visit Baltimore : Development News

Baltimore City’s liquor board has granted Baltimore’s long-awaited five star Four Seasons Hotel a liquor license for its two restaurants, room service, and a rooftop pool bar.

The 256-room hotel is expected to open next month at 701 Aliceanna St. in Baltimore’s swanky Harbor East neighborhood. The restaurants will include outdoor seating and live entertainment, according to the license application.

Wit and Wisdom, a Tavern by Michael Mina, will be its signature eatery, serving comfort food and featuring a live-fire grill and rotisseries. The 156-seat eatery will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The 136-seat Japanese restaurant Pabu will open February 2012. Pabu will feature sushi, small plates, 100 types of sake, bamboo ceilings, and solid wood tabletops.

The pool bar will seat 45 on a terrace overlooking the Inner Harbor. The Four Seasons will also feature a coffee shop called Lamill Coffee.

The hotel applied for what is known as a “Class B” hotel license for properties with at least 100 rooms and a $500,000 investment.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Four Seasons

Fans of Belvedere Square’s Grand Cru wine bar will soon get to sip their favorite chardonnay while biting into an Atwater’s sandwich — or gazing at local art.

Baltimore City’s liquor board recently approved the bar’s expansion to include the 6,400-square-foot Belvedere Square market. Within a week or two, patrons will be able to take wine and beer from the Grand Cru and drink it inside the market or while eating lunch at one of the outdoor tables.

Owner Nelson Carey has also received approval to allow patrons to bring alcohol to his new pop up art gallery and party room called Plywood. It's located at a few doors down from the wine bar. While Grand Cru has long featured local artists, Carey wanted a standalone space where he could showcase higher caliber photography, painting, and sculpture.

For now, the gallery is open only on Saturdays and by appointment. Carey says he hopes to book some holiday parties and other events at Plywood. He says he often has to turn away party requests for the Grand Cru because there isn’t enough space at the 1,600-square-foot bar to accommodate events in addition to his regular customers.

“With the gallery party space, we’ll be able to offer a cool, hip modern location,” Carey says.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Nelson Carey

Shoes, diamonds, and fashion outlet stores are headed to Arundel Mills mall this fall — the latest new tenants for the shopping center getting a slots casino next year.

Maryland’s first Andrew Marc outlet store is one of the four new tenants. The 25-year-old retail chain will open a shop in November selling handbags, belts, travel bags, dresses, and outerwear.

Talbots Outlet will open its second Maryland store in November at Arundel Mills. The women’s clothing company, which started an outlet division two years ago, will open next to Last Call by Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, along with Andrew Marc.

"One of the things shoppers have been asking for is to bring in better fashion brands," says Wendy Ellis, the mall's director of marketing.

Shoe store Naturalizer will open in October, between Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th and Bass Pro Shops. It will be Naturalizer’s second Maryland store. The other one is located at the Mall in Columbia. Helzberg Diamonds will also open a store in October in this section of the mall. The 96-year-old jewelry store has three other shops in Greater Baltimore, at the Mall in Columbia, White Marsh Mall and Columbia Mall.

Arundel Mills mall gets 14 million visitors a year and is one of the top visitor destinations in Maryland. Those numbers will likely go up once Cordish Co. builds its mega casino and entertainment venue Maryland Live at Arundel Mills next year.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Wendy Ellis, Arundel Mills

An Illinois restaurant company will be dishing out contemporary American cuisine in Harbor East next year.

Townhouse Kitchen and Wine Bar will open at the Eden apartment building at 777 S. Eden St. during the first quarter of 2012, says Margaret Meginniss, a principal at retail brokerage firm Sierra Mid-Atlantic. The area is home to a bevy of high-end condos and swanky restaurants and, soon, a Four Seasons hotel.

Based in Glenview, Ill., Restaurants-America Consulting Group Inc. operates Townhouse and six other restaurant concepts. The 8,000-square-foot Baltimore restaurant will be Restaurants-America’s fourth Townhouse. The others are located in Deerfield and Chicago, Ill., and Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Menu items at the Chicago restaurant include jerk red snapper ($16), halibut piccata ($22), and penne diablo ($13). Ahi tacos ($11), jalapeno bacon-wrapped shrimp ($12) and surf & turf sliders ($12) are listed under its small plates.

