Design : Development News

Harris Teeter is opening its Ellicott City store April 3, according to a company spokeswoman, even as the North Carolina grocer considers a sale to two private equity firms.

It does not yet have an opening date for its Canton Crossing shop to open in a shopping center along with Target, Michael's, Five Below and local Greek restaurant Samos. The company says in a statement that it will "continue its strategic, new store growth plan." 

The grocery store will anchor a $22 million open-air shopping center called Town Square at Turf Valley. The site will also feature three or four restaurants and 10 to 15 shops totaling 100,000 square feet, says Tom Fitzpatrick, president of Owings Mills developer Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corp.

The 48,000-square-foot Ellicott City Harris Teeter will be the grocer's eighth Maryland store. It opened a store in Baltimore City late last year, anchoring Locust Point’s McHenry Row. The Turf Valley store will employ 115, Jones says.

Located at the Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center, the new shopping center will have many of the same features as Greenberg’s Hunt Valley Towne Centre and Annapolis Towne Centre at Parole, including an outdoor gathering space with fireplace and water fountains. It will feature all-brick landscaping and exterior.

Fitzpatrick says he hopes the 100,000-square-foot center will draw from Clarksville, Glenelg and other affluent communities in western Howard County.

Restaurants will be of the upscale casual variety, rather than fine dining, Fitzpatrick says. He declined to name the restaurants and shops slated to open until a formal announcement is made later this year.

The Turf Valley site will also include a separate office complex, 160,000 square feet of office space, 150 townhomes and 192 condominiums built by the Keelty Co. of Stevenson. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Tom Fitzpatrick, Greenberg Gibbons; Danna Jones, Harris Teeter

The owners of popular Canton eatery Fork & Wrench are opening their second restaurant and a market inside the swanky new Fells Point apartment complex Union Wharf this spring.
 
About one-third of the 4,350-square-foot space will be dedicated to a market selling produce, meat and prepared foods, Co-owner Andy Gruver says. Work on the 140-seat restaurant and market will begin in a few weeks, once the owners get the necessary permits.
 
Gruver estimates that the investment in the new business will total $600,000 to $800,000. The restaurant will employ around 30.

Gruver and partner Jason Sanchez are building the restaurant themselves and relying on recycled materials, like its sister property on Boston Street. The new restaurant will serve locally sourced food, but other details, including the chef and menu, are still being worked out. Fork & Wrench is known for its farm-to-table menu, hand-crafted cocktails and an interior that evokes the working classes of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. 
 
Fork and Wrench owners had been looking for spot for a second restaurant for some time. The owners decided that the space at the 281-unit at Union Wharf presented the best opportunity since potential diners live right in the building and in several other apartment buildings nearby.
 
The first phase of the apartment building is fully leased and residents will soon begin moving into the building’s second phase, which includes the units that jut out into the water. That’s according to Jeff Kayce, vice president of Bozzuto Group, the building’s developer. The average monthly rent at Union Wharf is $2,350.
 
The building’s amenities include a fitness center, conference room and an infinity pool. The developers were going for a South Beach, Miami vibe with the property.

The restaurant's Executive Chef Cyrus Keefer will create his Charm City Common Dinner at the James Beard House Monday Feb. 24. The restaurant will offer a sneak peek of the James Beard dinner in Baltimore on January 28. Call the restaurant for tickets. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Andy Gruver, Fork & Wrench; Jeff Kayce, Bozzuto Group

A three-year-old interior design firm whose clients include Millennial Media and Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. is scouting for office space in Baltimore City and adding to its staff.

Kelly Ennis, founding principal of the Verve Partnership, says she is looking at Clipper Mill and other historic properties in the area with the hope of leasing a 2,000-square-foot office in January. “We’re looking for an office that reflects our brand — less formal but creative and professional,” says Ennis, who has been working out of her Hampden home. Ennis has hired Doug Kaufman of AGM Commercial Real Estate Advisors LLC as her broker. 

The six-person firm will soon add another designer and a project architect and grow to about 20 employees over the next three years. Ennis says she eventually would like to expand to other smaller cities, such as Denver and Pittsburgh.  

A Pennsylvania native, Ennis moved to Baltimore in the 1980s to get her BFA in interior architecture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She moved to Los Angeles for eight years, where she worked for HOK, the largest US-based architectural engineering firm. Locally, Ennis has worked for Gensler.

