Preservation : 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]
 

After months of anticipation from Mount Vernon residents, Dooby’s Coffee opened Saturday in the building that once housed popular coffee shop Donna's.

Owner Phil Han says the coffee house features his four favorite things.  If “we can excel in coffee, in-house pastries, sandwiches, and craft beers, then we’re perfectly happy."

The cafe serves 12 draft beers and assortment of wines. Dooby's is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Reviewers on Yelp praise the cafe's avocado toast and butter-brown chocolate chip cookies. 

A pop-up version of the coffeehouse had been operating over the last few months in the Hatch, Han's incubator that is located around the corner from Dooby's. Home accessories retailer zestt is moving into the pop-up space. Founded by Jessica Diehl and Benita Goldblattt, zestt sells contemporary textiles, art and accessories. 

Extensive renovation at 800 North Charles St. took place following a five-alarm fire in 2010. The fire forced local favorite restaurants Indigma, Donna’s and My Thai to close. Indigma has since opened across the street at 801 N. Charles St. and My Thai opened next to Heavy Seas Alehouse in the Tack Factory in Little Italy. Donna's is not reopening in the building. It has locations in the Village of Cross Keys and Charles Village. Its Columbia location closed in May.

The 2,500-square-foot location will have seating for 75 inside and an additional 22 seats outside once it gets its permit for outdoor seating. It will feature clean lines and natural colors.

Han says it took more than a year to settle on the perfect name for the coffeehouse. “Dooby” is Han’s childhood nickname and comes from a Korean word. 

Han says many Korean-Americans like himself are in the food service business, but he says a Korean-American owned coffeehouse was an unfilled niche. So, as a gift to the Korean-American community, he decided to jump in.

He first searched for a space in Howard County, home to many Korean-owned businesses. When he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he turned to the city’s Mount Vernon neighborhood.

“It was like a no-brainer spot for me. This is such an awesome place, with colleges, young professionals. The amount of art and creativity that surrounds us is just amazing.”

Han says he believes the neighborhood is looking forward to having a new coffee house in the now-renovated block. Many area residents have taken pictures and asked him when he is opening.
 
Source: Phil Han, owner, Dooby’s Coffee
Writer: Amy Landsman [email protected] 
 
 

Boordy Vineyards toasted the opening of its new $3 million winemaking facility this month, which it's billing as the largest project in its 68-year history.  
 
The 11,500-square-foot building in Hydes is composed of a main production facility, a laboratory, two wine-storage warehouses, a bottling room and a room for shipping wine. 
 
The additional space allows the Baltimore County vineyard to increase production by about 62,000 gallons, to a total of 170,190 gallons. It also allows for more quality control of the fermentation process, says Boordy Vineyards’ Phineas Deford.
 
The new building is located adjacent to the barn that Boordy Vineyards has been using to produce their wines for 34 years. The barn did not allow for a temperature control during the winemaking process, which is a feature of the new building. The previously used barn will be converted into a barrel cellar.
 
Boordy Vineyards will offer tours twice a day, seven days a week, and President Robert Deford says that they will allow guests to tour the facility, as long as the winemaking process is not underway. The winery receives 60,000 visitors per year, making it one of the top tourist attractions in the county. 
 
Vineyard staff has worked to match the architecture of the new facilities with the old buildings on its 240 acres of farmland.
 
“Building a building here of this sort is actually a real responsibility, an aesthetic responsibility, in that it’s going to be here for a long time and we felt that it had to reflect and harmonize with traditional architecture,” Deford says.
 
Boordy Vineyards has also made the building environmentally sound with the roofs facing south so that solar cells can be added once the construction is complete.

Boordy produces a number of white and red varietals, including chardonnay, pinot grigio, merlot and shiraz. The expansion was funded with Boordy's own money and bank loans.

Writer: Daryl Hale
Source: Robert and Phineas Deford

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company hosted a groundbreaking ceremony July 9 to celebrate the start of construction on its new downtown Baltimore space, after raising about $4 million for its capital campaign. 

