Wash. DC/Baltimore Retail and Restaurant Development

[Ty Doggie]

I'm liking what I'm reading so far. I like the Front Page in DuPont Circle (interned for the USDA).

[PeterSmith]

Just wanted to spread the word - on Friday, I ate at Vellegia's new location on Water Street in downtown. I never ate at the original location, but this was good, nothing to gush over.

However, a few weeks ago they opened a wine cellar in the basement that has live jazz four nights a week, Wednesday through Saturday from 8pm to midnight. Baltimore has a lack of good live jazz venues, especially for a city that was so integral during jazz's heyday. Hopefully, the new live music ordinance will help to change that. Anyway, the venue is really great and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of jazz. It had a decent crowd on Friday night, but certainly wasn't packed. A traditional jazz outfit called the Tim Green Quartet was playing. The owner told me that when they have more progressive jazz groups come in it gets to be standing room-only. Anyway, just wanted to spread the word, since I stumbled upon it by accident, and it's kind of tucked away and hidden in its new location.

[rockin'.baltimorean]

i have friends who have been to vellegia's. they say it's a really nice place..

[Exrexnotex]

"How come there are no Sonics here?" That's a common refrain you'll hear from folks who move from the Deep South to the Greater Baltimore region.

But two local entrepreneurs are making sure that Maryland is no longer deprived of the drive-in burger joint that enjoys a cult-like following of sorts.

Franchisees David Crocetti and Sean Martin will open at least nine Sonics over the next few years, including sites in Randallstown, Lansdowne, Ellicott City, Elkton, and Edgewater. They are also scouting locations in Columbia, Catonsville, and Westminster.

Its Randallstown location will open first, either in late spring or summer, Martin says. Next on the list will be Lansdowne, which will open in the fall, followed by Ellicott City.

Martin and Crocetti declined to say how much they are investing to open the new stores. However, franchisees can expect to spend anywhere between $700,000 to $3 million per store, according to Sonic Corp.'s Web site. Each store requires about an acre's worth of property.

The partners are now busy hiring the roughly 100 workers who will staff the Randallstown store. They chose the spot on Liberty Road because it is right off the Baltimore beltway and should attract good drive-by traffic.

For folks who can't wait to eat Sonic's chili-cheese hot dogs, limeade chillers and tater tots, the business partners have a message: Be patient. It can take nine months to negotiate a lease and work through the zoning and permit process, Crocetti says. So getting the nine stores throughout the Greater Baltimore area won't happen overnight.

Sonic customers order their food at a drive-in window and get their food from a "carhop" — who might even wear roller skates. The Oklahoma-based chain has been expanding northward in recent years as company officials realized that folks in colder states will still eat Sonic burgers in their cars.

Maryland is a good area to expand because of its high income level, population density and diversity, Martin says.


Source: Sean Martin and David Crocetti, Sonic
Writer: Julekha Dash

http://www.bmoremedia.com/devnews/sonic021610.aspx

[Exrexnotex]

I've seen those sonic commercials so many times that I think I'll be trying it once the Randallstown location opens, even though I don't eat fast food.

[hpal3]

I love Sonic! Can't wait for EC or Columbia locations...

[rockin'.baltimorean]

i"ll 2nd that!

[micrip]

In a retail development of some import, HHGregg, a midwestern electronics and furniture chain, will be opening several stores in the area over the next year, helping to fill the void left by Circuit City's demise.

[Balmurfan]

Ryan Perlberg and his father Stuart have traveled throughout the Mid-Atlantic with a single goal in mind: find the best sausages and hot dogs.

Now they are turning the knowledge they picked up during their travels to open a sausage business. Stuggy's will open at 809 S. Broadway this month. Replete with a soda fountain selling root beer floats the atmosphere will be reminiscent of the 1940s, Ryan Perlberg says.

Perlberg says opening a sausage and hot dog shop has been a dream of his and his father's for a while. They picked Fells Point because that's where they have lived for the last nine years.

"I fell in love with the place," Perlberg says. He likes the cobblestone streets and historic buildings in the waterfront neighborhood.
"There's always a story to be told. It's a well-kept secret," Perlberg says of Fells Point.

He hopes he can get the late night Fells Point bar crowd by keeping Stuggy's open late on weekends. Perlberg declined to say how much he is spending to open the 1,000-square-foot store.

