Development : Development News

Esquire Pub will be open next week at the new Quality Inn at 110 St. Paul St. The pub, which will offer light pub fare in a casual atmosphere will came about thanks in part to several legal orgs, including the Baltimore Bar Association.

"Originally when we finished the hotel, we wanted to lease out [the restaurant]. But many area attorneys said they needed a lounge where they could get together. We have at least five local businesses, a lot of them professional attorneys, that book for Happy Hour," says La Dinh Tran, manager of the Quality Inn.

The interest by local legal eagles also impacted the naming of the pub, he says. "Three different groups, including the Baltimore Bar Association, came to us."

The pub will feature live jazz and other music.It will also be available for private parties.

Source La Dinh Tran, Quality Inn
Writer: Walaika Haskins

There could be a new Lowe's store on the way for Baltimore. The hardware retailer detailed its expansion plans that it says will take it into high-density metropolitan markets iboth around the country and internationally. The box-store retailer will also renew its focus on lower to middle price points and make improvements to its internet site in the coming months.

The plans is open 62 to 66 new stores by the end of 2009. Another 35 to 45 new stores,10 of them in international markets, will open in 2010.

"We will focus in 2010 on high-volume, metro-market opportunities � high-density markets where we have minimal coverage, like Washington D.C., New York, Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Denver and Baltimore," explains Gregory Bridgeford, executive vice president of Business Development. "We have far fewer stores in these markets than our major competitor."

No annoucements will be made about the exact location of the proposed stores until the company has completed its real estate survey.

Wherever the company settles on for its latest stores it will mean new jobs. According to Karen Coob, a Lowe's spokesperson, if the location is 116,000 square feet, then Lowe's will need to fill about 175 postions, the majority of which will be full-time. Slightly smaller stores measuring 94,000 square feet will provide employment for about 120 mostly full-time workers.

Source: Karen Cobb, Lowe's
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Whether you're a business owner, community organization or just a neighborhood regular, if you have a business opening or that has recently opened tell us about. You could find your new business featured in our development news section.

Baltimore's VIPs and wannabes welcomed a new club last weekend. Mist took over the Power Plant Live location vacated by the Iguana Cantina in July. Club owners are aiming to bring a bit of the glamor commonly associated with clubs in Miami, Las Vegas or Los Angeles to Baltimore.

"We are the largest upscale club in the area," says Bobby Dylan, owner Good Life Productions and Jetset Mafia.
 
The new upscale club caters to Baltimore's sporting elite and other area people-you-know and people-you-should-know. According to Dylan, Michael Phelps along with a few other sports notables attended the club's grand opening Saturday.

The club's decor, in shades of turquoise and blue, is meant to evoke a sense of water, leather ottomans make it easy to customize seating arrangements, while a giant 30-foot video screen and plasma TVs keep the party going showing videos as DJs spin tunes from dance, pop and hip-hop. Two "huge" bars also fill the space.

"We do mostly bottle service to tables. But we also have nearly every vodka made," Dylan says.

Only half of the club is currentlyopen, the other half, featuring a lounge, will open by New Years.

"We're open from 10 pm to 2 am, Friday and Saturday. Right now, we're just doing two nights a week, but later on we'll open on Thursday, but for now we're concentrating on Friday and Saturday," says Dylan.

Two Baltimore-based developers have recieved some $400,000 each in grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

HUD issued a$400,0000 grant to CSI Support and Development Services and another worth $393,150 to Associated Catholic Charities (ACC) to cover pre-development expenses. Developers have 18 months to use the funds.

According to Renee Johnson, director of Media and Public Relations at ACC the money will be used to help build a new senior living center.

Source: Renee Johnson, ACC
Writer: Walaika Haskins

When Mindy Alezra and her family fell in love with a vacant building on the corner of S. Ann and Gough Streets in upper Fells Point, the juxtaposition of the two names brought to their minds the tormented, ear-bereft Dutch painter. It was only after they'd settled on the name Van Gough Caf� for a first-floor coffee shop that they discovered locals pronounce Gough "guff" and not "go." Oh well. They dig the name and they're sticking with it.

Alezra, who purchased the imposing three-story brick building at 300 S. Ann St. with her husband Max and daughter and son-in-law Loni and Nick Diamond, says she's wanted her entire life to open a cafe.

"This building was calling to me saying, ok this is it, this is your opportunity," she says. "I want to know people, so I always wanted a little coffee shop where regular customers would come in, like in the bar Cheers. A place where they would know who we were and we would know who they were."

