Development News

In June, the Living Classrooms Foundation broke ground on a new youth sports field in Patterson Park with the support of Under Armour and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. As that project moves forward, Living Classrooms is adapting a historic two-story firehouse on Caroline Street in the Perkins Homes community.

The first floor of the firehouse will include a multi-purpose space for after-school programming to add to the Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center on East Fayette Street. The first floor will also include a community technology center. The second floor will hold offices for Living Classrooms staff and the Perkins Homes Tenant Council as well as conference rooms and space for community health fairs.

Perkins Homes is part of the Living Classrooms Target Investment Zone in East Baltimore, and the firehouse will be renovated with the help of participants in Project SERVE, Living Classrooms' initiative to lower recidivism and raise the employment rate among those re-entering Baltimore communities following incarceration.


Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Talib Horne, Living Classrooms

The head of Baltimore's Marion I. and Henry J. Knott Foundation says an expansion of Maryland's million-dollar Community Investment Tax Credit program to include corporate donors could help non-profit organizations expand their physical investments in the city, in addition to boosting programming.

"When I directed Light Street Housing, we used the CITC program to develop new relationships and garner tens of thousands of increased donations," says Knott Foundation executive director Greg Cantori.

Under the CITC, organizations that have received grants from foundations or other grantmakers can distribute tax credits to donors in order to spur more strategic giving. Donors, in turn, receive a tax credit that can be added to state and federal deductions the same year, or rolled over for as many as five years.

Donors can find non-profit organizations that match their giving goals and have available tax credits on the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development's GIVE Maryland site, here: http://www.mdhousing.org/givemaryland/


Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Greg Cantori, Knott Foundation

A restaurant and lounge that serves up Ethiopian beef tips along with a course of international music will open in Mount Vernon the first weekend after Labor Day.

E-Villa is the latest project of Harold Edwards, also the owner of six-year-old Eden's Lounge.

The spot will serve small-plate Ethiopian and Latin Foods, Edwards says. His wife, Helen, is Ethiopian. The two-story, 175-seat venue will feature DJs spinning international music, like at Red Maple.

The building at 917 Cathedral St. hasn't been in use since the 90s when it was known as the Gaslight. Edwards has spent roughly $200,000 to renovate the historic rowhome that features exposed brick, high ceilings, arched doorways, and hardwood floors.

The "E" stands for entertainment, in case you were wondering.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Harold Edwards, E-Villa

A Baltimore developer is pitching an apartment complex at a prime Inner Harbor spot that had previously been eyed for condos, a hotel, and offices.

J. Joseph Clarke, of J.J. Clarke Enterprises , is plotting a nearly 264-unit apartment tower for 1 Light St. A Baltimore City design panel is reviewing Clarke's plans for the 15-story unit, which would contain a three-level parking garage with 200 spaces and two retail spots totaling 12,000 square feet.

Clarke told the panel that the market demand is no longer there for an office tower, though he hasn't ruled out a hotel for the spot. The apartment market is one of the bright spots in the commercial real estate market. Apartment rents are rising while vacancies are declining in nearly every city tracked by research firm Reis Inc.

"There's a push to have more mixed use downtown," says Robert Quilter, an architect with the city's planning department.

Kona Grill, Sullivan's Steakhouse, and several hotels have livened nighttime activity in downtown in recent years. But filling the spot at 1 Light St. with full-time residents would add to the neighborhood's vibrancy, Quilter says.

"It's like a hole in the donut," he says of the property, which is a parking lot now. "It could contribute to downtown better than it is."


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Robert Quilter, Baltimore City

The owner of an Italian restaurant in Halethorpe has doubled the number of seats and added a seafood eatery next door.

Gianni's Italian Bistro, at 3720 Washington Blvd., now has a sister restaurant called the Angry Mallet. Patrons can order linguine in the seafood restaurant and fried oysters in the Italian restaurant.

The restaurants seat 180 combined, says Owner Greg Orendorff, former owner of Luigi Petti in Little Italy.

Orendorff spent about $300,000 on the expansion. The Angry Mallet serves steamed and friend crabs, shrimp, scallops, oysters, lobster and grilled fish.

Now five years old, Gianni's serves homemade pasta, chicken and veal specialties, and pizza.

Orendorff took over a former Sprint store and Mexican restaurant after his landlord approached him about expanding.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Greg Orendorff, Gianni's, the Angry Mallet

Carroll Hospital Center has taken over the operations of a neighboring cancer care unit and plans to build a new cancer hospital in two years.