Ennis wanted to start her own firm because she wanted to design offices where the company’s brand is incorporated in its interior design. For instance, Verve blended a casual and corporate environment on behalf of Millennial Media, designing a “park like” area for flexible meeting space and a “jam room” for the staff musicians.

OmniTI, an IT services firm with offices in Fulton and New York City, wanted a space that fostered creativity. Verve incorporated graffiti and musical instruments in the office design. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Kelly Ennis, Verve Partnership 

Two Baltimore hotels are refreshing their restaurants as they renovate their properties. 
 
A new hotel restaurant will come to downtown Baltimore in late April once the Baltimore Tremont Plaza Suites Hotel converts to Hilton’s Embassy Suites. And the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards is rolling out a new menu and farm-to-table concept this month after hiring Executive Chef Bill Downes from the Mayflower Renaissance in Washington, D.C., for its restaurant the Yard.
 
Brickstones will open first in Baltimore and then expand nationally in other Hilton properties, Project Manager John Hardy says. His Atlanta company, the John Hardy Group Inc., is overseeing the construction as the Tremont’s makeover into an Embassy Suites. The concept revolves around an open show kitchen with pizza and rotisserie ovens and made-to-order omelets and buffet stations for breakfast. The restaurant will also serve lunch and host a managers’ reception in the evening at the bar with drinks and snacks.
 
Designed by Hilton with Next Step Design serving as the food and beverage consultant, Brickstones Grill will replace Tug’s Bar and Grille.
 
The new restaurant is part of an overall renovation that will include updates to the lobby, health club and 300 guest rooms.
 
The Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor is relying on One Straw Farm, Albright Farms and other local suppliers as it rolls out new signature items, Downes says. The idea is to take classic Baltimore dishes and put a modern twist on them. His creations include crab pot pie topped with phyllo pastry and a brownie sundae topped with Goetze’s Candy Co. caramels.  
 
The hotel wants to “elevate” the sports bar to suit local tastes that have become more sophisticated and boost the food and beverage sales at the 524-room hotel, General Manager Onahlea Shimunek says. The changes will hopefully help it appeal to locals and not just guests.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: John Hardy, the John Hardy Group; Bill Downes and Onahlea Shimunek, Marriott

Columbia officials have drafted a plan to enhance the 16-acre park surrounding Merriweather Post Pavilion to make it a year-round destination for more festivals, art shows and community gatherings and not just primarily a place to see outdoor concerts.

The Columbia Association has approved more than $2 million in spending on walkways, a plaza, additional parking and a central gathering area that will eventually include an interactive fountain and space for performances at Symphony Woods. The nonprofit, which manages the planned community in Howard County, plans to use two state grants totaling $250,000 to pay for the redevelopment.

Construction would begin after the annual Wine in the Woods 2013 in May , says Columbia Association Project Manager Jan Clark. The association has presented its plan to the county planning board, which will deliberate on it July 19. The first phase would be completed by spring 2014.

Right now, Symphony Woods’ star attraction is Merriweather Post Pavilion, whose upcoming concerts include My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver and Gotye. Columbia officials hope to offer more recreational uses once the redevelopment is complete.

“We want to make this one of the leading cultural facilities in the mid-Atlantic,” says Mark Thompson, director of downtown redevelopment for Howard County. “That’s our ambition. I’m very confident we can accomplish this.”

New pathways in the wooded area will make Symphony Woods more pedestrian and bike friendly and connect it with adjacent neighborhoods. The Symphony Woods makeover is one of many long-term projects that Columbia officials are plotting to make it look more like the open-air town center in Reston, Va.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Mark Thompson, Howard County; Jan Clark, Columbia Association 

A design collaborative composed of university officials and architects have found a permanent home at the North Avenue Market building in Station North.
 
D Center members moved this month from their temporary home at 218 W. Saratoga St. in downtown Baltimore to the 3,500-square-foot spot at 16 W. North Ave. Money from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts is funding the move and D Center programming, which will include exhibits, lectures and other events that will involve collaboration among artists, architects and academics, says D Center Board President Klaus Philipsen.
 