The nonprofit group’s Board of Trustees made the decision to begin construction after reviewing the fundraising project’s financial progress, as well as the duration of construction and the challenges that the project may entail. The theater troupe has received money from a variety of sources, including the state and the Abell Foundation.

In late 2014, the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company plans to open the doors to its new theatre, housed within the Mercantile Trust building at Calvert and Redwood streets, according to spokeswoman Jean Thompson. The theater  company will continue to hold shows at a variety of venues in Howard County. 

The construction plans for the new 250-seat theatre will incorporate existing aspects of the Mercantile Trust building’s architecture.

“Our vision for the theater is a modern Globe, based on the design of Shakespeare's Globe theatre, with an intimacy putting the audience as close to the actors as possible,” Thompson says.

The new home is two blocks from the Inner Harbor and has been the home of several nightclubs. Baltimore architectural firm Cho Benn Holback + Associates Inc. has designed the 14,000-square-foot, circa 1885 building. See pictures of the Mercantile building here in our recent slideshow. 

Writer: Daryl Hale
Source: Jean Thompson, Chesapeake Shakespeare

The operator of the Broadway Market has tapped Chesapeake Real Estate Group LLC as the lead developer for a $4.2 million renovation and expansion of one of the historic neighborhood’s key attractions.
 
Construction will begin in September on a new, 4,295-square-foot building at the market’s south end in what is now a parking lot. At that time, Chesapeake Real Estate will also begin renovating the 6,500-square-foot building on the north side of the market and lease the mostly empty building. The project will wrap up summer of 2014, says Chesapeake Real Estate Partner Richard Manekin.
 
The company is talking to prospective fast casual restaurant owners and food vendors about leasing space and expects to finalize deals within the next four to five months, Manekin says.
 
The Baltimore Public Markets Corp. is a nonprofit that operates and leases food markets from Baltimore City. But under the new agreement with Chesapeake, the real estate firm will sublease Broadway Market and pay the nonprofit a portion of its revenues. Chesapeake signed a 40-year sublease with a 25-year option for renewal. The Baltimore City Board of Estimates approved the deal earlier this month.
 
The Broadway Market expansion and renovation was originally part of the massive Marketplace at Fells Point development until last year. That’s when Massachusetts firm the Dolben Co. acquired the rights to lead the construction of the new apartments and retail from Dave Holmes of South Broadway Properties LLC. Holmes remains a partner and investor in the Broadway Market makeover, though he is not the lead developer.
 
Holmes says he partnered with Chesapeake because he didn’t want the already delayed project to stall any longer.
 
Casper Genco, executive director of the Baltimore Public Markets, says he thought it made sense to choose a developer that could invest in the market so it can keep pace with Marketplace at Fells. Dolben is readying the first phase of retail and apartments for completion next summer.

“The Baltimore Public Markets doesn’t have the resources to do that,” Genco says of the Broadway Market renovation and expansion. 

Chesapeake Real Estate has leased the Bagby Building, Canton Crossing and other developments.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Casper Genco, Baltimore Public Markets; Richard Manekin, Chesapeake Real Estate; Dave Holmes, South Broadway Properties LLC 
 

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

Preston Gardens, the two-level patch of green space facing Mercy Medical Center in downtown Baltimore, is getting a $3.5 million facelift and expansion to accommodate food vendors, outdoor seating and more events.
 
Once the renovations are complete in 2014, the garden’s upper level will take over the space that is used now as a parking lane on Saint Paul Street. The expansion will make room for a plaza with food kiosks, outdoor seating and garden overlook. The park’s aging wall and stairs will undergo repairs as well, says Kirby Fowler, president of Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc.
 
The nonprofit, which promotes downtown Baltimore as a place to live and do business, is working with Baltimore City on the park expansion. With an expanding residential base, downtown needs to enhance its parks, Fowler says.
 
“We need as much green space as possible,” Fowler says. “I think it’s one of our more beautiful parks. The walls and stairs are starting to show their age.”
 
The park has hosted more events in the last few years, including a Beer & Bocce Ball and yoga classes.
 
“We’re trying to make it more appealing to residents,” Fowler says.
 
The Baltimore City Department of Transportation will issue a bid for a contractor by the end of the year. Construction will take about a year to complete, Fowler says.
 
