Baltimore County : Development News

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is laying the foundation for two major construction projects: the second phase of its $125 million humanities and performing arts building, and a proposed $12.9 million new entrance on UMBC Boulevard and Hilltop Circle at its Catonsville campus.

Funding for the project is included in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed fiscal 2014 budget. If the Maryland Legislature approves the governor’s proposal, the money will be available in July.

Campus architect Joe Rexing says preliminary engineering and design work will begin then if the budget is approved. If all goes well, construction will start in late spring of 2014.

“We are very hopeful. I think it gives us some confidence that it shows up in the governor’s proposed budget,” Rexing says.

After numerous rear-end collisions, UMBC officials expect the new entryway will make the campus a lot safer by replacing existing stop signs with two roundabouts. The plans also call for roadway improvement and landscaping on Hilltop Circle, and upgrades to the garage.

Traffic on the campus has grown along with enrollment, which has risen by nearly 25 percent since 2000 to nearly 13,000 undergraduates and graduate students.

Rexing says vehicles tend to go fast as they exit I-95 and Rolling Road, heading onto the campus via UMBC Boulevard. Vehicles also tend to stack up in the ramps during rush hour, also leading to crashes and problems.

“The interchange dates from the 60’s,” says Rexing, explaining the school plans to replace existing stop signs with two roundabouts.

As campus officials plot the road project, another major construction project is entering its second phase.  

The second phase, which includes a 350-seat concert hall and recording studio, is under construction and will open in the fall of 2014.
 
The first phase of the school’s new 178,000 square-foot performing arts and humanities building opened in September. It’s now home to the theater and English departments, three new writing labs, a 275-seat proscenium theater, a 120-seat black box theater and rehearsal space.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Sources: Joseph Rexing, UMBC architect; John Jeffries, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

It’s called a "kitbar." What’s that? It’s a mash-up of kitchen and bar’ and it’s a new concept in dining and entertainment.

Stone’s Cove Kitbar will open in May at the Boulevard College Center at 10995 Owings Mills Blvd., a retail, office and student housing complex in Owings Mills. 

Founder Bob John “B.J.” Stone says he expects to hire between 40 and 50 to staff the 4,200-square-foot restaurant, which will seat 72. Founder Bob John “B.J.” Stone says he expects to hire between 40 and 50 to staff the new store.

And that’s just the first of up to three more Stone’s Cove locations planned for Maryland between now and 2014. The founder says another Stone’s Cove will open in Maryland this fall, with one or two more in Maryland, Virginia and/or Washington, D.C., in 2014. He declined to say where in Maryland he is looking.

Stone says he chose Owings Mills for Stone Cove’s second location because he’s familiar with the Owings Mills area and because of the College Center’s proximity to Stevenson University. 

“I think Stevenson is a really up and coming university. We’re very excited to be close to Stevenson.”

The first Stone’s Cove opened two years ago in Herndon, Va. Stone says the idea is to combine the best things about a house party and put them in a restaurant.

“Normally when you go to somebody’s house, the party’s always in the kitchen. So we put a kitchen in the middle of a building, and we put a bar around it. So it’s a kitchen-bar. A kitbar,” he explains.

Some of the menu items include ‘appetapas,’ which are a cross between appetizers and entrees. The idea is to order a couple of different items, so diners can experience a variety of flavors in one visit. Some of the menu items include lobster salad in black sesame cones, honey-jalapeno chicken wraps, and roasted flatbreads with a variety of toppings.

 “I like the hospitality industry,” says Stone. “We have a lot of fun.”

The Boulevard College Center is a 55-acres mixed use complex.
 
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: B.J. Stone, Founder, Stone’s Cove Kitbar

First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves all-day breakfast, is eating into the Maryland market.

The Bradenton, Fla., chain is opening this spring across from the Fairgrounds in Timonium, the start of a big expansion in Maryland. First Watch Chief Marketing Officer Chris Tomasso says that between 15 and 20 additional First Watch restaurants are planned for Gaithersburg, Annapolis and other undisclosed locations around the state.

The 3,520-square-foot restaurant is opening at the Timonium Square Shopping Center, anchored by Giant. It will employ 25. This will be Maryland’s third First Watch. There’s one in Pikesville, and another in Rockville.

Tomasso says Timonium was selected because it is a “dynamic community.” The Timonium site will feature an open kitchen concept and lots of natural light.

Florida-based First Watch has more than 100 restaurants in 15 states. It has franchised restaurants in Florida, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wisconsin and licensed restaurants in Arizona.

First Watch specializes in made-to-order omelets, pancakes, sandwiches, salads and crepes.