Perlberg will rely on local purveyors to supply Stuggie's stock. He's getting the meat for his bison sausage and bison chili from Gunpowder Bison and Trading, a farm in Monkton. The Italian and Polish sausages will come from Ostrowski's just down the street in Fells Point. While Stuggy's Chesapeake sausage will add a dash of Old Bay seasoning in the mix. Other familiar Baltimore brands at the shop will include Berger cookies and goodies from Jeppi Nut & Candy Co.

"Everything is old school," Perlberg says.

What's for dessert? Try Fried Oreos, a familiar favorite for anyone who has been to the Maryland State Fair.

Source: Ryan Perlberg, Stuggy's
Writer: Julekha Dash

[Balmurfan]

A British pub and restaurant chain has signed a lease for space on the ground floor of 1 E. Pratt St. downtown.

Boston-based Elephant & Castle Pub and Restaurant plans to open the 6,500-square-foot bar and eatery inside the Verizon building during spring 2011.

The restaurant’s menu items include steak and ale pie, lamb curry, fish and chips, and Guinness meatloaf. Entrees range in price from $10.50 for its bangers and mash — a classic English meat and potatoes dish — to $23 for a New York strip steak.

Elephant & Castle picked 1 East Pratt because of its location next to Sullivan’s Steakhouse and Kona Grill, said Ann McLean, a broker for Transwestern who represented Elephant & Castle. Kona Grill is expected to open this spring inside the Verizon building. The building’s proximity to the Baltimore Convention Center and the Inner Harbor also made it attractive, McLean said.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elephant & Castle operates more than 20 locations in the U.S. and Canada.

A spokesman for Elephant & Castle declined to comment

[PeterSmith]

1 East Pratt Street is a project that this forum practically ignored during its redevelopment, but its really proven to be one of the most successful projects in the city. That corner is going to transform from desolate to lively. It's also doing what the city has been unable to do, which is transform Pratt Street. Uncommon chains, such as Kona and Elephant and Castle, are exactly the kinds of businesses that the Inner Harbor should be attracting.

[scando]

Supposedly, the Karzai's (husband and wife) will be re-opening the old Chesapeake, not in the old format but something new. Anybody know anything about this?

[jimjim5]

No offense, but I think Sonic food suxs. The drinks are the attraction IMO.

[Tricia_Lvs_Baltimore]

Originally Posted by jimjim5

No offense, but I think Sonic food suxs. The drinks are the attraction IMO.

Really? Those frozen ice mixes are great! Very tasty!

[Exrexnotex]

Break out the banjo: Blue Grass is coming to town. Blue Grass restaurant, that is.

The former chef and general manager of Ryleigh's Oyster, Patrick Morrow and Jorbie Clark, will open the Southern-inspired eatery this month
at 1500 S. Hanover St.

Morrow, who has lived in Federal Hill for nine years, had been looking for a restaurant space for a while and jumped at the chance when the spot that once housed the Vine became available.

Though the economy has not been kind to some restaurant owners, Morrow sees a business opportunity in the downturn. He's able to find plenty of qualified staff and get better deals on kitchen equipment.

"You have a lot of people hungry for work, " Morrow says. And a lot more people are willing to give you good deals because they are hungry to make a sale, he says.

Morrow also liked the spot in Federal Hill because it sits at the intersection of two major roads, Fort and Hanover, that should hopefully attract a lot of drive-by traffic.

The business partners hope to capture Federal Hill's young professionals in their 20s and 30s, says Jorbie Clark. This is an age group that is not weighed down by a massive drop in their stock portfolio, Clark says.

"They still have disposable income and will still go out," Clark says.

Morrow and Clark both declined to say how much they are spending to open the 75-seat restaurant.

Blue Grass will serve up contemporary American food, including Southern game and meat dishes. Pork chop with baked beans, crawfish hush puppies, and braised gunpowder short ribs reflect Morrow's culinary influences growing up in North Carolina and Texas.

Entrees will cost between $19 and $25 and appetizers will cost between $6 and $13.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Sources: Patrick Morrow, Jorbie Clark, Blue Grass

[jimjim5]

Originally Posted by Tricia_Lvs_Baltimore

Really? Those frozen ice mixes are great! Very tasty!

I agree the drinks are good. So are the frozen concoctions. The food sucks.

[Balmurfan]

Tucked away just off the corner of Howard and 27th Streets is Sweet Sin, a gluten-free cafe. The cafe, opened in October 2009, is the brainchild of Richard D'Souza and his wife, Renee, a Baltimore native.

"We moved to Baltimore from Hawaii for business reasons. My wife has Celiac's disease and is a pastry chef. She wanted to create something better than what was currently on the market. Five years ago there was almost nothing in the market and what was there was a lot like the sole of your shoe," D'Souza says.