“It’s a contemporary concept that’s very sexy,” Meginniss says.

And it’s possible that the restaurant firm, which operates about 15 eateries to date, will open another in the Greater Baltimore area. Sierra represents Restaurants-America nationally.

Midtown, Bluepoint, Red Star Tavern, One North, the Grillroom, and Primebar are Restaurants-America’s other concepts.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Margaret Meginniss, Sierra

Corningware Corelle Revere has opened a store in Hanover's Arundel Mills mall, its first in the Greater Baltimore region and second spot in Maryland.

The 4,000-square-foot store, which opened July 22, sells flatware, glasses, dishes, and other kitchen items. World Kitchen LLC manufactures and distributes the store's products under the Corelle, Pyrex, Corningware, Chicago Cutlery, Baker's Secret, and Snapware brand names. The shop is located between Best Buy and Medieval Times.

World Kitchen chose the Anne Arundel County location because it gets plenty of tourists, says Keri Durkin, vice president of merchandising and marketing for the Rosemont, Ill., company. The mall gets 14 million visitors a year and is one of the top visitor destinations in Maryland.

Those numbers will likely go up once Cordish Co. builds its mega casino and entertainment venue Maryland Live at Arundel Mills next year.

The mall, which celebrates its 10-year anniversary in November, is trying to shake up its retail mix.

"Retail is very cyclical," says Wendy Ellis, Arundel Mills' director of marketing and business development. "What consumers want is always changing and we work hard to bring what they want."

Ellis says Corningware Corelle suited the mall because it fits into its mix of mainly discount and outlet stores. Coringware Corelle's other Maryland store is at the Hagerstown Premium Outlets.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Wendy Ellis, Arundel Mills; Keri Durkin, World Kitchen LLC

Southern Management Corp., known for its portfolio of apartment holdings, is opening a 150-room boutique hotel by early August as the developer hopes to capitalize on the tourism revenue expected from the casino debuting next year at Arundel Mills mall.

The Hotel at Arundel Preserve is part of a $150 million development includes 242 apartments, which opened this month, and Grillfire restaurant. The project is part of the 268-acre Arundel Preserve complex that includes shops, offices, apartments, and restaurants.

The 156-seat Grillfire will open July 28. The sixth restaurant of New York's George Martin Group, the steakhouse will also serve seafood, salads, and chicken dishes.

The hotel will house three other restaurants, including Indian eatery Rangoli, says John Cohan, Southern Management's director of marketing.

The Vienna, Va., developer saw an "untapped market." Though the area around Arundel Mills mall is chock full of hotels, many are chain hotels targeting business travelers flying through Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Cohan says. Southern Management is hoping that an independently owned boutique hotel will stand apart for leisure travelers looking to press their luck at the slots machines.

The company also hopes to appeal to the thousands of defense contractors that will move and work in the area due to the federal government's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: John Cohan, Southern Management

Two new restaurants spearheaded by the folks behind Bagby Pizza Co. will open next to the Harbor East eatery.

Ten Ten, billed as a contemporary American bistro, will open late August in the former Dutch Connection flower shop space. Fleet Street Kitchen, which will feature artisanal and local foods, will open in the winter, says Bagby Restaurant Group Director of Marketing Carmel Gambacorta.

The Wine Market's Christopher Becker and Mark Davis, formerly of the Baltimore Country Club, will be overseeing the kitchen of both restaurants along with Bagby Pizza Co.

Ten Ten -- named for the address on Fleet Street -- is kind of an extension of the pizza eatery, Gambacorta says. You can order from the pizza restaurant in Ten Ten. In February, Bmore reported that Bagby Pizza Co.'s owners will expand into the former flower shop that was next door.

Ten Ten will feature an "eclectic" design, with a lot of wood and exposed brick, Gambacorta says.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Carmel Gambacorta, Bagby Restaurant Group

A restaurant with a waterfront view and seasonal menu will open by September at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park. Designed by Patrick Sutton, the 75-seat Vu at Living Classrooms will feature a menu crafted by Corks' Jerry Pellegrino and cost more than $900,000 to build.

Foundation staff are calling the Vu a "seed-to-plate" restaurant, because it will serve produce grown at Living Classrooms Foundation's after-school gardening program, says Richard Slingluff, the nonprofit's facilities manager. That program is known as Baltimore Urban Gardening With Students, or BUGS.