It’s not open for dinner, instead serving its entire menu seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
 
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Chris Tomasso, chief marketing officer, First Watch

Things may soon be looking up for Towson’s popular Greene Turtle Sports Bar and Grille.

The 26-year-old restaurant hopes to double its space with a 3,000-square-foot expansion in the form of a rooftop deck.

With the Towson Circle III movie theater, restaurant and retail project now under construction, the rooftop expansion could help it attract customers who will soon have more entertainment choices.

Greene Turtle Co-owner Jill Packo says the deck would feature a bar, small kitchen, and table seating. The additional space would accommodate more than 100. Based in Egdewater, the franchise sports bar is rapidly expanding and plans to open 16 to 20 restaurants in the Northeast by the end of 2014. 

The Baltimore County Board of Liquor License Commissioners approved the Greene Turtle’s request for an expansion on Monday. But the restaurant still needs to sign a new lease and complete a geological survey before completing any work at 408 York Road.

“We need to make sure the building can support the rooftop,” Packo says. The restaurant will double its staff if the project goes through.

She says that Baltimore County officials have been very supportive of the idea. Nancy Hafford, the executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce, says the Greene Turtle’s expansion will help it get more customers to the east side of York Road.

As for possible noise from a rooftop deck, Hafford says the owners have always been “very responsible” neighbors and she expects that would continue in the future.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Sources: Jill Packo, co-owner, Towson Greene Turtle; Nancy Hafford, executive director, Towson Chamber of Commerce

Portuguese, Italian and Mexican restaurants will join Cinemark Theatres at the $85 million Towson Square project, expected to generate more than 1,500 jobs.

Plans for the theater have also been revised, with 15 screens instead of the original 16, county officials and developers said at a news conference Tuesday. The theater will be one of two in the country to feature a VIP seating section with private bar access and premium food. Work on the 850-space parking garage will finish in the fall and the entire Towson Square project will open in 2014.

Nando’s Peri-Peri, La Tagliatella and On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina will open at the development, along with five other eateries that have yet to be unveiled. A South African-based franchise that sells flame-grilled Portuguese-style chicken, Nando's has restaurants in Annapolis, Gambrills, National Harbor, Silver Spring and Gaithersburg. La Tagliatella is a European chain that is owned by AmRest Holding SE, which bills itself as the largest independent restaurant operator in Central and Eastern Europe. This would be the first La Tagliatella in Maryland and the fourth in the US.

The development may include some retail, but the center will be predominantly entertainment focused, said Cordish Cos. Vice President Blake Cordish. 

Branding Towson as an area that can attract folks outside the county was a major theme at the news conference.

"We’ve put together a collection of amenities that would be a regional draw,” Cordish said.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz engaged in a little light-hearted rivalry with Bethesda, saying he’s tired of hearing about Bethesda’s wonderful amenities and strong business community.

“Guess what folks? We’re certainly a livable and loveable jurisdiction. We are going to make Towson a regional destination.”

Writer: Amy Landsman
Sources: Blake Cordish, Cordish Cos; Kevin Kamenetz, Baltimore County Executive 

The Jewish Community Center of Baltimore is branching out to downtown Baltimore, opening a Federal Hill branch just for parents and kids. Opening Jan. 14, the center fills the void for city families who have long been frustrated by the lack of children’s gyms and other fun places for preschoolers’ downtown.

The JCC has leased 2,000 square-feet at 1118 Light St., between West and Cross Streets. The former office space will feature a drop-in playroom, a play area, a nursing room and a room that parents can rent for birthday parties.

 “We’ll have age appropriate toys and a clean, comfortable space that parents can come and have their kids play,” says JCC Family Program Coordinator Kim Jacobsohn. “Our goal is to create communities for families to connect with each other,” Jacobson says. “I’m very excited to finally be giving birth to this new project.”

The downtown branch joins the JCC’s two existing campuses in Park Heights and Owings Mills, both of which feature full-service fitness facilities and programing for all ages.

For the past five years or so, the JCC has been offering family programming in borrowed locations in Fells Point, Canton, and Federal Hill, and has long wanted a permanent place to call home.

“We decided to go to Federal Hill because we realized in Federal Hill there’s more likely to be a stay-at-home parent, or a parent who’s working from home, than other neighborhoods in downtown,” Jacobsohn says.

The first floor space is stroller accessible and members can park in a lot behind the building. Jacobsohn and a part-time program facilitator will staff the new facility.

The drop-in rate is $5 per child up to three times, after that, families are asked to join the Downtown JCC. The introductory membership rate is $50 a year.

The JCC is an educational, cultural and recreational agency. You do not have to be Jewish to become a member or sign up for a class.

