Development News

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream on the Avenue in Hampden.
 
The Charmery opened at 801 W. 36^th St. at the former location of the Chestnut Pharmacy July 20. The 1,400 square-foot, 15-seat store offers 16 flavors of ice cream made onsite, waffle cones and a dipping station. Flavors include Old Bay Caramel, Md. Mud and Lemon Stick. The Fat Elvis is a mixture of peanut butter and bananas. Other treats include vegan sorbets, homemade sodas and root beer floats. The Charmery will serve homemade hot chocolate in the winter.
 
Canton residents David and Laura Alima say they thought Hampden’s main drag was an ideal spot for an ice cream shop because there aren’t many other ice cream places in the area. The couple was also impressed with how supportive the neighborhood is of local businesses. 

The Alimas make most of their ice cream, brownies and cookies from local ingredients, like dairy, eggs and butter from Trickling Springs Creamery. 

It was always the couple’s dream to open an ice cream shop. The pair would visit area ice cream shops and carry a “black book” filled with ideas, Laura Alima says. Her husband attended the Frozen Dessert Institute in Missouri, which offers a course on running an ice cream store. Laura Alima will keep her job as marketing director for Timonium catering company Chef’s Expressions. 
 
The Alimas say they made a “substantial” investment in the shop, funded by a small business loan and personal savings. They signed a 10-year lease for the space and will employ nine part-time. The pair are applying for an outdoor seating license.
 
 
Writer: Jolene Carr
Source: David and Laura Alima, owners of Charmery

The world is looking sweet for Midnite Confection’s Cupcakery, which launched a food truck last month. The venture isn't just icing on the cake for the Federal Hill bakery. The owners hope the the food truck will spread the word about its confections and help them find a good home for a planned second store.

“We want to explore other areas beyond where we are,” says Sandra McNeil, co-owner with her son, Aaron McNeil, of the bakery, at 1051 South Charles St. “We’re looking for possible expansion in storefront operations.”
 
At a cost of under $100,000, the food truck venture is so new that McNeil hasn't established a set routine. During the weekday, the truck spends two days in Washington, D.C., and two days in Baltimore City. 
 
The truck is usually in Baltimore on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. but, depending on parking availability, not always in the same place each of those days. Sometimes it can be found on Monument Street by the University of Maryland downtown campus, at Harbor East or at the Johns Hopkins University campus -- all neighborhoods under consideration for a second store.
 
“We’re trying out what places work best and adjust to customer demand,” says McNeil, referring to the food offering. “We’re newbies.”
 
For now, the truck only sells cupcakes for now, but may also offer cookies and bars later this summer. While the bakery has more than 40 flavors of cupcakes, the truck carries six flavors, chosen for their likely popularity, including vanilla bean, black velvet and lemon/lime. The cost is $3 per cupcake, $16 per half-dozen and $30 per dozen.
 
Even though no cooking is done in the food truck, the venture required getting a license from every jurisdiction and from the health department within the jurisdiction to operate. McNeil declined to discuss cost of equipping the food truck or sales so far.
 
“We’ve had some sell-out days and some days where it brings back items,” she says, pointing to factors like the weather and location.
 
McNeil opened Midnite Confection’s Cupcakery in 2010 at the Federal Hill store. Besides retail sales, the bakery caters weddings and corporate events. She says sales have grown 35 percent since opening.
 
Source: Sandra McNeil, Midnite Confection’s Cupcakery
Writer: Barbara Pash

With her organic and vegan skincare products on the shelves, Shelley Birnbaum's ReNew Botanicals has become the first tenant in the Hamilton-Lauraville retail incubator.
 
Owner Shelley Birnbaum previously had a small skin care studio in Hampden, but wanted more space so she could add her retail line of products.
 
“I just had my skin care studio and that was by appointment only. I didn’t have retail or anything like that.  I was making my products at home. So I really was looking to have everything under one roof,” she says.
 
The Lauraville resident got in touch with Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street and ended up as the incubator’s first tenant, occupying 750 square feet last month.
 
Birnbaum has also launched a baby line called Baby Botanicals. Birnbaum declined to discuss her investment, but says she was helped by an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
 
“It’s wonderful to be close to home. It’s exciting to be part of this project to help revitalize the Hamilton retail district.”
 
Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street is assisting Birnbaum by reviewing her business plan, helping her obtain permits, preparing financial statements and promoting her retail line through Facebook, email blasts and blogs. The incubator is a former volunteer fire station and one-time Hamilton Democratic Club at 3015 Hamilton Ave.
 
Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street purchased the 3,250-square foot building for $64,000 last year. Now, the first floor has been renovated and given new life as a place where small, local businesses can be nurtured until the owners are ready to move into a storefront of their own.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Sources: Shelley Birnbaum, owner ReNew Botanicals
Regina Lansinger, director Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street

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 owners of the Mutiny Pirate Bar & Island Grille are setting sail for Howard County and have their sights set on franchising the concept nationwide.
 
The owners are scouting Howard County for a 3,000- to 4,000- square-foot spot, with seating for up to 150 customers, outdoor dining and good visibility. Brothers Rob Wecker and Steve Wecker spent about $200,000 to open the original bar and restaurant in Glen Burnie two years ago. 
 
Steve Wecker says the Howard County location should open within a year. That's also when they expect to have more details ready on their franchise plans, including how much it will cost. Howard County is where the others operate another restaurant, the popular Iron Bridge Wine Co. 

The Glen Burnie restaurant features 145 types of rum and Caribbean-influenced food. The signature dish is the Shipwreck Burger: a half-pound burger with a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich bun, spiced rum barbecue sauce, tempura onion rings, a fried egg, lettuce and tomato.
 
 “What we tried to do was create something that had a hook, that had a unique marketing program,” Wecker says. “We’re always looking for ways to make the package better, but it is at its core a classic bar and restaurant food with a Caribbean flair.”
 
As for franchising, Wecker says the pirate concept is a great hook that can easily be replicated in cities across the nation.
Wecker says the owners will get financing from banks and private investors. 
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Steve Wecker, co-owner Mutiny Pirate Bar & Island Grille
 
 
 

Sigmatech, Inc. is hiring 20 to 25 people for its first office in Maryland. Based in Huntsville, Ala., the defense service provider opened its first Maryland office in May in Belcamp, near Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County.

The office started off with a staff of two but Brian Simmons, senior vice president for Washington, D.C., and APG operations, says he is looking to add system engineers, scientists and acquisiton experts by the end of this year.

“We are interested in supporting the U.S. Army at APG. What they do is different from Huntsville,” site of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Simmons says.
 
“Every other weapons program comes through APG at some point,” says Simmons. With future contracts in “R&D (research and development), test evaluation, foreign military sales and security assistance to allies at APG, my goal is for the office to pay for itself by the end of the year.” 
 
Sigmatech opened its first office outside its Alabama headquarters last year in Crystal City, Va., to serve the northern Virginia-Washington, D.C., market. The private company has 320 employees, two-thirds of them in Huntsville, and $60 million in annual revenue.
 
Sigmatech’s APG office is located in the Water’s Edge Corporate Campus. “It is a bold move for us because of cutbacks, a tight market. But the timing is right for us,” says Simmons. “We need to grow and bolster our technical talent.”
 
Simmons says the company was particularly interested in APG because after the U.S. Department of Defense’s 2005 Base Realignment and Closure, several large military-defense agencies moved there.
 
“After Huntsville, APG is the next largest Army hub for weapons development and acquisition, new R&D, computers and intelligence,” he says.
 
Simmons expects to expand Sigmatech’s e-learning courses to future clients at APG. Based on a topic chosen by the client, the company designs a curriculum and develops a web-based instructional course. For example, one client was the United States Military Academy West Point, for which Sigmatech developed a course for its counter-terrorism center.
 
Source: Brian Simmons, Sigmatech, Inc.
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 
 
 

Fells Point Station, a 47-unit apartment building located partially in a former police station, will open in November. The Henson Development Co. is the builder of the $13 million project, located at the corner of Bank and Broadway and managed by Mission First Housing Development Corp. in Washington, D.C., Henson's development partner.

