In a ceremony akin to those that used to announce the circus coming to town, every elected official from near and far showed up on April 28 at a long-vacant property located across from Bolton Hill’s northeastern boundary. All came to announce the arrival, someday on this space, of a new 12,000 square-foot full-service grocery store – Streets Market.
“This is a Great Day!” declared state Sen. Antonio Hayes, who reminisced about his boyhood when there were two groceries “right here on North Avenue,” about a mile apart.
Congressman Kweisi Mfume called Streets Market’s arrival “the end of another food desert in Baltimore,” unaware, perhaps, of an improved Save-A-Lot market (250 McMechen St.), a Bolton Hill Grocery (1111 Park Ave.), and a Safeway (2401 N. Charles St.), all within walking distance or a short ride of the new grocery location.
To be sure, Streets Market is likely to be popular with Bolton Hill residents. It will anchor a 20,000-square-foot retail strip, “The Shoppes of Reservoir Square,” and will be the regional chain’s fourth Baltimore store; there are eight in D.C.
The nearest Streets Market currently in operation is at Charles Center, 222 N. Charles Street. It has a decent fresh meat, seafood and produce selection, and is popular with those who live in the high-rise apartments stretching above it. Mayor Brandon Scott assured the crowd that he sometimes shops at Streets. It’s not Whole Foods or Wegman’s, but in this writer’s view it is a step up from today’s Save-a-Lot
“This is going to be a community-driven full-service store,” said a Streets Market representative, with off-street parking for 75 vehicles and adjacent retail – perhaps including a coffee shop or café. The lot once held a daycare center, now an abandoned, graffiti-splashed structure on North Avenue’s north side between Park Avenue and the I-83 on-ramp.
Construction “began” as TV cameras filmed Mayor Scott wheeling a vehicle that began deconstructing a westside wall. When the cameras finished, so did the demolition. Nothing much has happened since, but there is a new sign.
The grocery store, when it arrives, will represent a promise kept by MCB Real Estate partner David Bramble, who lives in nearby Madison Park. Appearing before BHCA long before the COVID pandemic, Bramble announced plans to build what was then called Madison Park North – an amalgam of townhouses, apartments, offices and retail, including a grocery store. The land formerly held a troubled apartment complex and ragged shopping center often called “Murder Mall.”
Construction began in 2022. Today the retail and office building plans may have vanished or relocated, replaced by a sweet lease deal with the City to relocate the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development into a single 63,000 square foot building to be completed next year. About 120 townhouses by Ryan Homes are complete or underway, with about 50 already sold at market-rate prices of $390,000 and up, according to MCB. The state-supported West North Avenue Development Authority (WNADA) has designated the property as a key anchor along the North Avenue corridor and invested state funds.
MCB partnered with Blank Slate Development, founded by Alex Aaron, and moved the grocery off the main development site to the adjacent lot acquired by Blank Slate. In its entirety the development is a $170 million enterprise.
–Bill Hamilton
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