The team of developers that pushed the city to turn Cross Street Market over to private management submitted the only full proposal to the city this month, the head of the city's public markets said Tuesday.
Caves Valley Partners and War Horse LLC put forward one of two responses to a December call for redevelopment ideas, said Robert Thomas, executive director for the Baltimore Public Markets Corp., which oversees the city's six public markets. Baltimore architecture firm J. Neal Design also submitted design concepts, but did not respond to other parts of the request for proposals, Thomas said.
Neighbors for years have said they want to see improvements to the Federal Hill institution.
City officials in December said they would look at leasing the market to a private firm, which would take over its operations and pay for building renovations. The decision to do so came after Caves Valley Partners and War Horse LLC expressed interest in the project.
Neither firm could be reached for comment immediately on Tuesday.
Towson-based Caves Valley Partners has a number of properties in the neighborhood and is involved in a $250 million mixed use redevelopment just west of the market, dubbed Stadium Square. The first building, an apartment building by Texas-based Hanover Co., is scheduled for design review this week.
War Horse LLC, the Baltimore real estate firm founded by Scott Plank, the brother of Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, took a stake in the Belvedere Square market in 2013.
Thomas declined to comment on the specifics of the firms' proposal, saying he had yet to read the submissions, which were due last week.
"It is what it is," Thomas said when asked if he was disappointed by the small number of responses. "I thought it was curious but I don't really have anything to compare that to."
About 23 merchants lease space currently in the building, which dates to the 1950s and could accommodate more than 30 vendors, according to the Baltimore Public Markets Corp. Federal Hill has been home to a public market since 1846.