Henson is offering one- and two-bedroom units, 3,000 square feet of retail space and 31 parking spaces in the 53,000-square-foot building. Because of the financing arrangements, 34 of the 47 units are designated for tax credit assistance for those earning between 30 to 60 percent of the area median income. This number for AMI fluctuates yearly.  The remaining units will be rented at market rate, of around $950 to $1,350, Henson Co. Vice President Dana Henson says.  

The apartment complex at 1621 Bank St. consists of the original 16,000-square-foot city police station and a new, 37,000-square-foot building that was constructed on an adjacent surface parking lot. The three- and four-story buildings are separate but a glass and aluminum exterior entry connects the two.  
 
Henson bought both the long-vacant police station and parking lot from the city in 2009 for $584,300, according to state property records. The property is valued today at about $739,000. At the time of purchase, the station was in disrepair and water damaged. The police station was listed on the National Historic Register and that required leaving the façade intact. The interior was gutted and some of the original design elements were used in the new building. The exterior of the new building matches the original station.
 
“We used historical photographs for reference,” says Henson. “The window frames, the brick – externally it looks like the historical building.”

The project is being financed by Capital One, Hudson Housing Capital, National Park Service Historical Tax Service, Maryland housing and community development department tax credits and the city's housing department.
 
Henson says the company did several market studies to determine the need for rental units in the area.
 
“This was a vacant building in Fells Point and there is so much development going on in Fells Point. It’s a bustling economy," she says, pointing to the Marketplace at Fells Point retail and residential complex as an example. "We wanted to give the community a building they could be proud of." 
 
Source: Dana Henson, The Henson Development Co.
Writer: Barbara Pash

The owner of Dooby’s Coffee in Mount Vernon is adding a new neighbor that he hopes will grow small businesses. 

In mid-July, Phil Han is opening the Hatch, an incubator for small businesses and artisans who wish to showcase their work to the Baltimore community. The space will feature exhibits and retail pop-up shops. The Hatch will also offer hands-on support to budding entrepreneurs who need help with accounting, licensing and other aspects of running a business.

“The Hatch is a little bit more about encouraging other entrepreneurs to test out their ideas and products and services so that they then can be convinced to come out here in Baltimore and open up a business here,” Han says.

The 1,200-square-foot space will be located at 4 W Madison St., the site of the temporary location of Dooby’s Coffee. The coffee shop will remain in the same building but move around the corner to a 2,500-square-foot space at 802 N Charles St. when the Hatch opens. Dooby's has received its liquor license for the new space and will serve coffee, pastries, sandwiches and craft beers. The fire-ravaged building was once home to My Thai and Donna's.

For Han, establishing these businesses is about creating a sense of community.

“Given right now as our community and population have been growing, there just aren’t enough local cafes and coffee shops where people are hanging out,” he says.

His goal is to use the Hatch to bring new entrepreneurs to Baltimore, and also new customers to Dooby’s Coffee, which will be expanding its menu to include more restaurant items.

Until these projects are completed, Han says that Dooby’s Coffee will still be offering its full coffee bar, as well as baked goods, pastries, sandwiches and salads.

Writer: Daryl Hale
Source: Phil Han, Dooby's Coffee

Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood boasts world cuisine ranging from Spanish to Thai, Indian to Italian. But diners craving a good deli sandwich have just a few options.
 
Opening in early July, the new Tavern on the Hill restaurant at 900 Cathedral St. will feature burgers, salads and classic deli fare like corned beef and brisket. The restaurant will be on the ground floor of the 58-unit Cathedral Court apartment building.
 
Co-owner Lee Cohen says when the former Howard’s Restaurant became available, he and partner Benjamin “Rubin” Schechman jumped at the chance to take over the space.
 
The partners have spruced up the 2,300-square-foot restaurant with new paint, carpeting and tile. Landlord Matrix Management helped out with the installation of new HVAC. Cohen declined to discuss the cost of renovations.
 
The owners’ goal is to keep the menu affordable. A burger with fries will cost $8, and most other menu items will be less than $10. Wine will be under $20 a bottle. The restaurant and bar will seat about 80 inside, with room for about 10 people out front, and space for an additional 30 in the dog-friendly patio out back.
 
“Mount Vernon is a pretty cool place,” says Cohen. “Our goal is to meld into the community and have good, quality, consistent food.”