During the past year, D center collaborated with numerous partners, including the Creative Alliance’s Art to Dine For series, the Transmodern Festival, and Wide Angle Youth Media. D center has also formed ongoing partnerships with area colleges and universities, who use D center’s exhibition and meeting space to conduct classes and hold design reviews.
 
D center has also formed ongoing partnerships with area colleges and universities, who use D center’s exhibition and meeting space to conduct classes and hold design reviews.

Home to Liam Flynn’s Ale House and Baltimore Print Studios, the North Avenue Market is undergoing a $1 million makeover. The addition of D Center is the latest development in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District that has seen a number of new restaurants, housing and shops in recent years. One of its long-vacant buildings is getting a Flemish beer-themed restaurant and a Milk and Honey Market.

Writer: Julekha Dash; [email protected]
Source: Klaus Philipsen

A new transformation school in Baltimore has gotten help from the state in designing its future.
 
Baltimore Design School will use a $200,000 state bond to help renovate the school's future location in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District and add to its operating fund, says Paul Jacob, Chair of the Facilities Committee for Baltimore Design School.
 
A bond bill passed by the Maryland General Assembly during the 2012 legislative session funded the grant along with a total of $7.5 million in various projects across the state.
 
Baltimore Design School, a Baltimore City Public Transformation School, focuses on applied design fields including graphic design, fashion design, and architecture. The school currently has classes for grades 6 and 7, but will eventually serve more than 600 students in grades 6 to 12. The school opened last fall and is in a temporary location in the Kenilworth Park neighborhood of Baltimore until the renovations are complete.
 
The school began renovations at the site at 1500 Barclay St. last month and contractors so far have gutted and cleaned the interior of the building. The building sat vacant for more than 20 years but was most recently used for clothing manufacturing, Jacob says.
 
Contractors will work to improve the structural frame of the building including exterior brickwork.
 
Over the next year, the school will go through the basic construction process including laying all of the utility lines, putting up drywall, and refitting the entire building with new windows.
 
Eventually the school will provide state-of-the-art computer labs and technology to support the ever-changing design fields.
 
Construction is expected to be completed by May 2013 and is on schedule, Jacob says.
 
Source: Paul Jacob, chair of the facilities committee for Baltimore Design School.
Writer: Alexandra Wilding, [email protected]
 
 

A new Hampden shop selling vintage clothing and threads from smaller designers hopes to appeal to both men and women in their search for that perfect T-shirt or unique accessory.
 
Hunting Ground opened last month in a 170-year-old church on Falls Road near the Avenue in Hampden.
 
Co-owners Jessica Soulen and Jenna Hattenburg have years of experience working in retail and decided to open a store where both men and women can shop together. They were looking to fill a void in Baltimore.
 
"Guys especially have a hard time finding stuff in Baltimore," Soulen says.
 
The 1,100-square-foot Hunting Ground aspires to create a casual atmosphere where shoppers can find interesting items, and neat accessories. Additionally, the shop buys clothing from people looking to sell items. The store's owners sell items that fit into a modern wardrobe versus having costume pieces, Soulen says.
 
The shop wanted to work with small designers to acquire its new clothing. The shop carries no big labels or anything you could find at the mall, Soulen says.
 
Soulen says that she and Hattenburg wanted to open a shop in Hampden to be close to a major shopping destination for Baltimore locals, but they didn't want a narrow space on the Avenue for their shop. Instead, they waited for a spot with more space and ended up with what Soulen describes as a very unique, warm, and inviting location with big windows and lots of light.
 
After acquiring the property, Soulen and Hattenburg worked on building out the space starting in November.
 
"We did everything ourselves from building racks to painting. Everything is custom-made," Soulen says.
 
The new project for the owners is to establish their e-commerce site to extend their sales to an international market.
 
 
Source: Jessica Soulen, co-owner of Hunting Ground
Writer: Alexandra Wilding, [email protected]

Baltimore County officials have approved preliminary plans for an office, shopping and residential complex in Owings Mills that aims to be a smaller version of Quarry Lake.
 
It’s one of several major developments in the works for Owings Mills. Others include David S. Brown Enterprises' Metro Centre, a $65 million makeover of the Owings Mills Mall and a Wegmans-anchored retail complex called Foundry Row.

Steven Koren, of Columbia’s Koren Development Co., is building Delight Quarry on approximately 120 acres in northwest Baltimore County, at the intersection of Franklin Boulevard and Nicodemus Road.
 