The JCC will continue to offer its Hello Baby class for parents of newborns, and Infant Massage, in Fells Point and Canton. Other parent-child classes for babies and toddlers will move to the new location in Federal Hill.
 
Source: Kim Jacobsohn, JCC Family Program Coordinator
Reporter: Amy Landsman, [email protected]

Prudential Homesale YWGC Realty is adding a new office in Fells Point and expanding its Timonium office in a new location by Jan. 1. It’s hiring dozens of agents to staff both locations as the housing market slowly recovers.
 
About a third of the Timonium space’s 5,900-square feet will become the Real Estate Education Center of Maryland, where Prudential will teach continuing education and realty licensing classes. Prudential Broker and General Manager Scott Lederer says it expects to gain state approval for the school within 30 days.
 
“As the real estate market improves, we’re poised to take full advantage of it,” Lederer says.
 
The real estate firm is closing its existing Timonium office at 108 West Timonium Road and moving around the corner, to the old Hobby Shop location in the Fairgrounds Plaza at 53 West Aylesbury Road.
 
The 24 agents who currently work in Timonium will all make the move to the new Fairgrounds Center location, says Prudential Broker and General Manager Scott Lederer. Prudential is hiring as 10 new agents in Timonium and could hire as many as another 10 additional down the road.
 
The 3,250-square-foot office at 1500 Thames St. will open mid-December and is the former site of Pad Furniture. Pad is now housed within the Su Casa Furniture location in Ellicott City.
 
A dozen current Prudential agents are ready to move in when the office opens and six to 10 new hires will join thereafter, Lederer says.
 
When fully staffed, the Fells Point office will accommodate up to 50 agents, which Lederer expects will happen within three months.
 
Prudential Homesale YWGC was created in February, when Yerman, Witman, Gaines and Conklin Realty merged with the Homesale Services Group out of Pennsylvania. Homesale YCGC is affiliated with Prudential Realty.
 
 
Source: Scott Lederer, Broker, General Manager, Prudential Homesale YWGC Realty.       
Writer: Amy Landsman, [email protected]
 

For many years, Stone Mill Bakery co-owner Alfie Himmelrich has admired Stevenson Village, the small, upscale shopping center nestled among the farmland in Baltimore County’s Greenspring Valley.
 
Now he’s joining the Village this month, opening a second Stone Mill Bakery & Café in the space formerly occupied by the now-closed Coffee with T. The two-level, 1,000-square foot space in Stevenson is getting a general facelift and will likely house Stone Mill the first or second week of December. In the spring, Himmelrich will add a barbeque pit in the parking lot of the new location with his dad and son – both named Sam – serving as the pitmasters.
 
Himmelrich, who co-owns Stone Mill with his wife Dana, says he probably visits about 10 different spaces a year, but he’s never been tempted to expand beyond his single café and retail outlet at Green Spring Station in Lutherville until now.
 
“Not only have I frequented that location as a consumer, but I’ve always loved it,” he says. “It’s so sophisticated.”
 
“We’re doing some fun stuff. We’re going to do some brunches and we’re setting the upstairs up as a dining room.”
 
The café will employ four people, including one long-time Green Spring employee who will transition to the new location. Himmelrich says the new Stone Mill will be a quieter and more intimate experience than Green Spring, which is often jammed-packed with loyal customers.
 
In addition to the Café, the couple also run the Stone Mill wholesale bakery in the Clipper Mill Industrial Park, which provides bread to shops and restaurants throughout Baltimore and Annapolis. The company employs 65.
 
Stevenson Village has been around since the 1970’s. Max Realty bought the property about three years ago.
 
“I have been a customer of Stone Mill for many years and I was convinced that they would be a great fit for Stevenson Village,” wrote Max Realty co-owner Aaron Max in an email.
 
Reporter: Amy Landsman  [email protected]
Sources: Alfie Himmelrich, co-owner Stone Mill Bakery
Aaron Max, co-owner Max Realty

Big changes are in store for Pike's Diner on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville.
 
The restaurant is now known as Pike's Crab House and Grill and is less of a diner and will have a greater emphasis on seafood. The restaurant still serves prime rib, ribs and fried chicken.

Pike's Crab House and Grill opened after $50,000 in renovations that includes two new bars: one indoors and one outside with an 80-foot awning.

Owner Wil Reich says he has also added a wall dividing the restaurant and bar from a 3,000-square-foot area that will hold a store selling wine, beer and liquor. The 7,000 square-foot restaurant is now 4,000 square feet to make room for the retail operation.

