Commercial Real Estate : Development News

A nonprofit developer has purchased a vacant building on North Avenue that it hopes to transform into restaurants, galleries, artists studios and theater space within three years.

Jubilee Baltimore is talking to Joe Squared’s Joe Edwardsen about the possibility of his opening a Mexican restaurant at the 10 E. North Ave. property, Edwardsen and Jubilee President Charlie Duff say. The developer is also in talks with Single Carrot Theatre, which has been scouting for a space with more seating capacity.

Jubilee Baltimore Inc. bought 10 E. North Ave. from Greater Grace Church at a public city auction this month for $93,000.  The state estimates the land and 67,000-square-foot building is worth more than $2 million, public records show.

The eventual transformation of the three-story building will require a major rehab, Duff says. He doesn’t yet have a cost estimate as to what the renovation will cost.

“North Avenue needs cool things happening,” Duff says. “There isn’t enough space in Station North – that’s why we bought this building. We want to make it one of the key arts and entertainment building in Baltimore.”

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Charlie Duff, Jubilee Baltimore; Joe Edwardsen, Joe Squared

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

Two theater managers are scouting the west side and the Station North Arts and Entertainment District for a performance space that can hold its new arts organization.

J. Buck Jabaily and Philip Arnoult have launched Baltimore Open Theatre with the goal of reaching younger audiences through the use of social media. (See related story). The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation has committed $50,000 in seed money and a $150,000 challenge grant for the venture.

Jabaily, one of the founders of Single Carrot Theatre, says he needs a 7,500-square-foot space that can seat 160. Other requirements include tall ceilings -- at least 16-feet high -- and no pillars that would obstruct the view. Since Baltimore Open Theatre will host plays, dance and other performances, they need a spot that is flexible and can be adapted for different uses.

“We’re open to non-traditional spaces,” Jabaily says. The space doesn’t have to be a theater currently, though it should be easily converted into one without a huge capital investment.

“We don’t have the finances to gut something,” he says. Arnoult, who founded the Theatre Project 40 years ago, says he hopes to commit to a space in the next month.

Writer; Julekha Dash
Sources: Buck Jabaily and Philip Arnoult, Baltimore Open Theatre.

The Maryland Institute College of Art is renovating a building for graduate programs that anchors North Avenue in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District.

Scheduled to be completed fall of 2012, the renovations to Studio Center will include a new main lobby and gallery area, café, photography studio and lecture hall. MICA has hired Whiting Turner as the general contractor and Cho Benn Holback+Associates as its architect for the 120,000-square-foot building.

Some renovations began in the summer with new glass windows and landscaping to the building’s front entrance, which faces North Avenue.

Sprucing up the building will show that there’s “more life going on in North Avenue,” says Ben Stone, executive director of the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. “Whenever one person invests in an area, other people take notice."

Recent renovations to the Load of Fun gallery and Joe Squared pizza’s addition of outdoor seating, combined with the MICA renovations, ought to breathe more life into that section of North Avenue, Stone says.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Ben Stone, Station North; MICA

The Y of Central Maryland has opened a new childhood development center in downtown Towson, replacing a 20-year-facility.

The Y is leasing the 6,100-square-foot space at 301 W. Chesapeake Ave., which was renovated by Timonium’s Obrecht Properties LLC. The new space houses six classrooms and can serve 80 children, ages two to five.

It is one of more 20 early childhood sites the Y operates, including Head Start programs, that serve more than 1,500 children. The move is one of several Y initiatives to expand resources for families throughout Central Maryland.

“We continuously look for ways to improve our curriculum and help young kids be better prepared to enter kindergarten,” Y Chief Marketing Officer Sara Milstein says.

Last year, the Y expanded its Carroll County facility and opened a new one in Parkville.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Sara Milstein, Y of Central Maryland

The owners of Waterfront Kitchen in Fells Point hope to expand their “mission-driven” business with a new catering operation next year.

Waterfront Co-owner Charles Nabit says that in January he will begin hunting for a space for the new venture. He is looking for a spot that is approximately 1,500 square feet.

The catering firm may rely on ingredients from the Living Classrooms Foundation’s Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students (BUGS) program, which serves inner-city kids. The 175-seat Waterfront Kitchen sources its ingredients from BUGS. It also hired several employees from Living Classrooms’ Project Serve, which provides job training to at-risk men and women.

