Diversity : Development News

Downtown residents now have a place to buy ingredients to make chicken tikka masala or palak paneer.
 
Annapurna Grocery and Gifts opened last week at 323 North Charles St, selling Indian and Nepalese spices, ready-to-eat foods, sweets and Korean noodles. Owner Ryan Thap, who also owns the neighboring Lumbini Restaurant, says he believes his grocery store will be well-received by downtown customers who appreciate ethnic foods but look for ways to save a buck. “They like the ready-to-eat foods. If they go to a restaurant for it though, they pay more than $20,” Thap says.
 
Thap says that although the grocery store has already opened, he will hold a Grand Opening in one month during which he plans to incorporate customer feedback and extend store hours from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. The store is currently open daily from 11.a.m.-8 p.m. Thap has already received specific customer feedback he plans to incorporate, like carrying more Indian vegetables, frozen foods and breads along with ingredients to make chicken curry and paneer. Customers with purchases of at least $100 can have their groceries delivered.
 
Thap planned to open the grocery store since February and invested $60,000 in the 1,600 square-foot space. He currently has one employee but is considering hiring two more.

Writer: Jolene Carr
Source: Ryan Thap

A new salon hopes to pamper women in Lauraville with makeup, cosmetics, lingerie, manicures, and pedicures. The 1,000-square-foot Aboni Amour will open Dec. 2 at 4600 Harford Road. 
 
Owner and Baltimore-native Ebony Tyson launched her makeup line, Aboni Cosmetics, last year and plans to feature the products such as foundation, lipstick, lip gloss and blush at the new location. The cosmetic line was previously sold exclusively online.

"I started the line because it's really hard for women of color to find makeup and colors that compliment our skin," Tyson says.

Tyson had been looking for a site to expand her makeup line. After hearing about the location in Lauraville, she decided it would make a good fit for her business. Tyson says she wants to offer a place for women to be pampered and have fun and wants her customers to see and feel the makeup on their skin before purchasing it.
 
For Tyson, the path to creating a makeup line and starting her own salon is personal. While in college, Tyson worked as a consultant selling makeup through a company, but the makeup she was selling didn't exist for women of color. Tyson, who is African-American, set out to create her own makeup line that catered to women with a myriad of skin tones.
 
Tyson taught herself how to create makeup using online tutorials and says her makeup line is all natural, healthy for the skin and safe for use with very sensitive skin.
 
The company is currently hiring two or three makeup artists.
 
A grand opening event will take place at the location on Dec. 1 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
 
Source: Ebony Tyson
Writer: Alexandra Wilding, [email protected]
 
 

Baltimore residents looking who want to get fit will soon get to incorporate South American-style martial arts into their workout routine.
 
The Baltimore Chapter of the International Capoeira Angola Foundation will move into a 1,000 square-foot headquarters at 1 North Charles St. by January. Capoeira is an African and Brazilian form of martial arts that incorporates dance, music and song. 
 
ICAF-Baltimore's leader Skher Brown has been planning the move for close to two years after becoming a recipient of a Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc.'s Operation Storefront grant. Operation Storefront grants were designed to stimulate business and activity in downtown’s abandoned buildings and were awarded to 10 applicants, including EMP Collective, D Center and Jody Davis Designs. Recipients got, on average, $10,000 each.
 
ICAF-Baltimore was established in 2004 and previously held classes at the Harlem Park Recreation Center and the Sankofa Dance Theater. Recently, Brown has offered classes at Goucher College. Brown says looks forward to having a downtown location and believes it will bring something new to the area.
 
“Capoeira is a great opportunity for physical assertiveness, it’s a form of self expressions,” Brown says. “Everybody can go the gym and knows about Pilates and yoga, but people will want to try something different.”
 
Participants range in age from children to seniors, while the average class size is 12. Classes are $15 but there will eventually be group rates, Brown says. Brown plans on possibly hiring as many as four instructors for the new space. He may also rent out the studio to other types of fitness teachers.  

Writer: Jolene Carr
Source: Skher Brown, Baltimore Chapter of the International Capoeira Angola Foundation 

Baltimoreans who grab lunch on the go will soon have authentic West African and Caribbean food on the menu.
 