Rich says he hopes that excitement about a new concept and demand for a liquor store will draw more customers. Because of the proximity of many other restaurants on the block, Reich says he believes there is a great demand for customers to purchase beer, wine, and liquor after getting carryout. 

Located at 921 Reisterstown Road, the restaurant is on the same block as Jilly's, Mari Luna, and Vernisage Restaurant, among others. Reich also owns Jilly's. 
 
Dinner entrees such as the crab cake platter top off at $25. The breakfast menu will still be available as well during specific hours.
 
Reich has owned the movie-themed diner for six years. The business features life-like statues of various movie stars to pay homage to the building's previous life as a single-screen movie theater. It will continue to feature live music on Saturday nights. The restaurant expects to add an additional 10 employees to the restaurant's current total of 20 employees.
 
Source: Wil Reich, owner Pike's Crab House and Grill
Writer: Alexandra Wilding, [email protected]
 

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

Most turtles are not known for their speed, but the planned growth of The Greene Turtle Sports Bar and Grille is anything but slow.
 
By the end of 2014, the Maryland company plans to open an additional 16 to 20 restaurants, including a major expansion in Long Island, N.Y., Greene Turtle CEO Bob Barry says. The restaurants will be a mixture of company-owned and franchise locations. The company hires 60 employees at each location that opens. The average Greene Turtle location seats 220 in the dining room and another 120 in the bar area. 

The company and franchisees could spend as much as $36 million on the expansion while the company's staff of 1,800 employees could grow by 1,200 workers across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, Barry says. Greene Turtle restaurants are, on average, about 7,000 square feet. 

So how has the Edgewater company been able to expand so rapidly? A report released by food consulting company Technomic suggests that restaurants focused on franchising such as The Greene Turtle have grown the most during tough economic times. By focusing on expanding their brands, franchise restaurants can also move into locations vacated by closing businesses, according to the report. 

Barry says that because more people have home entertainment systems, The Greene Turtle needs to provide more for customers than flat screens to watch sports games. They have focused on trying to make the venues family-friendly.

The company currently has 34 locations, and plans to expand to 40 by March 2013. They will open an additional three locations in 2013, and 10 in 2014.
 
Construction began on the restaurant's newest location at the White Marsh Mall, and should open in January. Plans for the location include an outdoor patio with a roof for winter and summer outdoor dining.
 
Three of the company’s new locations will be in Delaware including in Dover and Newark. Construction is underway at the location in Dover and the restaurant plans to open February 2013.
 
The company is also scouting locations in central Pennsylvania, including the areas of York and Harrisburg.
 
Source: Bob Barry, CEO and President of The Greene Turtle
Writer: Alexandra Wilding, [email protected]
 

Construction on the historic Senator Theatre could begin the end of this month or early September now that it has the city's go ahead, says Kathleen Cusack, a co-leasee of the property with her father, Buzz Cusack.

The new Senator with its four movie screens and wine bar could open March 2013, depending on the construction schedule. The city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation OK'd the Cusacks' plan earlier this month. The entire project is costing $3 million, of which the Cusacks are investing $1 million, and the remainder is from a commercial bank loan and city and state funding.

The Cusacks are now in the process of restoring the main lobby. The original wood paneling and mural are under restoration and professional artists have been hired to do the work, she says. Cusack says the restored theater and its additions will open together, and not in phases. 

The Senator Theatre occupies about 65 percent of its lot, leaving a small area for parking in the rear. Cusack says they are expanding the theater by “filling in the corners” of the lot with the construction of the three new theaters and the wine bar.

The main theater “needs a lot of work,” Cusack says. It formerly seated between 800 to 900 people, but the original seats are being replaced with seats that are larger and more comfortable and she expects its seating capacity to be 770 when the work is done.

Cusack leases The Charles Theater, 1711 North Charles St., in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. But Cusack says that plans for the Senator are quite different from the Charles.
 
“The Charles is an art house,” says Cusack, and plays films that are often not shown in other venues in Baltimore.  “The Senator has never been an art house. It has always played big Hollywood products. And, we don’t want to compete with the Charles.”
 
After a competitive process in which four proposals were submitted, Baltimore City last year awarded the Cusacks a 40-year lease on the property. The city bought the theater three years ago after it went into foreclosure. 
 
One of the new auditoriums will have a seating capacity of 150; the other two auditoriums will seat between 60 to 80 people each. “It will be like any movie theater with multiple screens. The auditoriums will play national movies,” like the Senator itself, she says.
 
The wine bar will serve light fare and feature outdoor tables along York Road.
 
“Our vision is to restore the Senator as a beautiful Art Deco movie palace,” says Cusack.
 
