Hampden’s forthcoming food market at Whitehall Mill has unveiled its starting lineup, which includes another Baltimore outpost for Annapolis-based Ceremony Coffee, a bakery, a general store, Filipino-inspired fare and more.
The list includes Roggenart bakery, moving from its current headquarters on Falls Road in Sabina-Mattfeldt; a stall for Garrett County cheese maker FireFly Farms, Wight Tea Company, Gundalow Market, which will have sandwiches, soups and more; and Homebody General Store, featuring locally made home goods.
And there will be a new eatery called Heritage from Chef Ray Eugenio, former executive chef at Ouzo Bay and Roy’s, and the man behind Masarap Filipino, serving cuisine with Filipino and Asian influences.
Developer and owner David Tufaro, of Terra Nova Ventures, said the market may eventually add a couple more vendors, but he didn’t want to delay build-out any further. Construction has been in the works since 2014, he said. The market is now set to open in late fall.
Anchor restaurant True Chesapeake Oyster Company, announced last year, is on schedule to open around Labor Day, he said.
Terra Nova worked closely with each individual vendor on their individual spaces, Tufaro said. “These are small businesses, and for some of them it’s their first retail venture, so there’s a lot of dialogue, what their goals are, construction costs.”
He’s applied for a liquor license for the food hall–the hearing was set for tomorrow but has been postponed–and plans to also add a venue to serve as an event space.
Whitehall Mill, which underwent a $22 million renovation that also added apartments and offices, previously had a tenant in Charm Kitty Café in an exterior space at the mill. Owner Cam Tucker closed the crowdfunded cat café after about half a year.
The food market should have a customer base built in at this point. Tufaro said the apartments have filled up and the offices on the property are 90 percent leased.
The developer, who also undertook the overhaul of Mill No. 1 in Hampden, said he took his time in opening the marketplace because he wanted have the space sufficiently leased to vendors first.
“It certainly has been a longer time than we envisioned, but you know, bringing people to this kind of location is challenging until people really realize the opportunities it offers.”