Baltimore resident Kia Tangara, a native of Mali, will start operating food truck Motherland Mobile Kitchen in various locations downtown Aug. 15.
 
Motherland will operate during the week in the morning until 3 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. depending on business. The selection will include African, Caribbean and American dishes including lamb, tilapia, plantains, chicken, cassava leaves and rice, couscous, lamb and chicken gyros and kabobs. All dishes will be priced between $5 and $10.
 
Tangara promises fresh ingredients. “It’s about buying everything fresh, cooking with fresh foods, and using different spices,” Tangara says. She will order lamb from a Philadelphia farm and is searching for venues in the Baltimore area that can supply fresh meat.
 
Tangara purchased her food truck in Philadelphia for $25,000 after comparing prices on Foodtruck.com. She plans to keep Motherland as a food truck rather than opening a physical eatery.
 
“It’s like having a restaurant already, but you don’t have to worry about paying high prices for electric or gas,” Tangara says. “A restaurant can deliver food, but with a food truck, people get to know you personally and follow you.”
 
Tangara would like to purchase a second food truck within the next six months for family members to operate in Virginia under her guidance. Tangara would like to eventually have a handful of food trucks, turning Motherland Mobile Kitchen into a small-scale company.
 
Tangara is currently searching for two employees: a driver and someone to run the grill.

Writer: Jolene Carr
Source: Kia Tangara, Motherland Mobile 

The state has created a community land trust for the Park Heights area of Baltimore City to ensure affordable housing in an area that is undergoing redevelopment.

The Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation approved the community land trust in April, the first in the state, according to Will J. Hanna II, president and CEO of The New Park Heights Community Development Corp. Inc. The CDC  will administer the trust. The community land trust designates a specific area in the Park Heights community for development of affordable housing for 99 years. Area nonprofits and the CDC are working to redevelop the area with new services and buildings while a new workforce training program is seeking to lower the area's high unemployment. 
 
Two property owners have donated 100 vacant houses within the community land trust boundaries to the nonprofit to begin the affordable housing effort.
 
Hanna says he is negotiating with two investors who are interested in buying and redeveloping 50 houses each. He declined to provide names. He is also talking to two banks, SunTrust and Wells Fargo, about closing and development costs.
 
Hanna says the nonprofit, which was founded in 1999, expects to have a purchase commitment by next month.
 
 The federal Housing and Urban Development department’s home program determines the selling price for houses in the land trust. Currently, that price is set at $80,000 to $125,000 per property, a rate based on median income and affordability of the housing stock in the community at the time.
 
Hanna says the community land trust area stretches from Seven Mile Lane to Druid Park Drive. The 100 vacant houses are scattered within this broad area. He estimates the average value of each property at $40,000, with some of the houses little more than shells.
 
He figures the average cost of redeveloping the houses will be $60,000 each. The nonprofit will retain ownership of the land, and intends to charge ground rent.
 
Hanna talks about the tax advantage to the property-owners who donated the houses, home-buyers and private investors who redevelop them.
 
By donating the houses to the community land trust, the property-owners received a tax exemption. Whoever buys a house in the land trust will be exempt from state taxes during the life of the land trust.
 
For investors who buy the properties to redevelop, 80 percent of the development cost is not taxable. Moreover, the nonprofit can issue IRS certificates to reduce tax liability.
 
Source: Will J. Hanna II, The New Park Heights Community Development Corp., Inc.
Writer: Barbara Pash

It's been almost 14 years in the making, but St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church debuted its multi-level banquet hall and cultural center this week.
 
The Plateia, which means ‘town square’ in Greek, aims to be the anchor of Greektown, says Jason Fillippou, director of the Greektown Community Development Corporation.
 
An approximately $3 million investment, the funds for the project were raised through community donations, major philanthropies, a series of fundraisers, and public-backed loans, Fillippou says.
 
The center, owned and operated by St. Nicholas, is located at 701-703 S. Ponca St.

Greektown Community Development Corp. will assist the church with programming and promotion.
 
So far, only the first floor, which has a standing-room capacity of 300, is open. The upstairs will be completed soon and seats 500. The Plateia also features a large outdoor arena with a stage to hold outdoor concerts.
 