Source: Kathleen Cusack, The Senator Theatre
Writer: Barbara Pash

Towson University is bringing four of its disparate community health and wellness groups into the new Towson City Center building whose anchor tenant moved in this month.
 
The four centers will take up nearly 47,000 square feet when the university completes its move this week. The Institute for Well-Being is composed of the Center for Adults with Autism; the Occupational Therapy Center; the Speech, Language and Hearing Center; and, the Wellness Center. The university is spending $6 million on the relocation to downtown Towson. 
 
The university’s radio station WTMD will also move to the new office builiding, making the university one of the largest tenants of the $27 million Towson City Center. Other tenants will include the Bagby Restaurant Group’s farm-to-table restaurant Cunningham’s; anchor tenant MileOne Automotive, which opened doors at the new space Aug. 2; BusinessSuites; and, WMS Partners.
 
“We’re taking programs that are currently spread out and placing them all together under one roof,” Director of the Institute for Well-Being Sharon Glennen says. “This will allow us to expand.”
 
The Center for Adults with Autism provides art, music and rock climbing classes to hundreds of autistic clients. The new space will include a 1,500-square-foot model apartment that can be used to prepare autistic adults for independent living.
 
The Wellness Center, which serves about 325 clients in the community, has a blood lab, a metabolic cart and a Nexus scanner. The roughly 10,000-square-foot new space has a better layout with the exercise studio connected to the other rooms so that staff can better monitor the clients. There are currently six staff members, but more may be added within six to 12 months, Wellness Center Director Scott Fidler says.
 
The Speech, Hearing and Language Center is the largest of the four organizations, serving more than 1,000. The new space includes two new hearing testing sound booths to make a total of four. There will be two classrooms for fall and spring programs provided to students with disabilities, allowing more attendees than before when the programs were offered at various locations around the community.
 
The Occupational Therapy will include services for the Stroke Survivor’s Education and Support Group, with a model bathroom and kitchen to retrain stroke survivors in daily living.

Writer: Jolene Carr, 
Source: Sharon Glennen, Towson University 

An Italian restaurant chain is saying buon giorno to Greater Baltimore as it expands its presence in malls owned by General Growth Properties Inc.

Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant is spending $1 million to open a 250-seat eatery at White Marsh Mall by the end of October.
The company will hire 80 to staff the 7,000-square-foot restaurant, says John Thall, Buca’s senior vice president of business development.

Owned by Planet Hollywood, the Orlando-based chain operates 88 U.S. and seven international locations, including restaurants in   Gaithersburg and Washington, D.C. It recently signed deal with General Growth Properties to open 10 restaurants at its malls in Texas, Illinois, Georgia and six other states.

“Malls attract a lot of energy,” Thall says. The company is looking at regional sites in Southern Maryland, Chesapeake Va., and Winchester, Va., for additional locations.

One of the restaurant’s distinct features is a wine rack holding used, empty bottles. Customers sign the bottles they order and they are left on display in the restaurant, leaving a “good memento for people who want to come back,” Thall says.

Writer: Julekha Dash; [email protected]
Source: John Thall, Buca di Beppo

Consulting services firm Armada has relocated to a larger headquarters in Hunt Valley is looking to add as much as 10,000 square feet of space to accommodate its growing workforce.

The company, which offers healthcare, employer services and insurance consulting firm, moved last month from Timonium to a 12,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Hunt Valley from an 8,000-square-foot location in Timonium.

In the past 18 months, the company's staff has increased by 45 percent, and the company plans to hire an additional six to eight employees this year, says Armada Co-founder, Keith Sullivan. It currently employs 48 and will hire a director of communications, an underwriting manager and administration staff. 

Armada also secured options on an additional 8,000 to 10,000 square-foot space adjacent to its new headquarters which could accommodate a doubling of its current workforce of just under 50 employees, Sullivan says. 

Sullivan says his goal is to continue to grow the business steadily and to provide consistent quality to clients. 

"My goal is to develop all of our businesses with the understanding that we'll need to fortify our business with really great people as we do that," Sullivan says. 

The new space consolidates the company to one central area which will help with collaboration across all parts of the company, Sullivan says. At the old spot, the company was spread among different floors. 
 
The company has two operating divisions. One division provides business consulting and services on topics such as human resources, benefits, and managed payroll for mid-market companies, mostly in the mid-Atlantic. The other division creates and distributes insurance programs nationally.

Additionally, the company expanded and upgraded their technology including a studio to produce in-house training and communication videos for clients. 

The new construction by Merritt Properties at 230 Shilling Circle in Hunt Valley is a certified LEED Platinum building. 
  
Source: Keith Sullivan, co-founder of Armada.
Writer: Alexandra Wilding, [email protected]