Finding the location at 123 W. 27th Street, the former location of Charm City Cakes was a stroke of luck. "I didn't have a lot of money. The rent was dirt cheap and we liked the neighborhood," says D'Souza.

In five years and with just $8000, the couple had created a wholesale business selling their gluten-free cookies to national chains such as Whole Foods as well as regional chains including Wegmann's. "Every month we're in a new state."

The pair decided to invite the public into their shop with a retail location after they moved the bulk of their baking to a new location in Rosedale. "I was going to be paying rent for this place not matter what. A cupcake shop seemed like a good idea and people had been telling me they needed some gluten-free food, so I started cooking gluten-free food."

Sweet Sin was the result, but its only the beginning. With the recipes he's developed, D'Souza says he and his wife will expand their operations to include a restaurant next door in the former location of Three Sisters. He's just waiting to get a liquor license approved and expects the restaurant to open in about two months.

Source: Richard D'Souza, Sweet Sin
Writer: Walaika Haskins

[PeterSmith]

http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/bal...2/daily36.html

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 2:54pm EDT | Modified: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 2:58pm

New coffee shop to open downtown at 1 E. Pratt St.
Baltimore Business Journal - by Kevin Crowley Staff

A new high-end coffee and sandwich shop with a healthy twist plans to open on the ground floor of 1 E. Pratt St. downtown.

The man behind Pier 5’s Pizzazz Tuscan Grille, Pietro Priola, will open Greens & Grains in the Verizon building, across from the Inner Harbor.

The 1,400-square-foot shop will join Kona Grill and Elephant & Castle Pub, which have both inked leases for restaurants in the building. Sullivan’s Steakhouse also opened last spring.

With the addition of Greens & Grains, it will bring 1 E. Pratt’s retail space to full occupancy, said Rina Lessing, a senior real estate manager with CB Richard Ellis who manages 1 E. Pratt.

The shop will have menu items for health-conscious downtown business workers, including gluten-free items and smoothies, said Charles F. Johnson, a broker with Williams Jackson Ewing, who handles retail leasing for the building.

Johnson declined to disclose the terms of the deal. The average rental rate in the central business district is around $23 per square feet, according to MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Service’s fourth-quarter report.

[Balmurfan]

Argentinian native Maximiliano "Max" Gonzalez never imagined he'd own an empanada restaurant in Little Italy. A professional tango dancer and teacher in Argentina, Gonzalez says he came to Baltimore to help spread his culture and teach people how to tango.

"A few years ago I started doing empanadas for my students so that they could experience more about Argentina. After a short time, people started calling me in advance to place orders. It developed into a business when I realized people really liked my empanadas," he recalls.

As demand for his empanadas increased, Gonzalez eventually began selling the tasty treats at local farmer's markets in Owings Mills and Highlandtown. Selling at the markets also helped him weather the warm summer months when people are less interested in being inside dancing, preferring instead to be outside.

"We started to get a crowd with people standing in line for our empanadas. Business exploded and I didn't have the space at home any more to keep making the homemade empanadas. We started renting a commercial kitchen and commercial storage to keep up with the demand," Gonzalez continues.

In September 2009, he hit the big time, at least regionally, when a Virginia-based Latino grocery store approached him about selling his frozen empanadas.

"After we got that account, we realized we couldn't just rent space any more." So began a search for a permanent location. Gonzalez search started in Fells Point, but he quickly found a location in Little Itally, a former deli.

"Empanadas is not a fast food but it's a fast snack or meal. We found this place on S. High Street. This place was actually perfect. It had everything that we needed, a oven, deli cases, refrigeration."

Though small, the 313 S. High Street shop will seat about 30 guests -- 10 at the "empanada bar" and another 20 at tables. With a new liquor license expected in a few weeks, Gonzalez says he'll add table service and also begin serving Argentinian wines and international beers.

His empanadas are traditional but witha gourmet flare. "We experiment with different flavors. You have more options for cheese, vegetables and meats. We have traditional beef, chicken, ham and cheese, a mixed vegetable that people request all the time. Then we have weekly specials -- three or four. Each country has an empanada and we try to represent each of those. Bolivia has a potato empanadas and another region combines brown sugar with ground beef," he explains.

In addition to his empanadas, Gonzalez also sells a variety of foodstuffs from Argentina.

"I'm so happy because this has been such a positive outcome," he says.

Source: Max Gonzalez, Max's Empanadas
Writer: Walaika Haskins

[PeterSmith]

One more thing - the Brass Elephant was sold and should open again soon.