The focus of the center will be on community outreach and programs for the local community including cooking, language, and computer classes.
 
The center plans to partner with local schools to showcase student art, as well as host events such as concerts and poetry readings. Fillippou hopes the center will be the hub for arts and culture in Greektown and expects the project to attract new investment in the community by bringing in new prospective homeowners and parishioners.
 
The church purchased the land on Ponca Street in 1984, and initially held a groundbreaking for the project in 2000.
 
Source: Jason Fillippou, Executive Director, Greektown Community Development Corp.
 Writer: Alexandra Wilding, [email protected]

Hiring for the Lotte Plaza in Catonsville will begin early this summer as the grocery will employ as many as 75 for the new location.

The positions will be "typical retail supermarket positions," from cashiers to managers to bookkeepers, says Lotte Plaza Director Alvin Lee.  The company plans to hire from within the organization first and then reach out to the community at large, Lee says
 
The Asian market plans to open a store at One Mile West Shopping Center in Catonsville this summer and will compete a multimillion-dollar renovation of the 46,000-square-foot space, says Bob G. Pollokoff, president of The Fedder Co.

The remodeling of the building will begin later this month and will include renovations to both the inside and outside of the building. Lotte Plaza will remodel the interior of the building, turning it from a space formerly used as a toy store into a full-service grocery store, Pollokoff says.
 
Lotte Plaza will take over the space formerly occupied by Toys-"R"-Us at the shopping center that also includes Panera Bread and Pier 1 Imports at 6600 Baltimore National Pike. The Fedder Co., a commercial real estate development, investment, and management company that manages more than 1.8 million square-feet of commercial property in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, owns the property.
 
Lotte Plaza operates 13 markets in seven states including locations in Ellicott City, Germantown, and Silver Spring and employs over 300 employees.
 
Sources: Alvin Lee, director at Lotte Plaza and Bob G. Pollokoff, president of The Fedder Company.
Writer: Alexandra Wilding

A Baltimore businessman will open a Middle Eastern restaurant and smoke shop in Upper Fells Point, not far from the Brass Monkey Saloon, Asahi Sushi and the Latin Palace.

Akram Ayyad will invest between $20,000 and $50,000 to open a 1,200-square-foot restaurant and smoke shop at 1611 Eastern Ave. The plan awaits approval from the city's zoning board, expected next month. Ayyad has yet to determine a name for the venue. 
 
Ayyad hopes to create a upscale casual venue that will serve light fare falafel and hummus, soft drinks and desserts. The business will also offer tobacco products such as cigars and possibly hookah. No alcohol will be served.
 
No major renovations are expected even though the building was used formerly as a clothing store, Ayyad says.
 
Ayyad plans to run the business with his brother. Together the brothers also operate additional business ventures such as a deli, and a small towing company. Ayyad moved to Baltimore 12 years ago from Jerusalem to join his extended family that has been here since the 1950s.
 
Baltimore’s zoning board rejected Ayyad’s initial application because unlike tobacco shops, smoke shops are not listed as permitted or conditional uses in Baltimore.
 
Smoking in restaurants has been banned in Baltimore since 2008 and is currently regulated by the Baltimore City Health Department. However, some businesses can apply for exemptions from the indoor smoking ban such as retail tobacco establishments.
 
A retail tobacco establishment can qualify if at least 75 percent of its revenues come from non-cigarette tobacco products, and the entry of minors is prohibited.
 
If the appeal goes through, tobacco products will make up 75 percent of sales at the yet unnamed restaurant with the remainder on food, Ayyad says.
 
Pending approval for the zoning board and other city agencies, Ayyad hopes the establishment will open in late May.
 
 
Source: Akram Ayyad, business owner
Writer: Alexandra Wilding
 

A two-story restaurant and event center offering live music, dinner theatre, and comedy shows is slated to open in late February in Baltimore's Cherry Hill neighborhood.

Angels Event Center aims to provide a place for local talent to be showcased in a community that doesn't have many dining and entertainment options, Owner Julie Mosteller says.

"If you provide something, people will come,” Mosteller says. “Everyone has an opportunity to change. I want to be part of that positive change.”

