9 local tenants named for overhaul of Fells Point's Broadway Market

Three longtime tenants will remain in Baltimore’s Broadway Market and at least six newcomers will join them when the Fells Point venue reopens early next year following renovations.

City officials unveiled the first tenants slated to move into the historic public market’s north building on Wednesday during a tour of the construction site.

Vikki’s Fells Point Deli, Sophia’s Place European Deli and Sal’s Seafood — three market stalwarts — will add continuity to the renovated market. Meanwhile, five other local vendors — including Connie’s Chicken and Waffles, Taharka Bros. Ice Cream and the Verandah — will open stalls.

The market’s north building, which spans the stretch of Broadway between Fleet and Aliceanna streets, has been vacant for more than a decade and is undergoing a $3 million renovation.

Vendors are still operating in the south building, between Aliceanna and Lancaster streets. When those tenants move out after the north building is completed, Atlas Restaurant Group will take over the space, spending $2 million to transform it into a seafood house called the Choptank.

The full list of new vendors includes:

» Connie’s Chicken and Waffles, which got its start at Lexington Market and has a second location downtown;

» Taharka Bros. Ice Cream, which will open a worker-owned shop;

» The Verandah, a Hampden restaurant specializing in Indian street food;

» Old Boy, a Korean food stall by Dooby’s owner Phil Han;

» A market bar, also operated by Han’s team, which will serve coffee, craft beer, wine and cocktails, as well as pastries and new American cuisine;

» And Thai Street, a stand operated by husband-and-wife owners.

Broadway Market is the latest of the city’s public markets to be renovated. Cross Street Market in Federal Hill is undergoing renovations as part of a public-private partnership, and Hollins Market and Lexington Market are slated for overhauls. The city recently updated Northeast Market near Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the Avenue Market could receive updates, too.

“For decades our public markets have not gotten investment,” said Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. and chair of the Baltimore Public Markets Corp. board. “We’re fixing them all, and we’re very excited about these transformations. These were not happening a few years ago.”

The market, which dates to 1786, is also planning for a produce vendor and smoothie stand in the northeast corner, said Robert Thomas, executive director of the Baltimore Public Markets Corp. The vendor has not yet been named.

“We’ve heard the community say it’d be great to have a produce offering,” Thomas said. “So we’re looking in that direction and we know that that’s sometimes tough to make work just because of the margins.”

The Taharka Bros. shop will be the company’s first retail location in 11 years — and its first owned by workers. A physical space is something customers have been asking for, office manager and accountant Detric McCoy said.

“It’s amazing to have one of our first retail shops here and then for us to also expand and be our first worker-owned business,” said ice cream maker and manager Vincent Green. “It will just be another way that we can get our name out because we’re mainly in the wholesale business.”

The stand also will allow Taharka Bros. to experiment with new flavors, he said.

“What’s really great about this project is its use of local business vendors and diversity that is here. You’ve got women-owned businesses, you’ve got people of color, you’ve got local vendors,” Mayor Catherine Pugh said in an interview. “When you allow local businesses to expand, it expands economic opportunity.”

The market will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Large arching windows that encase the 7,880-square-foot market will remain open to add natural light to the space, and the market will feature furniture and design elements by local makers at Openworks, MiY Home and Sandtown Millworks. A plaza outside the building will provide space for outdoor dining and events.

Development Solutions is the project’s developer; PI.KL Studio is handling the architecture; Prisco Design is designing the market’s graphics and Plano-Coudon Construction is the general contractor.

“Today we celebrate another step in a positive direction for our city. But we’re not stopping with this project,” said Pugh , noting efforts to improve the Broadway corridor including renovations of the nearby Perkins Homes public housing project, new housing and green space in Oliver and Broadway East, and updates to the Great Blacks in Wax Museum.

“Broadway should be and will be a great boulevard for all of East Baltimore,” Pugh said.