North Avenue Market’s new ownership looks to lure creative industry
Once the sale of the North Avenue Market complex was official a few weeks ago, a new arts partnership began envisioning a future for this 1928 landmark where Baltimore’s carriage trade once did their food shopping.
In a discussion with the ownership team this week, several themes emerged.
Don’t look for the old market building to become luxury apartments or expense-account restaurants. There are no plans to flip the market as a Target, a Home Depot or other national brand.
“The goal is to provide an environment for creative industries in this setting,” said Michael Haskins Jr., co-founder of the Currency Studio, a fashion and design business. “We hope to propel up and coming emerging businesses here. They could be culinary, music, art or fashion.”
Haskins is the market’s creative and cultural visionary and is a partner in the development team.
Other members include John Renner, a North Avenue property owner who is the managing partner at 22 Lanes LLC. Matt Oppenheim, a fellow developer and 22 Lanes partner, and Ashley Wallace, who represents the Central Baltimore Future Fund.
The market, second only in size to downtown’s Lexington Market, is nearly 100,000 feet of space (including a deep basement ready to be reclaimed) architecturally marked by a pair of Mediterranean-style stucco towers.
It once housed a 22-lane duckpin bowling alley, a Murphy’s variety store, a barber shop, a large drug and sundries store, fashion shops in addition to a massive food hall illuminated by clerestory windows.
What went wrong? Blame the Great Depression, the effects of World War II, a 1968 market fire and a 1980s cave-in of midtown Baltimore property values.
The market sold for $3.15 million; that’s the beginning of what promises to be a $30 million makeover.
This project has major state funding. The Maryland Historic Revitalization Tax Credit program awarded the new owners $4,782,186. The state’s capital bond program kicked-in another $1.8 million.
The nearby Johns Hopkins University gave $85,000 and attorneys from Baltimore firm Ballard Spahr contributed legal work.
“The market’s location and scale in Baltimore City makes it one of the most important revitalization projects,” said Renner. “I have loved this neighborhood forever. The old Wind Up Space [a former bar within the market with live music and dance parties] was one of my favorite places to dance and connect with people.”
The market has a thriving new tenant, Mobtown Ballroom & Café, which moved from an old church in Pigtown to the market’s western flank at Maryland Avenue, a spot once occupied by Red Emma’s and, decades ago, Read’s drug store.
And while Mobtown is known for its Friday and Monday dances (think Lindy Hop and swing), it also added a breakfast-lunch-and dinner operation centered around a pressed tin fronted bar. There is also a new padded dance floor and stage.
“Our dancers like the market being just off I-83. It is a more central location,” said Michael Seguin, the ballroom’s co-owner. “But since we opened for breakfast, and have a pastry chef, our homemade biscuits are flying out the oven. In just a few weeks, we’re doing 30 breakfasts a day but lunch has been the busiest. There’s a need for daytime stuff in Station North.”
“I love Station North,” said Seguin, who lived for years on nearby Saint Paul Street. “The neighborhood is in the process of re-emerging. I feel like the pandemic killed the memory of coming here. We have to rebuild the connection of younger people to this arts and entertainment district.”
Other new tenants are The Club Car Baltimore, a queer performance venue and cocktail bar, and Baltimore Youth Arts, a nonprofit education organization.
Look for the refurbishment of the old market to stretch over the next year.
