3 legacy Cross Street Market tenants to open in May

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Fenwick’s Choice Meats, Steve’s Lunch and The Sweet Shoppe are slated as the first three stalls to open at the redeveloped Cross Street Market next month.

Caves Valley Partners and CANAdev undertook a year-long redevelopment of the Federal Hill market. In October the developers announced the first 10 tenants at the overhauled market, which includes 26 planned stalls and is expected to cost about $7 million.

“We hope that longtime regulars will support them heavily in the early days of the redeveloped market and are fully confident that as additional concepts debut in the market they will thrive in a way they couldn’t have dreamed of a few years ago,” Arsh Mirmiran, of Caves Valley Partners, said in a statement.

Phubs, which has a location in Hanover, and Sobeachy,  whose owners previously owned Green Grass Tall Trees at Pratt Street Farmers Market, intend to open new locations at Cross Street Market. Burger Bar and Rice Crook also plan locations at the market shed.

The opening of the vendors marks a milestone for a projects that’s faced significant challenges.

Caves Valley Partners began working with the city in 2015 on a deal to redevelop market and struck an agreement in November 2016 to overhaul the building.

After working out details surrounding finance and responsibility for deferred maintenance the city and developer, operating as CSM Ventures LLC, struck a deal in November.

But complications erupted from tenants in the building over the redevelopment schedule and over how long the building would be closed to accommodate renovations.

Caves Valley Partners, in February 2017, told the Baltimore Public Markets Corp., which oversees operations of most public markets, that the developer was walking away from the deal.

By March, however, the developer and city and had made progress toward redeveloping the market, and the deal was continued. Last October Caves Valley Partners announced the first tenants in the redeveloped market.

One former tenant, Wireless One Inc., continues suing the city, claiming status as a “displaced person entitled to moving and relocation benefits.”

The Baltimore City Circuit Court rejected the claims, and the Court of Special Appeals in an unreported opinion supported the lower court. The Court of Appeals is slated to hear an appeal on May 2.

Baltimore, to varying degrees of success, has sought to breathe new life into its six public markets.

The Baltimore Public Market Corp.-led $5 million overhaul of the Broadway Market in Fells point is underway. Work on the north shed is complete with work on the south shed set to begin.

War Horse Cities LLC, which owns Belvedere Square Market, plans to redevelop Hollins Market in west Baltimore. But the firm needed to close a $3.25 million budget gap to make the $5 million project work. The company now only intends to finish phase one of the project. The markets corporation will handle completing the work and will then manage the facility.

Seawall Development was hired to lead efforts to overhaul the city’s landmark Lexington Market downtown. The firm recently unveiled renderings of its vision for the market as part of a proposed $40 million overhaul.

Correction: A previous version of this article reported Nunnally Bros. and Smoke would return to Cross Street Market.  CANAdev informed The Daily Record on April 17, 2019 those businesses will not return to the market as announced on Oct. 2, 2018.