As we approach the two-year anniversary of the city reaching a deal with Caves Valley Partners to re-do Cross Street Market in Federal Hill, the market today announced 10 new and returning vendors, ranging from longtime tenants to a shiny new coffee shop, plus Korean and Vietnamese options.
Those who liked it the old way will be happy to see staples like Steve’s, The Sweet Shoppe and two butchers, Nunnally Bros. Choice Meats and Fenwick’s Choice Meats, on the list.
Smoke, the beloved Cockeysville barbecue joint, also kind of fits into this category, as the business had a pop-up stall at the market this past winter. Another former pop-up, Phil Han’s donut maker, Sundays, isn’t in the announced lineup.
New additions, some of which were revealed more than a year ago, include Annapolis’ Ceremony Coffee, Burger Bar, Vietnamese spot Phubs (which already has a location in Hanover), Korean food stall Rice Crook (located also in Ballston’s Quarter Market Food Hall in Virginia) and Sobeachy Haitian Cuisine, which rebranded from its old name, Green Grass Tall Trees.
Little Italy-based Cana Development is handling Cross Street Market’s leasing. The company’s principal, Mike Morris, said Ceremony Coffee will be in a space on the north side of the market at Cross and Light streets. The coffee shop, Fenwick’s Choice Meats and Steve’s have already taken over their stalls and spaces and are set to open within the next two months, he said.
Another stretch will be given to tenants by the end of the year and should be open by February. A third portion is set to be rebuilt starting in November. Tenants there will eventually take over the redone stalls in March 2019 and open by next June, Morris said.
The project is being done in pieces to help out some of the older vendors that were relocated when Caves Valley Partners’ renovation began in 2017.
“Hopefully doing it this way really minimizes the amount of time that they’re not able to open and stay operating,” he said.
That may be true for them, though the overhaul has pushed other longtime vendors out or spurred a legal battle with one that remains. Caves Valley Partners has served Nick’s with two eviction notices and sued, alleging the bar and restaurant failed to pay its rent or resign as a tenant this past spring. The bar is reportedly on a month-to-month agreement while it fights its eviction.
A handful of stalls closed after the project began, among them Big Jim’s Deli and Rosie’s Posies. Some, including the now-defunct Cross Street Seafood, Baltimore’s Best Bar-B-Que, Bruce Lee Wings and Cross Street Grocery, sued the city, seeking damages for relocation or moving expenses. A judge in July tossed the lawsuit, ruling they weren’t protected by a 1987 law enacted to protect displaced businesses during public projects.
Through its public markets corporation, the city agreed in November 2016 to fund $2 million of the now $7 million-plus overhaul. The project is one of several recently spearheaded by Caves Valley Partners in South Baltimore. Others there include the Stadium Square complex in Sharp-Leadenhall and a 5.2-acre site down on S. Hanover Street, which parnter Arsh Mirmiran has said he envisions turning into a mix of apartments, townhouses and retail space.
