast-casual and white-table restaurants, clothing stores, liquor stores and health clubs. 
 
One-bedroom apartments average 770 square feet; two-bedroom apartments, which all have two full bathrooms, run from 873 square feet to 1,245 square feet. Prices for one bedrooms run from $1,580 to $1,695 per month; for two bedrooms, $1,855 to $2,490 per month. Abeshouse declined to say how many apartments have been leased so far. 
 
The two buildings are located on Grand Central Avenue, off Painters Mill Road, near the Owings Mills Metro Subway Station and across from the County Campus at Metro Centre at Owings Mills. The six-story combination Baltimore County Public Library and the Community College of Baltimore County building is scheduled to open this week. A free parking garage next to the building is already open.
 
The two residential and retail buildings, the library/community college building and an office building now under construction compose the first phase of the Metro Centre at Owings Mills. That's about one-fourth of the total development. The four-story, 200,000-square-foot office building on Grand Central Avenue is expected to open this fall.
 
The state-designated transit-oriented development will eventually have over 1.2 million square feet of office space; 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space; 1,700 residential units; and, a 250-room hotel. Maryland and Baltimore County have spent more than $57 million on infrastructure at Metro Centre at Owings Mills to date. The rest is privately funded.
 
Source: Lynn Abeshouse, Abeshouse Partners
Writer: Barbara Pash
 

The developer of the Marketplace at Fells Point says that that the first phase of the $40 million apartment and shopping complex will be ready by the first quarter of 2014. It has also signed on Fells Point Main Street as a tenant.

Roughly half the retail and 59 apartments located east of Broadway will be completed at that time, says Dolben Co. Senior Vice President Drew Dolben. The completion of the remaining 100 apartments and 13,000 square feet of retail is still several years out, Dolben says.

Early 2014 is also when Dolben Co. will debut the renovated former Fells Point Comfort Station at 1630 Aliceanna St., which Dolben bought from the city in late 2011 for $275,000.

The former comfort station will house the new office of Fells Point Main Street, which signed a 10-year lease with Dolben. The nonprofit, which promotes the neighborhood’s historic district, will move from its current location at be located on the second floor. The first floor will house a fitness center for the apartment residents.

Dolben says it is wrapping up the foundation work along the 600 block of Broadway and building a new structure behind of the facades.

The idea is to construct a modern building while retaining the historical details. Dolben says he is now wrapping up the foundation work.

“When you walk down Broadway, you’ll think it’s been there for 100 years,” Dolben says.

Based in Massachusetts, Dolben has a regional office in Anne Arundel County’s Odenton. Dolben acquired the rights to develop the apartment and retail portion of the Marketplace at Fells in December 2011 from South Broadway Properties LLC’s Dave Holmes. South Broadway is still leading the $5 million renovation of the Broadway Market. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Drew Dolben, Dolben Co. 

The owners of popular Canton eatery Fork & Wrench are opening their second restaurant and a market inside the swanky new Fells Point apartment complex Union Wharf this spring.
 
About one-third of the 4,350-square-foot space will be dedicated to a market selling produce, meat and prepared foods, Co-owner Andy Gruver says. Work on the 140-seat restaurant and market will begin in a few weeks, once the owners get the necessary permits.
 
Gruver estimates that the investment in the new business will total $600,000 to $800,000. The restaurant will employ around 30.

Gruver and partner Jason Sanchez are building the restaurant themselves and relying on recycled materials, like its sister property on Boston Street. The new restaurant will serve locally sourced food, but other details, including the chef and menu, are still being worked out. Fork & Wrench is known for its farm-to-table menu, hand-crafted cocktails and an interior that evokes the working classes of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. 
 
Fork and Wrench owners had been looking for spot for a second restaurant for some time. The owners decided that the space at the 281-unit at Union Wharf presented the best opportunity since potential diners live right in the building and in several other apartment buildings nearby.
 
The first phase of the apartment building is fully leased and residents will soon begin moving into the building’s second phase, which includes the units that jut out into the water. That’s according to Jeff Kayce, vice president of Bozzuto Group, the building’s developer. The average monthly rent at Union Wharf is $2,350.
 
The building’s amenities include a fitness center, conference room and an infinity pool. The developers were going for a South Beach, Miami vibe with the property.

The restaurant's Executive Chef Cyrus Keefer will create his Charm City Common Dinner at the James Beard House Monday Feb. 24. The restaurant will offer a sneak peek of the James Beard dinner in Baltimore on January 28. Call the restaurant for tickets. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Andy Gruver, Fork & Wrench; Jeff Kayce, Bozzuto Group