Downtown Partnership received $1.7 million matching grant from the state and federal governments for the Preston Gardens expansion. The matching money will come from Downtown Partnership, Baltimore City general obligation bonds and Mercy Medical Center.
 
Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Kirby Fowler, Downtown Partnership 

The owners of the Senator Theatre will wrap up its $3 million restoration this spring and expect the historic North Baltimore landmark to open at the end of May after a year of closure.
 
The once aging, single-screen theater will open with four screens and a 50- to 75-seat wine bar, says Co-owner Kathleen Cusack.
 
The yearlong renovation includes restoring the murals, installing new seats and getting a new chandelier for the 74-year-old Art Deco-style theater. Kathleen and her father James “Buzz” Cusack spent $1 million on the repairs, while the remaining money for the restoration came from a bank loan and city and state money.
 
“We’ve been working on this project since 2009 and it’s been a very labor intensive process. We’re happy to see things finally moving along,” Cusack says.
 
The theater will show mostly big Hollywood productions when it opens and house a total of 1,080 seats. The main auditorium will hold 770 while the other three will contain 150, 85 and 75 seats.
 
Baltmore City bought the theater three years ago for $810,000 after it went into foreclosure. It sold it to the Cusacks in September at a $310,000 loss.
 
The Cusacks operate the Station North Arts & Entertainment District’s Charles Theater, which shows mostly independent movies. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Kathleen Cusack

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. 

Towson University is doubling the size of the building that houses its math and science school.

Construction on the 106,000-square-foot, $156 million expansion of Smith Hall won’t begin for at least another two years, says Scott Guckert, Towson’s director of construction services.

Smith is actually two connected buildings, built in 1964 and 1976 respectively, both of which are out of date, Guckert says.

Since the late 1990’s, all Towson students have been required to take at least two science courses to graduate, all of which are offered in Smith Hall. This has put a lot of pressure on the facility. At the same time, enrollment is now more than 20,000, compared to about 15,500 when Smith Hall was originally designed.

“We’re looking at a more green facility, something that will be LEED certified,” says Guckert, who says the building will feature improved technology, clean rooms, and breakout collaborative spaces.

Work is scheduled to start this September on a new pedestrian bridge, connecting Towson’s east side, which houses academic buildings, with its west village campus.

The bridge will rise above an existing intersection at Osler Drive and Towsontown Boulevard. The $15 million undertaking also includes a relocated traffic signal, improved wheelchair access and an additional athletic field.

The bridge is expected to be completed by summer, 2014.

Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Scott Guckert, Towson University director of construction services
 
 

The Northeast Market in East Baltimore began it first significant renovation in decades, a $2 million facelift that will take about  six months to complete.

The 36,000-square-foot market near Johns Hopkins Hospital will get new doors, facade, entrance, more seating and better lighting. A candy and flower stall in the front of the market that will hopefully create a more upscale look that is more inviting for visitors, says Casper Genco, executive director of the Baltimore Public Markets Corp. Genco says he'll relocate five tenants in order to make room for additional seating and new tenants.

The nonprofit oversees Baltimore’s public markets while the city owns the property. The Baltimore Public Markets Corp. is putting $750,000 toward the renovation. Another $300,000 is coming from Johns Hopkins University and Health System. It's also getting grant money from the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition Inc.
 
Modernizing the facility will hopefully appeal to Johns Hopkins Hospital staff and visitors. Genco says he will also look for opportunities to expand the market’s healthful food offerings and hopes that new menu boards will help visitors locate vendors who sell healthier fare.
 
The Avenue Market on Pennsylvania Avenue reopened in the fall with about $500,000 worth of renovations and seven new stalls. The Baltimore Public Markets Corp. also oversees Cross Street Market in Federal Hill and Broadway Market in Fells Point. 

“Each of these public markets is a focal point of the community,” Genco says.

Check out BmoreMedia's 2011 feature on Northeast Market and the companion audio piece. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Casper Genco, Baltimore Public Markets Corp. 

Construction will begin this summer on a $25 million building with market-rate apartments, a 247-car garage and retail.