Delight Quarry's residential part calls for 75 single-family houses, 66 townhouses and 108-units of active adult condominiums. In addition, there will be 20,000-square feet of retail space and 136,500-square feet of office space.
 
Delight Quarry will follow the pattern of the Quarry Lake development, with buildings clustered around a quarry that is being allowed to fill in and become a lake.
 
Koren says he doesn’t yet know what the development will cost. He says he is not at the stage where he can give prices for the housing or potential tenants for the retail and office spaces. Those decisions will be made in conjunction with the residential and commercial builders, although neither has been chosen at this point. He also doesn't have a timeframe yet for construction. 

“We don’t do this [development] in a vacuum,” Koren says of housing prices and tenant leases. “It depends on market reception.”
 
Glenn Barnes, president of the Reisterstown Improvement Association and a manager of the Long and Foster Reisterstown real estate office, says questions were raised at a community meeting about the viability of the office and retail portions given the number of vacant commercial buildings on Reisterstown Road.
 
Koren says he is aware of the downturn in housing and other sectors. “Every decision is made in concert with the market and how we proceed in a productive manner. We have to work within the constraints of the market,” he says.
 
Baltimore County officials have approved the development plan and Koren is currently finalizing the engineering plans for construction. When he does, he will return to the county for approval of a final plan.


Sources: Steven Koren, Koren Development Co.; Glenn Barnes, president, Reisterstown Improvement Association, and manager, Long and Foster Reisterstown.
Writer: Barbara Pash

The Chesapeake Bay Trust is considering applications from towns and cities in Maryland and neighboring states to spur economic development, energy efficiency and sustainable communities. The trust is awarding a total of $400,000 in environmental grants to the Free State and Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. 
 
The grants are for a program called Green Streets-Green Jobs-Green Towns. The program was introduced in 2011, a partnership of the trust, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Maryland.
 
This year’s funding more than doubles the amount available in 2011, when 10 cities and towns received grants from $25,000 to $35,000 each for their projects. A maximum of $100,000 may be awarded for a project.
 
Janna Davis, the trust’s acting executive director, expects to award eight to 12 grants in 2012, depending on the amount requested for the project. The winning projects will be based on EPA criteria.
 
Previous projects ranged from storm water improvement to local roadways, planting trees and creating rain gardens, using energy efficient sources for street lighting, instituting recycling measures and creating and training people in green jobs.
 
“We want people trained in green jobs so they can then become the experts” in that field, says Davis.
 
The grant program is open to local governments and nonprofit organizations in urban and suburban communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed area.
 
Source: Janna Davis, Chesapeake Bay Trust acting executive director
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 
 
 
 

Soon another vacant storefront in Highlandtown will temporarily house an art gallery.
 
It's all part of the Pop-Up Gallery project, a partnership between The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture at UMBC, and the Highlandtown Arts and Entertainment District.
 
The second of three Pop-Up Gallery projects in the neighborhood will have an opening March 3 from 5 p.m to 7 p.m. at 3216 Eastern Ave. just east of the Creative Alliance. The gallery installation will run through March 17.
 
University of Maryland Baltimore County graduate student Lexie Macchi is curating the three Pop-Ups. That is according to Sandra Abbott, who is also a member of the Highlandtown Arts District and curator of collections and outreach at UMBC's Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture.
 
The concept of pop-up spaces is to take an unoccupied commercial space and temporarily convert it into a thriving business or art space. Organizers hope to stimulate interest in the property and the neighborhood, feature local artists, and create networking opportunities for local businesses. Pop-Up shops and galleries have gained traction recently across the country as a creative way to generate business in vacant spaces.
 
With the Highlandtown Pop Up, the goal is to partner with merchants and landlords to bring attention to spaces to stimulate rentals and sales, Abbott says.
 
Abbott says organizers of the project want to highlight the possibilities of Highlandtown and increase traffic to the area.
 
In the case of Baltimore's Pop-Up project, the first gallery opened in December and ran for six weeks on South Conkling Street.
 
Funding for the project is provided in part by UMBC. The Highlandtown Community Association helped obtain funding for the project as well, Abbott says.
 
Charm City Land Co. LLC donated the space for the project.
 
Organizers have been invited to speak about the project at the National Main Streets Conference in April in Baltimore.
 