Alezra and her team capitalized on the exposed brick, hardwood floors and massive, hardwood bar to establish a relaxed atmosphere for the 900-square-foot caf�, which opens next month. There will be the requisite wi-fi, couches, tables and bar stools, and also plenty of artwork by local artists on display in keeping with the caf�'s name. The cafe will offer standard coffee shop fare, including specialty coffees, smoothies, paninis, sandwiches, salads, and bagels from Goldberg's New York Bagels on Reisterstown Road.

But the quartet's contribution to Fells Point development doesn't stop there. They have also renovated the top two floors into an 1,800 square-foot single-family home boasting six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a whopping 24 windows, and a brand new electrical wiring throughout. The home will be available to rent in a few weeks, Alezra says.

Fells Point has not only proven the ideal neighborhood for a coffee shop, says Alezra, but exceedingly helpful to business owners. Support from the community facilitated the permits process, she says, and a grant from Fells Point Main Street has enabled the new owners to redo the building's 1920 fa�ade.

"We love Fells Point," says Alezra, who with her husband came to Baltimore six years ago from Milwaukee. "It's quaint, it has so much character. It's just a unique and amazing place."

Writer: Lucy Ament
Source: Mindy Alezra, Van Gough Caf�

If you think finding a parking spot in the heart of Fells Point is hard, try being a boater. Slips to, well, slip into for an evening of shopping and dining on dry land are relatively scarce, but there will be quite a few more next spring thanks to Brown's Wharf.

The development, which contains more than 105,000 square feet of restaurants, retail and office space, will begin construction this fall on 19 40-foot slips and 210 feet of side ties (spaces where boaters can moor parallel to the dock). The marina by the time boating season begins next spring.

"We bought the building three years ago, and we were aware there had once been a marina there and that there was in fact a marina in that location in the master plan of Baltimore Harbor," says Brad Dockser, managing partner for ownership group, Brown's Wharf, LLC. "It was always our intention to rebuild a marina there, in part to activate the waterfront to increase activity there. We spent last year designing and thinking about what we wanted."

While some of the mooring spaces will be available for month- or yearlong rentals, others will be made available on an overnight basis. Dockser says the marina will not only be a revenue source for the management company, but will bring more customers to Brown's Wharf businesses.

"Most 40-foot boats don't have a kitchen," Dockser notes. "Because of the demographics of boating, we anticipate that more people will come to Fells Point for an overnight stay and dine at places like Kali's Court or Meli. Or, if they want something more informal, they'll go eat at a place like Shuckers."

Dockser says rates and policies for the marina should be determined by early 2010.

Writer: Lucy Ament
Source: Brad Dockser, Brown's Wharf, LLC

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and Maryland residents Marc and Laura Rosen are teaming up to bring a 63,000-square-foot family entertainment venue to Hunt Valley Towne Centre in Hunt Valley, Md.

MVP Entertainment, which opens early next year, will feature an upscale-dining and express restaurant, a sports bar, two high-tech golf simulators, a coffee and gelato bar, a memorabilia/pro-shop, billiard tables, and 38 bowling lanes equipped flat screen televisions and state-of-the-art entertainment technology.  The facility will also have several private reception areas with their own bowling lanes and catering for corporate events or private parties of more than 2000 people.

"This concept is unique in that it offers so many different entertainment choices under one roof," says Laura Rosen. "Whether you're dining in our premier restaurant and bar, attending a private event in our VIP lounge, or just bowling with family or friends, MVP Entertainment will be exciting and high energy."

Brian Gibbons, CEO of Hunt Valley Towne Centre developer Greenberg Gibbons, notes that "with the range of dining and entertainment options, the facility offers something for everyone in the community. It will be great for senior citizen leagues, kids' parties, corporate outings, adult fun and much more."

Formerly the Hunt Valley Mall, Hunt Valley Towne Center was converted into a 980,000-square-foot lifestyle center boasting 260,000 square feet of space in an open air "Main Street" environment. The centre, which opened in 2005, features a 140,000-square-foot Wegmans and a collection of nearly fifty shops and sit-down and casual restaurants.

An invitation-only groundbreaking ceremony for MVP Entertainment, which plans to expand to cities "anchored" by professional sports franchises, will be held on Sept. 15.

Writer: Lucy Ament
Source: Greenberg Gibbons

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, Crystal and Denis Ryan got the idea for their latest business came from a personal need.