Nabit says he is not sure how many the catering operation will employ because it is still in the planning stages. He and partner Michael Klein spent $1.5 million to open Waterfront Kitchen in the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park. Patrick Sutton Interior Design outfitted the space.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Charles Nabit

A community center providing services and programs for underserved families will open in a historic rehabilitated firehouse Thursday in the Perkins Homes community.

Called the P.O.W.E.R. House, which stands for Providing Opportunities to Work, Expand, and Rise, the community center is the latest facility created by the Living Classrooms Foundation. It is located at 316 S. Caroline St., just north of Fells Point.

With 688 units, Perkins Homes is one of the largest public housing developments in Baltimore City. Having a community center in the middle of Perkins Homes without having to travel outside of the neighborhood will be an asset, says Living Classrooms CEO James Piper Bond.

“It’s going to be a beacon of hope for the community, and we’re honored to lead the way,” Bond says.

The project is six years in the making, and a partnership between the public and private sectors. The house has received support from a variety of foundations and companies including Commercial Interiors and SunTrust Bank, Bond says.

Some of the amenities include multipurpose rooms for community meetings, after-school activities, a computer lab, and a financial literacy center. The Perkins Homes Tenant Council will also have an office in the space.

Living Classrooms will a offer after-school and summer programming on site for youth in education and career development, civic development, health and life skills and the arts.

The P.O.W.E.R. House is located within Living Classrooms’ Eastside Target Investment Zone, an initiative that seeks to provide opportunities and create safer neighborhoods for underserved communities through education and workforce development.

Writer: Alexandra Wilding
Source: James Piper Bond, Living Classrooms

Women’s apparel shop Anthropologie will open a boutique at the newly opened Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore’s Harbor East neighborhood.

Baltimore City’s Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel is slated to review plans for the store’s design Dec. 8. The store would join clothing shops White House Black Market, South Moon Under and Urban Chic.

A unit of Urban Outfitters Inc., Anthropologie’s other area stores are located in Towson and Annapolis. There’s also an Urban Outfitters in Harborplace.

Baltimore City architect Robert Quilter says the store’s architect David A.Levy & Associates Inc. of Akron, Ohio wants to do something “different” with the storefront, which is why it needs the city’s design panel to review its plans. He deferred additional design questions to David A. Levy architects, who could not be reached for comment.

Urban Outfitters officials could not be reached for comment.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Urban Design and Review Panel

Phillips Seafood is opening an express location at the $500 million Maryland Live Casino near Arundel Mills next year.

Phillips’ Director of Marketing Michelle Torres compares it to the Phillips Seafood Express it operates in the Maryland House Welcome Center in Aberdeen. She says the company has yet to determine the exact square footage and menu of the new spot, but expects it will serve salads, wraps, crab cakes and possibly dim sum.

Opening in the summer, the casino spot will be located in a food court and offer counter service. It will be the local restaurant and seafood company’s second Cordish Co. location. It opened its new Inner Harbor restaurant at Cordish’s Power Plant this month, after 31 years at Harborplace.

It will be Phillips' sixth express location. The others are located at Boston's Logan International Airport, Atlantic City and FedEx Field. The average express location is between 600 and 1,000 square feet and employs five to 10.

Asked whether Phillips will open other spots in Cordish locations, Torres says she is “very hopeful.”

“We see [Cordish] as a long-term partner.”

The casino is slated to include a restaurant operate by Bobby Flay, a Cheesecake Factory and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Michelle Torres, Phillips

The aroma of fresh-baked confections will soon waft again from a retail storefront on Route 40 in Ellicott City.

Cooks N Cakes will open this month at 9251 Baltimore National Pike next to Starbucks. It’s the spot that once held the Breadery, which has moved to Catonsville.

Owner Adell Cothorne is a former Montgomery County principal who found herself baking cupcakes for family and friends. She decided to put aside her career in education after folks started putting in orders last month.

“I was up from Friday until Sunday trying to fill cupcake orders and decided that I can’t be a principal and bake cupcakes,” Cothorne says. “I’m going to follow my passion and do cupcakes.”

She chose Ellicott City because of its income and liked the spot because it is next to a heavily trafficked Starbucks. Cothorne hopes she’ll get Starbucks’ customers who want fresh-baked cupcakes made with cage-free eggs, local dairy and European butter.

The store will offer seven daily flavors, including several cocktail-inspired ones like Pina Colada and Bailey’s and Cream. Cothorne is hoping those flavors will be a hit at her cupcake happy hour. Cupcakes will cost $3 each, or $2.75 for six or more.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Adell Cothorne, Cooks N Cakes

A teacher at Tai Sophia Institute has opened her own wellness center in Columbia.

