Nail salon, not full-service restaurant, to replace Grand Central nightclub on prime corner in Mt. Vernon

After Baltimore businessman Don Davis sold the Grand Central nightclub in 2019, the new owners promised to replace it with a mixed-use development that would add life and activity to the Mount Vernon neighborhood.

Their plan for the project, City House Charles, called for an eight-story building at 1001-1003 N. Charles Street, with seven levels of office space and two food-oriented retail establishments at the base.

For the prime corner retail space at Charles and Eager streets, the developers, Landmark Partners, proposed a 2,500-square-foot, full-service restaurant. They said it would feature an open kitchen concept with indoor seating for 50 diners, a 14-seat wine bar, a five-seat “chef’s counter” and space for 10 outdoor tables along Eager Street, opposite the Maryland Club.  

In May of 2023, Landmark Partners announced that the chef-owner would be Brendon Hudson, who was named Best Chef by Baltimore magazine in 2020. Hudson planned a larger version of Allora, an Italian bistro he operated on the same block. He commissioned an award-winning restaurant designer, SM+P Architects, to bring it to life.

A principal of Landmark Partners said the expanded Allora restaurant would be a strong anchor for City House Charles — part of an “office and restaurant hub” that would add “a new vibe to the corridor and more feet on the street.” The second food-oriented tenant announced for the building was Roggenart Bakery, Bistro & Cafe.

“We’ve worked closely to design a thoughtful, elegant and exciting space that embraces the neighborhood and building, and look forward to sharing it with the community,” Landmark principal Jon Pannoni said when Allora was announced. “The activation of this key corner space will bring City House Charles to life while reinforcing Mount Vernon as a choice neighborhood to dine and explore. Between Roggenart and Allora, we’ll have round-the-clock, superb food and beverage options for all.”

“We are so excited to not only expand Allora into the full concept we originally imagined and intended, but to also be able to do so in such a beautiful and prominent space,” Hudson said in a statement. “We have spent the last two years cementing Mount Vernon as the next hot dining destination in Baltimore, and with this expansion of Allora as the anchor dining establishment of the newly-created City House Charles, we know we will only further that objective.” 

Three years after plans were announced for Hudson’s restaurant, City House Charles is complete, Roggenart is open and the office floors are occupied. But the corner space has remained vacant since Grand Central closed permanently in September of 2020.

Plans for Allora fell apart after Hudson ran into financial problems and closed his other businesses. His “anchor dining establishment” for City House Charles never materialized.

‘Blissful experience’

Now a new tenant is finally coming to the corner of Charles and Eager streets, but it’s not the full-service restaurant and wine bar that Landmark Partners proposed.

This week, two signs were installed above the corner entrances to show that the tenant will be Bliss Nail Bar, part of a chain of upscale nail salons with branches in Baltimore and Howard counties. Its slogan is: “For a blissful experience!”

The street-level windows have been covered over as a construction crew has been working inside for months, and now that work is largely complete. On Wednesday afternoon, the front doors were open and two delivery trucks were parked outside to bring supplies.  

A Bliss representative on the premises said the target opening date is June 6. Although the business is named Bliss Nail Bar, another representative said, it won’t sell alcohol.

Bliss Nail Bar will join at least three other nail salons in the Mount Vernon area. It will be the second nail salon to open along the North Charles Street corridor this spring, after Kaizen Beauty opened last week at 339 N. Charles Street. Funding assistance for that project came from the BOOST (Black-Owned and Operated Storefront Tenancy) program led by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore.  

According to a brochure, Bliss Nail Bar will be open Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The company describes the salon as a “tranquil space where you can relax and rejuvenate your mind, body and soul.” It says patrons will be able to enjoy a complimentary beverage “alongside your pampering.”

Services include manicures ($30+ to $55+); pedicures ($37+ to $57+), nail enhancement ($20+ to $75+), waxing and tinting ($12+ to $70+) and eyelash extensions ($25+ to $250+) There’s a separate menu for kids 8 and under ($10+ to $40+).

The manicure bar offers options such as the Pina Colada manicure ($36), the Peppermint Mojito service ($41+) and the Tequila Sunrise treatment ($46+).

The pedicure bar offers a Pina Colada pedicure ($54+), a Mimosa treatment ($54+), Strawberry Bliss ($63+), Tropical Lime ($63+) and a botanical pedicure called the Signature Green Tea Spa ($88+).

‘Better than nothing’

The new tenant has drawn mixed reactions from commenters on social media, many of whom remember Grand Central and the plan for a full-service restaurant at that corner.

Some say they’re glad to know the prominent storefront will no longer be vacant. But a number of commenters noted the abundance of nail salons already in the area and the property’s history as a popular LGBTQ night spot across from another LGBTQ night spot, The Hippo.  

Former patrons of Grand Central and The Hippo suggest that a cigar bar or a piano bar or a full-fledged Latino restaurant might draw more people to the area than another nail salon. Others pointed out that one block to the west, the Eddie’s of Mount Vernon grocery store has been closed for nearly three years.

“Lord they turned Grand Central into a nail salon,” wrote one commenter.

“Who needs a grocery store when you have FOUR nail salons in walking distance,” asked another.

“If only it were owned and run by drag queens…it would at least semi feel right for the space,” said a third.

“This feels like a missed opportunity,” lamented a fourth, who noted that Spike Gjerde’s Bar Dali, which opened recently in the old Mount Vernon Stable & Saloon space at 909 N. Charles Street, “is open 7 days a week and is always busy.”

“The neo-Verns and elder-Verns wanted a ‘quieter neighborhood’ with no clubs, and they got their wish,” an artist known as Jaye M X Dubious wrote on Facebook. “A nail salon won’t have crowds of Black patrons standing outside at 2 a.m. So I guess mission accomplished for those who thought that would help this community thrive. Oddly enough, during the days of [the Hippo and Grand Central nightclubs] being open, the streets in and around MV were well kept, lively and full of culture. Now it’s mostly a devoid landscape of empty buildings and doggy doo.”

Rodney Burger, a national leather columnist who’s based in Baltimore, argued that the new use is in keeping with the property’s history: “People got ‘nailed’ in there before.”

Curt Decker, a longtime Mount Vernon resident and community leader, summed up the sentiments of those with mixed feelings about the new tenant.

“A nail salon is better than nothing,” he said in an interview. “It would be great if it was…a restaurant where people could come and gather and make the neighborhood more vibrant. But it’s better to have something there than just an empty building.”