Developer Chesapeake Realty Partners expects the project to be completed in the spring of 2014. The Owings Mills company also spearheaded the apartment complex across the street at 1901 Patapsco St.

Plans for the as-yet unnamed project at 2 East Wells St. call for 153 apartments, including 96 efficiencies and 57 one-and-two bedroom units. Renters can expect to pay, on average, about $1,800 per month. 

Currently, there are warehouses and offices on the lot, which also includes 1800 and 1802 Patapsco Streets. Mayers says he believes this is an opportunity to “create a new version of an existing neighborhood,” with good walkability and easy highway access.

The project also calls for 6,000 square feet of retail, says Chesapeake Realty President Jonathan Mayers. Facing East Wells Street, future retail tenants will serve the local community, and could include a bagel and coffee shop, nail salon, or a small local grocery, Mayers says.

“There’s really few commercial or industrial buildings left, and everything else in the neighborhood is more or less rowhomes or new apartment buildings,” Mayer says.

Demand for apartments remains strong throughout the city as many apartment complexes report nearly 100 percent occupancy rates. 

“We feel there’s a dearth of housing options in the south Baltimore market,” says Josh Fidler, Chesapeake’s chief operating officer. He says the area holds a number of assets, including Riverside Park, the headquarters for the National Federation of the Blind and the former Pabst brewery that is set to reopen this summer.

Mayers says the garage will be large enough to offer secure parking for tenants and visitors, with additional spaces available for lease. Plans also call for widening the alleys around the new building, making parking and access easier for the existing rowhomes on South Charles, Barney and Patapsco Streets.
 
Sources: Jonathan Mayers and Josh Fidler; Chesapeake Realty Partners
Writer: Amy Landsman
 
 
 
 
 

A South Baltimore entrepreneur is brewing up plans to revive the former Pabst Brewing Co. building at the corner of Wells and South Charles Streets.

Former Austin Grill General Manager Spike Owen and a team of investors are spending more than $1.3 million to renovate the historic vacant building for the yet-to-be named project, expected to wrap up by fall. Baltimore's Green Door Properties LLC is the developer. 

Owen says he hopes to open a brewery that produces European and American-style ales and lagers and a taproom that seats 65 to 80 with a limited food menu. He says he is partnering with a veteran brewer with 25 years of experience but declined to name him as the brewer is employed elsewhere in town.

He’s the latest in the recent spate of hopeful entrepreneurs who have tapped into Baltimore residents’ thirst for locally made brews and beer-themed restaurants. Other recent entries include Union Craft Brewing in Woodberry and Heavy Seas Alehouse in Little Italy.

The idea of renovating a historic building that dates from Baltimore’s brewing heyday appeals to Owen. Beer manufacturing thrived from the late-1800s to the mid-1900s, thanks to the city's German immigrants.

“We like the sense of history,” he says. “We’re trying to bring [the building] back to what its original use was. When you have something like this, it helps with the branding.”

Owen says he’ll spend the next few months getting permits, ordering brewing equipment and modernizing the building’s infrastructure. The idea is to retain the historic features, including brick walls, wood beams and high ceilings.

The property is down the street from the National Federation of the Blind and a new apartment complex set to open spring of 2014. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Spike Owen 

Towson University has spent $6.2 million to purchase a property on York Road and plans to spend another $4 million to refurbish the structure.
 
The university bought the 40,000-square-foot building to house several programs that fall within its Division of Economic and Community Outreach. That includes the TowsonGlobal Business Incubator, which will occupy one whole floor [see story].
 
The university has been a tenant for several years and decided to go ahead and purchase the building as it would save money in the long run compared with renting, says Mark Behm, Towson’s interim vice president of administration and finance and chief fiscal officer. Towson bought the building from Garrison Forest Foods Inc., state property records show. 
 
The building currently houses Towson’s continuing education programs and the Regional Economic Studies Institute. These tenants will move out temporarily in November while the building undergoes a 13-month renovation, Behm says. The renovations will include upgrades to the electrical system and adding an elevator to make it handicap accessible. 

Source: Mark Behm
Writer: Julekha Dash