The Westminster hospital has renamed the Carroll Cancer Center the Carroll Regional Cancer Center, which it took over from national health care network US Oncology. It has added hematologist/oncologist Dr. Johanna DiMento to the cancer center's 75-person staff, says Carroll Cancer Center Chief Operating Officer Leslie Simmons.

Health care executives wanted to provided care under one roof and offer a broader range of services, Simmons says.

Hospital executives are getting ready to launch a fundraising campaign so it can begin construction on an entirely new cancer care building in 2013. Simmons says she did not yet have a cost estimate for the project.

The hospital's goal is to construct a building on its campus.

"The current center is at capacity," Simmons says. "There's interest in expanding it and organizing care."


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Leslie Simmons, Carroll Hospital Center

Federal Hill has gotten a fresh jolt of sugar and java.

Afters Caf� opened this month at 1001 S. Charles St., serving up frozen yogurt, espresso, and pastries from Patisserie Poupon. Peter Hahn and his brother Andrew Hahn wanted to open a family-friendly place in the South Baltimore neighborhood.

"Me and my brother wanted to open a place where moms and kids can have some ice cream," Peter Hahn says. "There aren't that many places where you can take your kids."

Though the brothers live in Howard County, they wanted to open the business in the city to capitalize on the FroYo craze. And the market for that is already pretty saturated in Howard County.

Hahn says he tried to incorporate a contemporary design in the 25-seat restaurant to mimic the look and feel of European caf�s.

After spending six months in Italy last year, Hahn vowed to open a caf� like the ones he saw in Europe.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Peter Hahn, Afters

The waterside patio at McCormick & Schmick's got a new, contemporary look this month -- its first facelift since the Inner Harbor seafood restaurant opened a decade ago.

It now has 70 tables, or 20 more than it used to, and 275 seats.

Restaurant managers were going for a "resort-style" feel with the patio's sofas and high-top cocktail tables, says Jay Twardowski, the Portland, Ore., chain's regional manager.

It makes good business sense for McCormick & Schmick's to invest in the great outdoors. On a nice summer day the restaurant gets as much as half of its sales from the 4,700-square-foot patio, Twardowski says.

"We felt that we became a little bit dated and we wanted to reinvigorate the patio as the place to be in the city."

Twardowski declined to say how much the restaurant is spending on the renovation. The makeover is part of a national plan to invest in many of its restaurant properties. Meanwhile, M&S Grill at Harborplace last month got new floors and carpets.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Jay Twardowski, McCormick & Schmick's

A 275-bed homeless shelter opened this month in Baltimore, part of the city's 10-year plan to end homelessness.

The 30,000-square-foot Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Housing and Resource Center at 620 Fallsway holds a cafeteria, day rooms, job training, and a convalescent care program.

Funding for the $8 million construction comes from the state, city, and foundations, including the Abell Foundation, the France-Merrick Foundation, and the Weinberg Foundation.

The city has set up a website, endinten.org, to outline its 10-year-plan to end homeless, says Kate Briddell, director of homeless service programs for Baltimore City. The plan to try to address the leading causes of homelessness, including lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and access to healthcare services.

Addressing the problem is tough in this economy when many people are out of work, Bridell says.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Kate Bridell, Baltimore City

The developer of a fire-ravaged Mount Vernon building is in the final stages of getting city permits to begin construction as soon as next month.

The building at 800 N. Charles contained Donna's, Indigma, MyThai, and several offices. Indigma will open temporarily across the street until its original home is ready. And Donna's Co-Owner Alan Hirsch says he plans to reopen the restaurant with a wine bar and tapas menu.

The Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation has given developer Dominic Wiker the OK to proceed with the design. Final demolition will begin this week and construction will begin later this summer, he says.

Wiker said in a statement that he expects to have a better idea of the number of tenants in the building by the end of July.

The new structure will feature a few contemporary touches, says Steven Shen, chairman of the architectural review committee of the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association. It will include a skylight and an all-glass entrance. It will also house a patio on the fifth floor.

Last year's five-alarm fire gutted the building and took out the roof.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Dominic Wiker; Steven Shen, Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association

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

Ethan Allen Design Center is opening a store at Annapolis Towne Centre this summer with a new store layout that is the first of its kind in the mid-Atlantic.

The 8,550-square-foot shop will sell furniture and accessories and feature technology that will make buying sofas and fabric a more interactive experience.