Cohen says he expects to bring back trivia night, a fixture of the former Howard’s. Cohen expects to have 10 to 20 employees. The restaurant’s operating hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Lee Cohen, co-owner Tavern on the Hill

Liam Flynn’s Ale House in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District is expanding with additional seating and a new kitchen, featuring Scottish and Irish favorites to go with their popular beers and ales.
 
The expansion will increase the Ale House’s footprint within the North Avenue Market building where it’s located from 2,200 square feet to 3,000 square feet, says Liam Flynn, who co-owns the bar with wife Jessica. The Ale House currently seats about 64 and after the renovation, it will increase its capacity to about 100 with new outdoor tables and more seats at the bar. The new kitchen should be ready by August.
 
Located at 22 W. North Ave., the bar carries 15 beers on tap and specializes in British Isles ales, whiskeys, beers and ciders. Currently, it brings in pre-packaged foods from other restaurants, but hasn’t had a kitchen of its own.
 
Flynn says they get a lot of customers who come from the train station and area theaters, but because they don’t serve food, patrons have a pint and leave.
 
Once the new kitchen is open, Flynn says they’ll add a menu of Scottish and Irish favorites, such as Scotch eggs, and a Plowman’s Platter of bread, cheese and relish. The summer menu will feature smoked meat and fish, the winter menu will showcase slow cooked game. Flynn says he hopes to source as much food locally as possible.
 
The Ale House has six employees. With the new kitchen and planned daytime hours, Flynn says the number could double. Currently, the bar opens at 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and at 1 p.m. on Sundays.
 
Partnering with community groups, Flynn hopes to use the Ale House as a home base to train neighborhood residents for jobs in the food service industry. “We just want to be a positive influence in the neighborhood, especially coming from that we’re selling alcohol.”
 
The North Avenue Market building underwent a $1 million facelift last year. In addition to Liam Flynn’s, the Market building houses the WindUp Space and the Baltimore Print Studios. Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, previously located in Mount Vernon, plans to move to the building this fall.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Liam Flynn, co-owner Liam Flynn’s Ale House.
 

It’s a good time to celebrate the Roaring 20s. Director Baz Luhrmann has remade “The Great Gatsby” movie. WC Harlan in Remington is one of Baltimore’s hottest bars. And now the former Martick’s Restaurant Francis is about to be remade into a modern-day speakeasy when it reopens in August.

Speakeasies were hidden bars where in-the-know customers could enjoy a cocktail during Prohibition. It will still be called Martick’s, in honor of the late Morris Martick, the restaurant’s long-time owner, but there won’t be a sign at the Mount Vernon restaurant — just like its predecessor. If the light is on, it’s open. If not, you’re out of luck, says Co-owner Brooks Bennett. Another co-owner is Alex Martick, Morris Martick’s brother.

The property at 214 W. Mulberry St. in Mount Vernon consists of a first floor main dining room and the original 1933 bar, plus a second floor slated to be used for private parties. The first floor can seat about 75.

Bennett says they’re bringing in a chef and a mixologist who will showcase seasonal and regional beverages, highlighting Prohibition-era cocktails.

The menu is preliminary but will feature about a half dozen appetizers, including fries made from blue, white and yellow potatoes. The half dozen or so entrees will emphasize seafood.

The operators are leasing the building from the Martick family. The building will undergo a renovation with an eye toward giving it an old-timey speakeasy atmosphere, with reclaimed wooden floors and photos of the late Martick. 

Bennet hopes to do a soft opening in August, with an official opening in September. Currently Martick’s will likely be open Wednesdays through Sundays, but if business is good, the owners may expand the hours. Bennett says he expects the city to approve the liquor license in July.

The building really was a speakeasy back during Prohibition. After repeal, it became a legitimate bar. For 38 years, Morris Martick ran his French restaurant there before retiring in 2008.  Martick died in 2011 at age 88.

Speakeasies are making a comeback. Bennett says he visited modern day speakeasies from New York to Virginia to get a sense of what might work here in Baltimore.

“It’s all about the mystique and the mood,” he says.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Brooks Bennett, co-owner Martick’s Speakeasy.

Downtown Baltimore’s west side will get another dining destination when a wine bar and brick-oven pizza restaurant opens this fall.
 