The downstairs of the building will be a restaurant – whose menu is still being developed -- and the upstairs will hold entertainment. Mosteller says two jazz groups are lined up to perform and that she plans to provide an intimate and authentic dinner theatre experience.

Mosteller, a Baltimore native, graduated from Western High School and spent five years working as a Baltimore police officer. She also served in the military and is using some of her veteran’s benefits to start the business. Mosteller declined to disclose the amount she's invested in the event center, but the project is her first restaurant. 

Additionally, Mosteller hopes to empower people in the community by offering events at the center such as financial literacy workshops.

Angels Event Center is located at 1810 Cherry Hill Rd. in Baltimore.

Writer: Alexandra Wilding
Source: Julie Mosteller

Garden Deli, specializing in healthy sandwiches and salads, will open in the Columbia Corporate Park in early February.

The 1,709-square-foot restaurant will hold seven tables, says Owner Sang Yoo, who will run the deli with his wife, Yoon.

Columbia Corporate Park is located near the intersection of Snowden River Parkway and Route 175 in Columbia near the University of Phoenix complex. Other nearby restaurants include the Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille, Royal Taj and Cheeburger Cheeburger.

Yoo is currently developing the menu, but expects to sell sandwiches from $5 to $6.29.

The Yoos live in Columbia and decided to open the deli because they love the area. The Garden Deli is the couple’s only business.

Writer: Alexandra Wilding
Source: Sang Yoo, Garden Deli

Coppin State University plans to ask the state for $46 million in the 2012 General Assembly session for the design and construction of its planned Science and Technology Center.

If approved, the university in West Baltimore hopes to break ground on the $80 million center this fall, says Maqbool Patel, Coppin's associate vice president for administration and finance. The center will house the departments of natural sciences, mathematics, and computer science.

The university is currently in the process of buying more than 200 row houses in the neighborhood to make room for the center. The university has acquired 158 properties thus far, and should have all properties purchased by June, Patel says.

The historically black college wants to modernize its facilities to be able to compete with schools around the nation, says Patel, who describes Coppin's current science facilities to be "pretty poor, at best."

Patel believes that the new science and technology center will also improve Coppin's ability to recruit students, as well as help improve the school's graduation rate.

The planned building will include green technologies such as rainwater collection for irrigation and will be designed to minimize energy use.

If the project is approved in its final phase, the construction will employ up to 250. Coppin plans to encourage the participation of minority-owned businesses involved in Maryland's minority business enterprise for its construction.

Additionally, Coppin hopes to provide community access to a computer lab in the center.

Other recent constructions on Coppin’s campus include a physical education center and a health and human services building.

Coppin has 3,813 enrolled undergraduates, of which 381 are science majors. The school wants to grow enrollment 30 percent by 2019. One of the university's priorities is to increase the number of science and technology majors, research initiatives and grants.   

Writer: Alexandra Wilding
Source: Maqbool Patel, Coppin State

Baltimore will get a new museum devoted to black athletes in the Northwest section of the city that officials hope will jumpstart the area's revitalization.

The Druid Heights Community Development Corp. is building the Negro Baseball Museum and Restaurant at 2101-11 Pennsylvania Ave., the site of the former jazz club that hosted legendary performers Billie Holiday and John Coltrane. The group hopes the museum will bring jobs and visitors to the neglected area.

The CDC will put out a bid in June for a construction firm and expects to begin building the museum later in the summer, says Roscoe Johnson, Druid Heights' director of real estate development. The Black Athletes and Lost Legends Association, a Baltimore nonprofit, will operate the museum and an adjacent caf�.

"Hopefully it will attract other businesses to the area," Johnson says. "It's very important that we do this right and it looks good."

Funding for the $9 million museum comes from the state, State Farm Insurance Cos., federal New Market Tax Credits, and foundations.
Baltimore's urban design panel gave final approval for the museum April 14. Druid Heights won the right to develop the project after the Baltimore Development Corp. sought out proposals to redevelop the former Sphinx Club.

The 14,000-square-foot museum and Negro League Caf� will create as many as 85 jobs, Johnson says.