"We want it to go viral and then everyone will be doing it," Abbott says.

Writer: Alexandra Wilding
Source: Sandra Abbott, member of the Highlandtown Arts District and curator of collections and outreach at UMBC's Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County plans to ask the state for $37.4 million at the 2012 General Assembly session so it can break ground this summer on the second phase of the school’s performing arts and humanities building.

The $165 million facility will be the Catonsville school’s largest building to date.

The building is being designed and constructed in two phases. The first phase will open July 1 and includes performing spaces, scene shops, and academic rooms for the department of theatre and classroom spaces and offices for the English department. It broke ground in 2010.

With the funding UMBC hopes to receive from the General Assembly, the university hopes to break ground of the second phase and complete it by summer of 2014.

UMBC hopes the construction of the building will raise the profile of the arts and humanities programs on campus.

"We do want people to know that we have vibrant arts and humanities programs at UMBC even though we might be better known for our programs in the sciences," says UMBC’s Director of Arts Management Thomas Moore.

The current facilities at UMBC are not up to standards for the arts and also make student-professor interaction difficult in the humanities since certain faculty members have to share offices, Moore says.

Some of the highlights of the building include a 350-seat concert hall, a 275-seat theatre, as well as dance and recording studios.

Many high-tech additions will be made to classrooms to make learning more interactive and to improve the learning environment. The building is also on track for LEED certification, Moore says.

The school enrolled more than 13,000 arts and humanities students in the fall.

Writer: Alexandra Wilding
Source: Thomas Moore, UMBC

The Maryland Institute College of Art is renovating a building for graduate programs that anchors North Avenue in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District.

Scheduled to be completed fall of 2012, the renovations to Studio Center will include a new main lobby and gallery area, café, photography studio and lecture hall. MICA has hired Whiting Turner as the general contractor and Cho Benn Holback+Associates as its architect for the 120,000-square-foot building.

Some renovations began in the summer with new glass windows and landscaping to the building’s front entrance, which faces North Avenue.

Sprucing up the building will show that there’s “more life going on in North Avenue,” says Ben Stone, executive director of the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. “Whenever one person invests in an area, other people take notice."

Recent renovations to the Load of Fun gallery and Joe Squared pizza’s addition of outdoor seating, combined with the MICA renovations, ought to breathe more life into that section of North Avenue, Stone says.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Ben Stone, Station North; MICA

The owners of Waterfront Kitchen in Fells Point hope to expand their “mission-driven” business with a new catering operation next year.

Waterfront Co-owner Charles Nabit says that in January he will begin hunting for a space for the new venture. He is looking for a spot that is approximately 1,500 square feet.

The catering firm may rely on ingredients from the Living Classrooms Foundation’s Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students (BUGS) program, which serves inner-city kids. The 175-seat Waterfront Kitchen sources its ingredients from BUGS. It also hired several employees from Living Classrooms’ Project Serve, which provides job training to at-risk men and women.

Nabit says he is not sure how many the catering operation will employ because it is still in the planning stages. He and partner Michael Klein spent $1.5 million to open Waterfront Kitchen in the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park. Patrick Sutton Interior Design outfitted the space.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Charles Nabit

Howard County’s is debuting its largest branch next month — a $29 million new building in Ellicott City expected to bring in one million visitors per year.

Opening mid-December, the new Miller branch will replace an aging building with three times the space and, hopefully, a LEED Gold certification.

The 63,000-square-foot library will include a stone bridge, a garden to hold science and technology education and a terrace that will serve as an outdoor classroom or a spot where guests can listen to acoustic guitar concerts.

Yes, you just read library and acoustic guitar in the same sentence.

The site will house the Howard County Historical Society and a history education center, including genealogy resources, says Valerie Gross, CEO of the Howard County Library System.

A 3,000-square-foot meeting room will allow it to hold best-selling authors like Jodi Picoult, who will make an appearance March 16. Gross says she expects up to 600 visitors for the event, some coming as far away as New York.

A garden located in a quarter-acre park will be the setting for health, science and environmental education. It will include a pizza garden – a garden growing tomatoes, onions, green peppers and other vegetables to encourage kids to order vegetables on their pizza.

Howard County, and a $2 million grant from the Maryland State Department of Education, provided funding for the building.