"We're excited to work with our students to get as much student-grown produce to be served at a high-end restaurant one block away," Slingluff says.

The first-floor restaurant will feature floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Domino Sugar factory and Fort McHenry, Living Classrooms CEO James Piper Bond says.

The restaurant will hopefully bring in revenue to support the maritime park, Bond says.

On Mondays, restaurant employees will provide hospitality and culinary training to Living Classrooms' students. The nonprofit oversees after-school and job training programs for at-risk youth.

"It's a beautiful space on the water," Pellegrino says. "How can you beat that?"


Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: James Piper Bond, Richard Slingluff, Living Classrooms; Jerry Pellegrino, Corks

Infrastructure work has begun on Turf Valley Town Square, a retail and restaurant complex in Ellicott City anchored by a Harris Teeter grocery store to open next spring.

Developed by Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corp., the open-air shopping center will contain features similar to the developer's Hunt Valley Towne Centre, with a "Main Street," landscaped gardens, piped-in music, and an outdoor fireplace.

Located near Route 70 and Marriottsville Road, the 150,000-square-foot shopping center is near Turf Valley resort and Turf Valley Overlook homes.

"We are absolutely looking forward to it being an important part of the Turf Valley community," says Gina Ellrich, a spokeswoman for Turf Valley owners Mangione Enterprises LLC. "It's an extension of what's there."

The grading and sewer installation has been completed and construction will begin in the fall, Ellrich says.

Turf Valley Town Square will contain a number of smaller specialty shops. Neither Ellrich nor Tom Fitzpatrick of Greenberg Gibbons would name other shops slated for the development.

Anchored by a Wegmans, Hunt Valley Towne Centre's shops include California Pizza Kitchen, Best Buy, Carraba's Italian Grill, White House/Black Market, and Ann Taylor Loft.

The Turf Valley site will also include a separate office complex, 160,000 square feet of office space and 150 townhomes and 192 condominiums built by the Keelty Co. of Stevenson.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Gina Ellrich, Ellrich Communications

The Creative Alliance at the Patterson will toast a new bar May 14 expected generate more revenue for the performing arts venue and bring more commercial activity to Highlandtown.

Known for its quirky and eclectic programs that have included everything from African drumming to music from Appalachia, the Patterson has been an economic engine driving the revitalization of the East Baltimore neighborhood.

The Marquee Lounge will seat 16 at its white marble bar and contain 10, two-seat tables in a space that formerly held storage. The $200,000 to build the lounge comes from city bonds and the Creative Alliance, says H. Alexander Satorie-Robinson, chief development officer of the Creative Alliance.

Initially open just on Fridays and Saturdays, the Marquee Lounge will eventually extend its hours and serve food by next year, lounge manager Andre Mazelin says.

The second Thursday of each month, the Creative Alliance will host a local supper club called Food = Art. Highlighting a different chef each time, the event is organized by Puffs and Pastries' Anisha Jagtap and Baltimore tech entrepreneur Heather Sarkissian. The dinner series will hopefully serve as a launching pad for more events that showcase the art of making food, wine, and beer, Creative Alliance Program Director Megan Hamilton says.

The bar's opening will hopefully make the Patterson an economic and cultural anchor in Highlandtown, she says. "It will add to the vibrancy of the Highlandtown commercial district."

As a former bartender, Hamilton says she thought that drinks were a good way to bring income to the nonprofit. Designed by Kroiz Architecture and PI:KL Studios, the bar is expected to initially bring in $50,000 a year in revenue.

The nonprofit Creative Alliance reopened the Patterson, a former movie theater, as an arts center in 2003, The facility hosts gallery exhibits, a media lab, a 180-seat theater, a media lab and arts workshops.

Sources: H. Alexander Satorie-Robinson, Megan Hamilton, Andre Mazelin; Creative Alliance
Writer: Julekha Dash

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.

Entertainment Cruises Inc. is pumping $1.2 million into its operations in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

The company is spending about $750,000 to add a second speedboat and another $500,000 to make one of its dinner cruise boats more fuel efficient, General Manager Dan Leaman says.

The company is replacing two old engines in its Spirit of Baltimore boat with Tier 3 engines that are more eco-friendly. The boat should use 79,000 fewer gallons of diesel fuel over its lifetime, Leaman says.