Jade Connelly-Duggan this month opened WisdomWell LLC, which offers acupuncture, massage, herbal treatments, yoga and nutrition counseling at 8955 Guilford Rd., just south of Broken Land Parkway.

The daughter of Tai Sophia founders Bob Duggan and Dianne Connelly, the business owner spent $30,000 to open the 4,700 square foot office. The space includes nine treatment rooms and a yoga studio.

Owned by Liberty Property Trust, the building faces a koi pond and extensive landscaping. Close to Routes 29 and 32, it’s also easy to get to, Connelly-Duggan says. The site is also near the Mall in Columbia and King’s Contrivance Village Center.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Jade Connelly-Duggan

The stage is set for the $65 million transformation of Owings Mills Mall from an old-style enclosed shopping mall to an open-air town center.

The project will be a joint venture between Kimco Realty Corp. and General Growth Properties. Each company will have a 50 percent ownership stake in the newly redeveloped property.

The companies plan to tear down the current building in 2013 and complete it the following year. The developers will retain the AMC Movie Theater, JC Penney and Macy's and sign up a new mix of retail tenants and restaurants to the complex, including boutiques and junior anchor stores that face the street. The dated building has long been a fixture of the website Deadmalls.com.

The Owings Mills Mall redevelopment project is one of several taking place in the Baltimore County town. The once-dormant Owings Mills Metro Centre project got a jumpstart in the summer with construction on a public library and community college branch. Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corp. also said this month that it will bring Wegmans Food Markets as the lead tenant at the Foundry Row at Owings Mills, a redevelopment of the shuttered Solo Cup site.

Soures: General Growth Properties, Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corp.
Writer: Amy McNeal

A Delaware craft brewer is moving to Maryland, where it will tap a larger production facility and open a new restaurant as demand for its drinks grows.

The two-year-old Evolution Craft Brewing Co.  is moving in February from Delmar, Del., to a former ice factory at 201 E. Vine St. in Salisbury. That’s also the site of the 150-seat Public House restaurant and offices for the company that manages it, Southern Boys Concepts. The brewpub will serve homemade sausages, regional oysters and local fish.

Evolution needs the 20,000-square-foot building because it had maxed out on its Delmar, Del., space, says Evolution Founder Tom Knorr. The new building will have the capacity to brew 50,000 barrels of beer a year, or 10 times what it will produce this year. It expects to double production to 10,000 barrels next year.

Primal Pale Ale, Exile ESB and Lucky 7 Porter are among Evolution brews sold in Maryland, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. Knorr hopes to soon begin selling his brews in Southeastern Pennsylvania and the rest of Virginia.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Tom Knorr, Southern Boys Concepts

A Baltimore County hardware store has hammered an expansion deal that will allow it to carry a wider range of merchandise.

Suburban Ace Hardware has moved to 10912 York Rd. in Cockeysville. The 11,200-square-foot shop has 50 percent more space for its gardening supplies, power tools, propane grills, fasteners and window screens, Owner Mike Boulay says.

“In the retail business, you can only sell what you can see,” Boulay says. “You have to broaden your base if you want to get ahead. It takes more square feet to do that.”

Though it’s only a few hundred yards from its old location, the new spot offers better visibility on York Road, Boulay says.

“It’s tough to get good real estate on York Road.”

The spot is located at Railroad Crossing, a three-building site owned by Continental Realty Corp.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Mike Boulay, Suburban Ace Hardware

An upscale Italian chain is saying "ciao" to Baltimore's Inner Harbor this spring.

Brio Tuscan Grille will open a 230-seat restaurant and bar at 100 E. Pratt St. by early April, says Saed Mohseni. The CEO of Bravo Brio Restaurant Group Inc. says the company spends between $2 million and $3.5 million to open each new restaurant.

The Columbus, Ohio, firm operates 93 restaurants under the Brio Tuscan Grille, Bravo Cucina Italiana and Bon Vie Bistro flags. The location — the former site Legal Sea Foods — will hopefully attract tourists, business travelers and office workers given its central downtown location, Mohseni says.

The 8,000-square-foot restaurant will contain an open-air kitchen with stainless steel and stone to create a "Tuscan villa" sort of look.

Menu items will cost between $8 and $22.

Pratt Street will hold the third Brio in Maryland. One is located at the Annapolis Towne Centre while another spot will open in Bethesda Feb. 7.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Saed Mohseni, Bravo Brio Restaurant Group