Baltimore’s liquor board on Thursday gave the owner of Harborplace extra time to find a replacement for Hooters, a chain sports bar and restaurant that abruptly vacated a space on the second floor of the Light Street pavilion last June.
The board voted 3 to 0 to grant a 180-day “hardship extension” to transfer the liquor license for Hooters after attorney Caroline Hecker said the developer, an affiliate of MCB Real Estate, was trying to find a replacement.
MCB Real Estate has a long-range plan to tear down the Harborplace pavilions at Pratt and Light streets to make way for a $500 million mixed-use project containing shops, restaurants, apartments and offices. In the meantime, it has been leasing vacant spaces in the existing pavilions to short-term tenants who agree to move out when the developer is ready to move ahead with its long-term project.
MCB is the secured creditor for the Class ‘B’ Beer, Wine and Liquor license previously used by Hooters at 301 Light Street and the individual licensee is Adam Genn, Vice President of MCB Harborplace.
“This is an application for a hardship extension related to the liquor license that was issued for Hooters in Harborplace,” Hecker told the board. “Hooters had been operating for a long time. They closed up last June. The landlord took control of the license at the end of last year, and we’re trying to find a new tenant to operate that space, at least on an interim basis until the redevelopment of Harborplace, and then hopefully on a more permanent basis after that. So we’re requesting an additional 180 days” to find a tenant.
“Are there places operating at Harborplace now?” asked liquor board chair Albert Matricciani Jr.
“There are a handful of businesses that are operating right now,” Hecker replied. “We’ve tried to activate it in the interim.”
The board’s action keeps the former Hooters license active and gives the developer until mid-2025 to find a tenant to take over its space. If the board hadn’t granted the extension, the license would have expired.
When Hooters closed last June, MCB Real Estate issued a statement saying the restaurant’s closing was not due to its location.
“As has been widely reported, Hooters is closing many stores nationwide,” MCB’s statement said in part. “This is not a Harborplace specific issue. Harborplace has had an influx of exciting new tenants and new programming that is attracting people back to Harborplace and this is just the beginning.”
In other action on Thursday, the liquor board:
- Approved an application for a Class ‘B’ Beer, Wine and Liquor license for Checkerspot Brewing at 1421 Ridgely Street, with Judith Neff as the licensee. A sample menu on file with the board lists main entrees such Shrimp and Chicken Jambalaya; New Orleans Flatbread Pizza; Veggie Pesto Flatbread Pizza; Smoked BBQ Chicken Sandwich; Shrimp Salad Wrap and a Reuben sandwich. The move is part of a trend in which small batch brewing companies are applying for Class ‘B’ licenses so they can sell wines and other alcoholic beverages as well as craft beer, attorney Stephan Fogleman told the board.
- Approved a request to transfer a ‘BD7’ license from 861 Washington Boulevard to 1014 West 36th Street, where the Hampden Yards beer garden is located, and allowing outdoor table service.
- Approved a request from Frazier’s on the Avenue, 917-919 West 36th Street, to add outdoor table service.
- Approved a request from Glenroy R. Laing to transfer a ‘BD7’ license from 1117-1119 West 36th Street, where the 13.5 % Wine Bar used to be, to 3900 Roland Avenue, the location of a former church that is being converted to 29 apartments with a restaurant where the sanctuary was. Laing’s attorney, Fogleman, told the board the applicant’s ambitions “are very modest and could be a real niche for the community.” Although a ‘BD7’ license would permit dinner service, Fogleman said, Laing ‘intends to be open for breakfast and lunch only. He has the benefit of being right next to the Somerset senior living facility, a 14-floor facility, and expects the residents of that building to become his customers…It’s a modest operation and it certainly isn’t going to disturb the community in any way, shape or form.”