"I had my first child 10 months ago, and as with many booming families in the neighborhood, my spare room just became my son's room," Crystal recalls. "But when family came to town for a visit, there was not a cozy place in the neighborhood to put them up."

So the Ryans have opened fully furnished guesthouse rentals at 1109 and 1111 S. Hanover Street. The Federal Hill residents dubbed the properties A Home In The Hill in honor of their neighborhood. The one-bedroom and two-bedroom rowhomes are fully furnished and equipped with cable and high-speed Internet access, a washer and dryer, private parking and more.

"They are perfect for traveling professionals and visiting relatives of locals looking for a cheaper alternative to the average hotel stay and for a 'home away from home' atmosphere," Crystal says.

The Ryans make a point if supporting the local economy. Before guests arrive, Crystal sets up each guesthouse with a basket of "wonderfully and naturally fragrant" soaps, shampoo, conditioner and lotion from Sobotanical and freshly ground coffee from Spoons Coffee Cafe and Coffee Roastery. Both shops are located less than a block away

"So far, a majority of my reservations have come from the Federal Hill Kids mothers network that I belong to," Crystal says. "It really is a great place for visiting families to be able stay, especially for those families with a newborn baby and one less spare room.  The guesthouses allow for them to have their own cozy space in the neighborhood rather than to have to stay in a chain hotel downtown. They have their own kitchen, laundry, living room and are just steps away from family."

Crystal has also had couples rent the guesthouses on a monthly basis while waiting for a new home to be built and doctors from various other states that are doing a monthly rotation at one of the area hospitals.

"I chose Federal Hill because I love the neighborhood," says Crystal, who has lived in Baltimore for the past decade with her Australian husband. "The local residents and shopowners have become our family, and they have all been extremely supportive of our venture and have been very helpful in promoting the business.  This neighborhood has everything you could possibly want, local markets, more than 30 restaurants and bars, quaint shops. The list goes on and on."

Writer: Lucy Ament
Source: Crystal Ryan, A Home In The Hill

After waiting nearly a decade for a new source to feed their love of comic books and graphic novels, Baltimoreans are getting not one but two new options for their fix. We told you last week about the Sept. 2 opening of Alliance Comics in Federal Hill; now we'll fill you in on Graphic Novelty, which is slated to open a week later at 1712 Thames St. in Fells Point.

Co-owners Benjamin Greene and Heiko Spieker call their new labor of love Baltimore's "one-stop geek shop." The shop will offer "anything geeky," Spieker notes, including toys, card games and board games." While shoppers will find mostly new issue comic books and graphic novels at the store, Greene and Spieker will be selling portions of their personal collections and will also allow patrons to sell their own collections on a consignment basis.

Spieker said he and Greene, who owns the Waterfront Hotel and Miss Irene's in Fells Point, had tossed the idea of a comic store around for years. They decided to pounce when the 1712 location was vacated this summer by Fells Point Frame and Design (which moved to a larger location down the street).

"We both have a firm grasp on the realms of geekdom, but there are little subdivisions within our expertise," Spieker notes. "He knows more about Star Trek, while I know more about Star Wars, Angel, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But overall I'd say we're about equal."

Spieker says he and Greene designed the shop "to look like comic book in its own way," with yellow and red walls, custom-built black shelving units with plexiglass to allow maximum visibility, and a wrap-around glass counter will display special items. The duo have also set up a gaming room in the back of the store with wireless Internet for patrons to play games.

Interest in the story has already been high, Spieker says.

"We've been keeping the door open as we've been setting up here, and people pop in every day to say their glad we're here." In fact, impromptu visits from parents with their children have persuaded Spieker and Greene to carry kids' book, which wasn't in their original plan.

Spieker chalks up the opening of two comic book stores in Baltimore just one week apart to a case of "great minds thinking alike." He's anticipating the month of October, which will bring with it both the Fells Point Festival and Baltimore Comic-Con � and, hopefully, a lot of foot traffic.

Writer: Lucy Ament
Source: Heiko Spieker, Graphic Novelty

Baltimore City Entertainment Group has said it will prepare by next month revised plans to build a 3,750-machine gaming facility that will include two restaurants and a bar and employ more than 900 people.

Preliminary plans for "Celebration Casino," which would be built south of M&T Bank Stadium on the site of the demolished Maryland Chemical Co. on Russell Street, were presented by BCEG to a state regulatory panel on Aug. 26. The facility is more ambitious than the one initially proposed by BCEG in February, which entailed a 500-maching facility two blocks away from the newly proposed site. The revised bid would require an additional $19.5 million license fee.