Bryan Noto, a former manager at Alewife, is spending $500,000 to open Forno at the Avalon Centerpoint apartment building at 17 N. Eutaw St. Noto says he expects to hire 25 to 30 to work at the 130-seat restaurant, which will open by the end of September.
 
Noto describes the restaurant as “upscale casual,” which will hopefully appeal to downtown workers, young professionals who live in the area and theater fans. The location is across the street from the Hippodrome and next to the new home of Everyman Theatre. The space once housed World of Wings and has been vacant for a number of years.
 
Forno — which means oven in Italian — will serve artisanal 10-inch pizzas, craft beers and 30 wines by the glass.
 
“We’ll try to get some local wineries on board,” Noto says.

It will also serve six to 10 entrees and small plates, varying the Northern California-inspired menu each season according to what’s fresh at the local farms it will use to source the produce.
 
Noto says he is financing the restaurant with a bank loan, his own money and some money from the developer that will go toward construction. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Bryan Noto, Alewife 

Sweet Caroline’s Bistro and Tavern will open in Pazza Luna’s old space in Locust Point by early August.

Owner John Ferrari Jr. is renovating the 2,100-square-foot spot at 1401 E. Clement St., adding new lighting, paint, upgrading the floors and doing some repairs. The restaurant will seat 80 indoors and about another 16 outside. Ferrari declined to discuss his investment in the property or his financing for the 80-seat restaurant.

He says Sweet Caroline’s will be upscale but relaxed, American cuisine with influences from Italy and Spain. The restaurant's dishes will include crab guacamole, a bruschetta trio and a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. Sweet Caroline’s will be family friendly, with a kids’ menu as well.

Ferrari expects to employ about 10 to 12 people and is currently interviewing chefs.   

Ferrari used to own Bamboo’s Restaurant in Ocean City, which he sold a couple of years ago. After six years on the Eastern Shore, Ferrari says the time was right to head back to Baltimore. Between the fast-growing Under Armour and the influx of young families, Locust Point is the place to be, he says. Nearly 1,600 people work at Under Armour’s Locust Point headquarters, and the company recently announced plans to hire an additional 300 this year.

Ferrari chose the name Sweet Caroline’s because it’s a “good, catchy name,” that says “come out and have a good time.”

The Facebook page and website will be up shortly. 

Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: John Ferrari Jr., Sweet Caroline's

Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital hopes a three-story, 6,300-square-foot addition will mean families will wait a few weeks, rather than months, for appointments.

The hospital will move and expand its behavioral health program and the program for children who have severe feeding issues. This will free up 2,500 square feet in the existing building, which it will renovate and use for weight loss, rehabilitation and other clinical programs.

Mt. Washington Pediatric is spending about $3.5 million on the addition and renovations to the main building. Construction on the expansion gets underway this month and will take about a year to complete. Mt. Washington plans to hire as many as 12 over the next two years as it expands. 

The addition and renovation is distinct from its recent $9 million renovation, which included three completed projects: a new neonatal care unit, a new canopy for ambulances, and an upgraded lobby. Those three projects were financed through fundraising.

The construction and renovation is part of a long-term strategic plan for the 25-year-old building on Rogers Avenue in North Baltimore. The ten-year plan includes expanding some of the hospital’s key programs, including behavioral and mental health, feeding, rehabilitation, childhood obesity and sleep studies.

Mt. Washington Pediatric’s Feeding Day Program provides intensive help for children who have difficulty eating. The expansion will allow it to serve 12 infants instead of eight.

The second program to expand, the Behavioral Health Program, assesses and assists children with learning disabilities and mental health challenges. It also has a lengthy waitlist.

“You can imagine as a parent if you call to get an appointment to meet with one of our specialists to find out about strategies for parenting and behavior management, and being told you have to wait three or four months. That’s pretty stressful,” says Mt. Washington CEO Sheldon Stein.

Stein emphasizes that in this era of financial uncertainty in the healthcare industry, the hospital is proceeding very cautiously with the expansion. The $3.5 million is being financed through the hospital’s normal capital budget process, spread out over two years.

Mt. Washington is nestled in a residential community. The hospital met with about a half dozen nearby homeowners, who all gave their approval of the project.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Sheldon Stein, CEO, Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital
 

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