The museum will focus on black athletes from Baltimore in a variety of sports, including boxing, football, basketball and baseball. It will also highlight black athletes who comprised the Negro League, the black baseball players who had their separate teams before the sport was integrated.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Roscoe Johnson, Druid Heights Community Development Corp.

In an effort to help citizens fill out their Census questionnaires, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, joined by the Baltimore Hispanic Commission, community leaders, and Census staff opened one of the city's Census Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QAC). The QACs will assist residents in the completion of census questionnaires and offer language assistance. Questionnaire Assistance Centers will offer 59 different language assistance guides along with Braille and large print questionnaires.

"The faces of Baltimore continue to diversify, yet we know that our Hispanic community is historically undercounted," says Mayor Rawlings-Blake. "It is important that Baltimore and the Latino community not lose Census dollars because of language barriers and fear of government. What we do this year will have an impact on what we can do for the next decade. Together we must make sure that all Baltimoreans are counted on April first."

Mayor Rawlings-Blake stressed the privacy and security of the census and praised the efforts of organizations like CASA de Maryland to increase the return rate of Census questionnaires. Based on census track data, some households in Baltimore will receive bilingual forms. CASA de Maryland is assisting with questionnaires during their annual free tax return preparation.

The census count determines the allocation and distribution of over $4 trillion in federal funding over the next 10 years for school construction, housing and community development, road and transportation planning, job training and more. Census counts also determine the boundaries for state and local legislative districts. In Baltimore, the census helps determine the level of language assistance available in city agencies.

Language assistance in French, Russian, Chinese, Korean and Spanish (the city's five most spoken non-English languages) will be available at QACs throughout the city.

A complete list of QACs is available on the city's website, http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Government/AgenciesDepartments/Planning/2010Census/CensusHelp.aspx.

Assistance is also available by phone in:

• Spanish: 1-866-935-2010
• Korean: 1-866-955-2010
• Russian: 866-965-2010
• Chinese: 1-866-935-2010

Source: Baltimore City; U.S. Census Bureau
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Melessa Denee's business card, which identifies her as a "weavologist extraordinaire," extends a pretty enticing invitation: "Come and be blessed by hands truly blessed by the best."

The veteran stylist, who's owned salons in Delaware for more than 20 years and has specialized almost exclusively in weave for more than a decade, believes that her God-given talent obliges her to make beauty accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or their means. It's the reason she's opened Melessa's Weave Palace and Multicultural Hair Salon at 1047 S. Charles St. in Federal Hill, where she prides herself on catering to clients of all ages, genders, races, and sexual orientations.

While the new salon, calming in shades of chocolate, cream and gold, is equipped for four stylists and two nail techs, Melessa can invariably found in the private weave room that affords her clients privacy during their visit. She offers a wide range of procedures, including custom-made lace front and full lacewigs, toupees, and partial and full weaves.

"I've had a gift since I was a child," Denee says. "My mom has shown me the dolls whose hair I cut off, dying it green or blue. In high school I did everyone's hair in the community. I went to college and majored in fashion, but I came back to hair. A needle in my hand is like a pencil or a pen in the hand of a writer. It seems to be so easy for me."

While roughly 75% of Denee's clients are women of color, she says she sees a number of white women suffering from hair loss, Asian women who are eager to try experimental styles, and men who want to fight balding. She mentions a recent Honduran client who had not been home to see his family in a decade and wanted her to cover up the bald patch that had materialized during his years in the States.

Denee has a loyal client base across the country. She routinely travels to see customers in Georgia, Florida, California, and Arizona, and advertises in those areas a week or two in advance of her trip to additional clients. It was while coming to Baltimore frequently to visit her fianc� that Denee, who operates salons in Wilmington and Middletown, DE, gained a client base in the city through advertisements and decided to set up a physical location.

Denee, who also sells hair product lines that are hard to find on the East coast, speaks most enthusiastically about her work for cancer patients and individuals whose hair or scalps have been permanently damaged by accidents or surgeries. She has recently been certified to make wigs for people whose hair replacement products are covered by insurance, and she says she looks forward to gaining clients who are being treated at Johns Hopkins.

In those instances, she says, "I know what I do is priceless."


Writer: Lucy Ament
Source: Melessa Denee, Melessa's Weave Palace and Multicultural Hair Salon