State officials are working to identify recipients of slots licenses at five locations in Maryland and have slated their announcement for November. BCEG was reportedly the only bidder for the Baltimore license.

BCEG's plan for the casino includes 9,000 square feet of gaming space, a 400-seat buffet, a 120-seat chop house, a 100-seat bar with live entertainment, and a 2,500-space parking garage. BCEG has told state regulators that it could have the facility operational by mid-2011 and generate about $500 million during the first year of business, about $333 million of which would be retained by the state. It added that, by 2015, gross revenue should rise to more than $650 million, of which the state would retain nearly $430 million and the city, $19.5 million. The construction is expected to create 2,000 construction jobs over roughly 18 months.


Writer: Lucy Ament
Source: Baltimore City Entertainment Group

Remember when all it took to curry favor with the teacher was a shiny apple? That's so not going to cut it anymore.

Seawall Development Corporation is raising the bar for sweet teacher treatment to dizzying heights with the development of not one, but two commercial-residential spaces designed specifically for the needs and comfort of Baltimore's educators.

The story begins with Millers Court, the Remington/Charles Village space at W. 26th and N. Howard Streets that Seawall opened for occupancy last month. The original home of the H.F. Miller Can Company, the 86,000-square-foot, turn-of-the-century building was divided by Seawall, along with Marks, Thomas Architects and Contractor Hamel Builders (both of Baltimore), into 30,000 square feet of commercial office space and 40 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. The hook? The office space was marketed specifically to non-profits working in education, and the apartments to teachers, who receive discounts on rent.

It gets better. Seawall has recently initiated the purchase of a second building, Union Mill, that will follow the same pro-educator commercial-residential template. Completed in 1872 and located at Union and Buena Vista Avenues in Hampden, Union Mill is Maryland's largest stone mill and has been occupied over the years by Life Like Products, LLC and Life Foam, LLC. Seawall will team with the same architect and contractor to convert the 86,000 square foot building into 54 apartments for teachers and 36,000 square feet of commercial office space for non-profits (in all sectors).

Evan Morville, a partner at Seawall, says he shares a strong desire to help educators with his colleagues, Thibault Manekin and Donald Manekin, who was CEO of the Baltimore School System in the early 2000s.

"Each year there are 750 new teachers hired by Baltimore City, and about 50% are new to Baltimore," Evan explains. "The idea behind Millers Court and Union Mill is to be able to roll out the red carpet for these new teachers because they don't know the ideal place to live, and knowing their minimal salary, we wanted to create a place where they could come and feel welcome."

According to Morville, Seawall developed a special market research group with the help of Millers Court tenant Teach for America to determine the specific needs of teachers, and as a result included such amenities as an in-house photocopy center, a fitness center, a lounge and a courtyard. With their discount, educators can rent a one-bedroom apartment at Millers Court for $700-800 a month, a two-bedroom for $1,250, and a three-bedroom for $1,500. Projected rents at Union Mill are $875 for one bedroom and $1,475 for two.

The set-up for commercial space is novel, Morville notes, in that it enables non-profits, who might normally be spread out across the city, to share bathrooms, conference rooms and kitchens in order to reduce their overhead. Non-profits spend about $18 per-square-foot.

"We feel education is the greatest economic tool Baltimore has," Morville says. "The only way Baltimore can truly complete its renaissance is by having a school system that supports its ongoing residential and commercial development." And vice versa.

Source: Evan Morville, Seawall Development Corp.
Writer: Lucy Ament

When the doors of the "temporary" East Baltimore Community School (EBCS) open for the first time on Aug. 31, students in the brand-new, brightly colored classrooms will learn about reading, arithmetic, and how to keep a promise.

That's because the school itself is a promise, one that East Baltimore Development Inc. made to the residents of its 80-acre site six years ago when it undertook the largest redevelopment project in Baltimore's history. At the time, some 70 percent of the homes in the EBDI site lay vacant and, without the requisite student- and tax-base, the local Elmer G. Henderson School was closed. Remarkably, EBDI promised those residents who remained in the area not only a new school, but a temporary one while the permanent school was being built.