Entertainment Cruises will start running Seadog VI, its second speedboat, April 14. The company expects to hire about 20 employees to sell tickets and staff the boat.

The boat, which can accommodate 106 passengers, takes visitors on a 50-minute sightseeing tour from the Inner Harbor to Key Bridge and back.

The company's first Seadog boat ferried 21,000 passengers last year. Entertainment Cruises hopes to double that number this year with the second boat, Leaman says.

Based in Chicago, Entertainment Cruises oversees 24 ships in seven other cities: Boston, Chicago, Norfolk, Va. Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., and Weehawken, N.J.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Dan Leaman,

Maryland may once again roll out the red carpet for Hollywood productions.

State legislators are weighing a bill that would dramatically raise the amount of rebates Maryland offers film crews from $1 million to $15 million.

That would make the state more competitive for silver screen productions, after losing film business to other states. Maryland has cut its incentives over the last few years from a high of $7 million in 2007 to $1 million this year.

Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, Senate Bill 672 would raise the film incentives' budget to $15 million. Kasemeyer represents Baltimore and Howard Counties. Del. Melony G. Griffith, D-Prince George's County, has sponsored the corresponding House Bill.

The Senate bill passed the Budget and Taxation committee. House Bill 1148 is being heard by the Ways and Means committee. Under the incentive program, film crews that spend at least $500,000 receive up to a 25 percent rebate on their expenses incurred in the state.

The money would get Maryland back on a level playing field with other states, says Jed Dietz, director of the Maryland Film Festival.

"It would make a huge difference in this industry," Dietz says.

Film advocates decry losing out on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." The $150 million budget movie starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett was set to shoot in Baltimore, but filmmakers rewrote the script and chose Louisiana, which has no cap on the amount of money it spends annually on film crews.

Though the state is staring at a massive deficit, growing the film incentive program will reward the state financially by bringing jobs and spending, Dietz says.

According to Sage Policy Group, film crews generated $158 million in economic impact in Maryland in fiscal year 2006 when funding was at its highest.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Maryland legislature; Jed Dietz, Maryland Film Festival

Cirque du Soleil will be hiring 150 to 200 folks in Baltimore to help it put on its latest show, "Totem."

Jobs will include ushers, box office attendants, technicians, and supervisors prior to its April 7 debut in Baltimore at the Westport waterfront development, says Alyson Ling, Cirque's ticketing and customer service manager.  

It will take a lot of people to support the 17-day show. It takes 80 people to raise the big top, or Grand Chapiteau, and between seven and 10 days to set up the site. It takes another two-and-a-half days to tear down the 66-foot high tent, Ling says.

It's the fifth time the Montreal-based circus has come to Baltimore. It's last show, "Kooza," sold 60,000 tickets in 2009.
"Totem" traces the journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly. Baltimore is one of the first cities to host Cirque's newest touring production. "Totem" has played in Montreal, Quebec City, Amsterdam and London. It is currently running in Charlotte.

So how did Cirque choose developer Patrick Turner's Westport development � a $1.2 billion project that will include homes, offices and restaurants at a former industrial site? Its previous Baltimore shows have landed at Harbor East and near M&T Bank Stadium.

Ling says parking, the size of the site, public access and cost all factor into Cirque's decision when selecting a location.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Alyson Ling, Cirque du Soleil

Officials at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport could get a new operator to man its duty-free concessions.

Sometime this year, the airport will issue a bid for its duty-free shop, BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean says. The shop is located in Concourse E, the airport's international terminal.

Duty Free Americas Inc. of Hollywood, Fla., has managed the shop since 2003. The company operates duty-free shops at 15 airports, including Dulles International Airport, Boston's International Airport, Miami International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

The contract was given a one-year extension, starting April 1, at the March 9 Board of Public Works meeting.

A new contract for a duty-free shop would likely begin April 2012.

The duty-free operator will pay the Maryland Aviation Administration an office space rental of $125,725 per year, or 15 percent of gross revenues up to $750,000 and 20 percent of gross revenues that exceed $750,000 � whichever is greater.

Nearly 22 million passengers flew through BWI last year, a 4.7 percent increase over 2009 and an all-time record for the airport.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Jonathan Dean, BWI