The store will include "inspiration labs" with design ideas for five different lifestyles, says Kathy Bliss, regional design manager for the Danbury, Conn., firm. Clients' lifestyle choices are elegance, modern, romance, explorer, and vintage.

Buyers can use touchscreen monitors to preview their purchases, and use design software to see room layout options and images of each lifestyle.

The Annapolis Towne Centre shop replaces a larger store at 2401 Solomons Island Rd. that closed in December.

Ethan Allen executives wanted the store to go into the "popular lifestyle shopping destination," Bliss says.

The outdoor mall's home retailers include Restoration Hardware, Arhaus Furniture, Great Gatherings, Bed Bath & Beyond, Desi Living, and Sur La Table.

Developed by Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corp., Annapolis Towne Centre is a $500 million retail, office and residential complex that houses a Main Street-style town center. Its other stores include Whole Foods Market, Brio Tuscan Grill, and Target.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Kathy Bliss, Ethan Allen

Single Carrot Theatre has teamed up with a sound design software company to hunt for real estate in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District to accommodate the growing theater troupe.

Teaming up with Figure 53 LLC will enable the two entities to share resources -- from a copy machine to graphic artists, Single Carrot Executive Director Elliott Rauh says.

Single Carrot will make the move as early as July 2012, when its lease at 122 W. North Ave. is up. Figure 53, which would provide the capital to buy a 10,000-square-foot building, could move sooner if it finds the right space, Figure 53's Christopher Ashworth says.

The Baltimore software firm wants a space that holds a lab where it can test new products. One product in development is Tixato, an online ticket sale application for smaller theater troupes like Single Carrot.

Rauh says he is looking for a space that can seat between 75 and 99. Its current space seats 50 and is at 85 percent capacity.

"We're stuck in a glass ceiling if we can't get more earned income," Rauh says.

Single Carrot's long-term vision is to grow its budget from $211,00 to $500,000 and to do so it will need to receive more earned income. And it doesn't want to raise ticket prices, Rauh says.

The upstart theater company was founded by friends from the University of Colorado who chose Baltimore as a home after scouring 50 cities. It currently has five employees, four of whom work part-time.

Figure 53 employs six. "Billy Elliott," "South Pacific," and other Broadway shows have used its software.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Elliott Rauh, Christopher Ashworth

Baltimore Washington Medical Center is adding a $1.3 million X-Ray machine that will allow it to perform more non-invasive procedures and enhance its women's services.

Construction on the Siemens Interventional Room began last month and will finish in August. The new machine will allow the Glen Burnie hospital to perform uterine fibroid embolizations, or a minimally invasive treatment of fibroid tumors, says BWMC Director of Radiology Dr. Jim Cary.

"We're excited to offer this to anyone in Maryland," Cary says.

The machine replaces 14-year-old equipment and offers better imaging quality.

A woman undergoing the procedure can recover within 24 hours and return to work within two or three days, says Dr. Zina Novak, BWMC's medical director of radiology services.

The hospital is renovating the interventional radiology room with new lighting, storage, cabinets, and lounge for technologists.


Writer, Julekha Dash
Sources, Dr. Jim Cary, Dr. Zina Novak, BWMC

Call it a kitchen stadium. Call it a restaurant within a restaurant.

Matthew Milani has a tough time coming up with a word to describe the expansion he is planning for Rumor Mill Fusion Bar & Restaurant in September.

He's installing an open-air kitchen where diners will feast on a 25-course meal composed of molecular gastronomic concoctions. They might include upscale Jello shooters that can freeze without ice or sous-vide duck with cherries. Guests will pay between $75 and $125 per meal.

Milani is hoping that a concept like Minibar, the six-seat restaurant in Washington, D.C., spearheaded by James Beard-award winner Jose Andres, will work for the small-plate restaurant in historic downtown Ellicott City.

Incorporating molecular gastronomy into the small plate restaurant offers his cooks a chance to "go crazy." And cooking demonstrations are big in the foodie world now.

"Talking to the chef is now part of the meal," Milani says. Diners feel like they get an added value if they get to interact with the chef.

The owner expects to spend less than $3,000 on the 20-seat kitchen stadium if he buys a lot of equipment at auction.

"We believe this is something that can set us apart," Milani says.

Local food blogger Dara Bunjon says Milani's venture is unique to the Baltimore area.

"There might be chefs here in Baltimore creating molecular gastronomy, but not 20-plus courses."