That temporary pre-K through 8th grade school, EBCS, is now a reality. According to EBDI Communications Director Sheila Young, EBCS is a "contract" rather than a "charter" school, which allows EBDI to reserve 70 percent of its enrollment spots for kids from the immediate neighborhood as well as the children of former residents who have been relocated because of development activities (EBDI will also provide free transportation). The single-story, modular building, located at the corner of Wolf and East Chase Street between, is comprised of several trailers that have been brought in and bolted together.

"On the outside it's utilitarian, but we're doing things to make the area inside and around the school more welcoming and nurturing to the children," Young says.

The trailers came painted in colors chosen by Principal Cathleen Miles, and boast colorful murals, whiteboards, storage areas, wet sinks -- even little cubbies and "a tiny potty" for the kindergartners. Philadelphia-based, multinational food services giant ARAMARK sent 150 volunteers to create an outdoor classroom with a stage, benches, and podium, Young says.

The 19,300 square-foot, $1.6 million school, which EBDI undertook with partners such as Johns Hopkins University, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the City of Baltimore, will open this year to roughly 140 kindergartners, first-graders and fifth-graders. Two new grades will be incorporated each subsequent year with the addition of new trailers to accommodate them. The school will be operational for at least three or four years until the permanent school is completed, which Young says requires first the acquisition and demolition of homes in a four-block area bordered to the south by Ashland Avenue, the east by Patterson Park Drive the north by the Amtrak lines and the West by Chester Street. A design for the permanent school will be selected later this year.

Source: Sheila Young, EBDI
Writer: Lucy Ament

Baltimore's Hollywood Diner, made famous as the setting of Barry Levinson's 1982 film "Diner," will get another chance to serve some grub.

Built in 1954, Levinson purchased the diner and moved it from its location in Long Island to Baltimore. The Chesapeake Center for Youth Development, a Baltimore-based nonprofit, ran the restaurant serving meatloaf and other traditional diner fare while providing real world experience for teens participating in its youth culinary training program from 1991 to June 2008.

The diner's new chance at fame comes from the Baltimore-based Crema Coffee Co. which will handle the daily operations and continue the youth culinary training program.

Located at 400 E. Saratoga Street, the new menu will include a selection of sandwiches, soups, burgers, salads and shakes made primarily with locally grown produce.
 
In addition to the food, the diner will also be the meeting place for University of Maryland School of Law students and their clients. The prospective lawyers will provide lowcost legal consultations to low income Baltimore City residents, focusing on a different area of the law each day of the week.


Writer: Walaika Haskins
Source: Creme Coffee, Co.

After delighting patrons of Zodiac restaurant in Station North with her culinary creations for eight years, Christina DiAngelo decided she wanted to pursue a few simple, low-stress goals: to create a quiet, comfortable spot in the neighborhood where she could brew great coffee, bake delectable pastries, and watch as people savor them and relax.

That's the genesis of The Bohemian Coffee House, which opened this summer at 1821 N. Charles Street. Two things put this place on the map: the delicious, specialty treats and a funky atmosphere.

In addition to specialty coffee drinks, DiAngelo offers sandwiches and salads and freshly baked pastries each day, keeping a few standards like brownies and biscotti always on hand and rotating in seasonal delights such as peach and coffee cakes. She also always has vegan options on the menu, including milkshakes made with soy milk, soy ice cream and vegan flavorings, soy desserts (such as blueberry cobbler), and a savory vegan item or two.

"Vegans that have gotten them have said they're really good," says DiAngelo, who studied at Baltimore's International Culinary College. "Because of the artsy element, Zodiac attracted vegetarians and vegans, so a third of my menu there was vegan. I had never cooked vegan before working there, but once I started experimenting I thought I it was really cool. It's a challenge to make foods without refined sugars or dairy products."

Also setting the Bohemian apart is its funky interior, which DiAngelo attributes to the interior design acumen of building owner Joy Martin. Martin selected muted blues to play up the beautiful hard woods of the interior, and found an large WWII era mural depicting musicians, artists, glass blowers, winemakers, and other craftsmen.

"That mural is where the name comes from," DiAngelo says. "When she put it up I said, that's so bohemian. And that was it!"

DiAngelo says business has been a bit slow since she opened, but she expects things to pick up when the school year starts and students return to the area.

"I want people to come in and relax and feel comfortable," DiAngelo says. "I like Baltimore because it's not pretentious. It's a very simple, laid back town. People are not walking around thinking they're better than everyone else. It's no D.C."

Source: Christina DiAngelo,The Bohemian Coffee House
Writer: Lucy Ament