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Residents have begun moving into Whitehall Mill, a $20 million mixed-use community that is taking shape inside a former cotton mill in Baltimore’s Jones Falls Valley.



Six of the 28 apartments are occupied, and construction of the residential portion of the project is now complete, according to Jennifer Tufaro Nolley, a principal of Terra Nova Ventures, the developer.

The 100,000-square-foot project at 3300 Clipper Mill Road also includes 20,000 square feet of office space, a restaurant space, and an 18,000-square-foot commercial space called Whitehall Market. Work is still underway on the non-residential phases. Adajian & Nelson, a furniture maker and restorer that has been a longtime tenant of 3302 Clipper Mill Road, remained in that property as a tenant of Terra Nova.

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Whitehall Mill is a neighbor to Mill No. 1, a large mill building at 3000 Falls Road that Terra Nova Ventures converted to a mixed use development with 84 apartments and commercial space, including Cosima restaurant.

Whitehall consists of four interconnected buildings constructed between 1865 and the 1880s. Records indicate that there has been a mill on the property since 1798.

Besides serving as a cotton mill, the buildings have housed the Sekine Brush Factory and Penguin Books. They were last used as a warehouse for pornography and sex toys by Komar Company, which relocated. Sex toys were stored on the second level, while magazines were stored on the first level. After heavy storms, floodwater from the Jones Falls would get into the lower level and damage the magazines stored there.

Alexander Design Studio, the architect of Whitehall Mill, designed the project to meet federal standards for historic preservation. Alexander even replicated a large cupola, which will be illuminated this week. Whiting-Turner is the general contractor. Ashton Design created the signs and graphics. Michael Ewing of Williams Jackson Ewing is leasing the market space.

Apartment sizes range from 700 square feet to 1,200 square feet. Many of the apartments have high ceilings and large windows. Several have four levels. Hallways have sepia prints of the buildings when they housed a cotton mill. Monthly rents range from $1,500 to $2,000.

On a recent tour, Nolley said initial tenants have primarily been recent college graduates and young professionals who want to live in the city and like the natural setting of the Jones Falls Valley and the proximity to Hampden’s shops and restaurants.

“It’s a little less expensive than the apartments downtown or in Harbor East,” she said. “It’s less than 10 minutes to downtown. It’s its own area. You’re right in Hampden. You can walk to 36th Street, but iIt feels like you are in the country… It’s a pretty peaceful place.”

Other converted mills nearby include Union Mill and Clipper Mill, and Mount Washington Mill farther north.

“All of these mills create a new energy” along the Jones Falls, Nolley said. “People gravitate to these buildings because they aren’t a box.”

Some of the windows were fitted with extra thick glass, similar to what’s used in aquariums, to help keep out floodwaters. The development also has a system of flood gates that can be put over doorways to protect the complex during storms.

Nolley said the vision for the market is a full-service food market with merchants selling meat, fish and produce. “Our goal is to make it like a local farmer’s market,” she said. “We want it to be a one-of-a-kind place where you can shop for all your local goods.”

Nolley added that tenants have been identified for the restaurant and much of the office space and Terra Nova hopes to be able to announce them soon.

Loch Raven Commons moves ahead

The former Raytheon building in the 1300 block of East Joppa Road is being demolished to make way for Loch Raven Commons, a $45 million apartment and retail development.

County Councilman David Marks announced this month that “steps are underway” to prepare the derelict Raytheon building on East Joppa Road for demolition. According to Marks, who represents the district that includes the property, plans call for 208 apartments with a village green, two multi-tenant retail buildings, and a convenience store.

The Buccini/Pollin Group is the developer, and Design Collective is the architect. Two nearby properties, Loane Brothers and Glory Days Grill, are not being demolished and those companies are expected to remain where they are.

It is the same stretch of Joppa Road where Starbucks is planning a branch to replace the Bel-Loc Diner, and Baynesville Electronics is holding a Going Out of Business sale after 61 years.

The nine-acre Raytheon site, vacant for more than a decade, is one of the largest parcels available for development between Towson and Loch Raven Boulevard. The land was rezoned in 2014. Marks says he hopes the replacement project will trigger additional revitalization activity.

“East Joppa Road badly needs a facelift in some areas,” he wrote on Facebook. “I am hopeful that this development project will spark future improvements along the corridor.”

B-More Kitchen opens in Govans

B-More Kitchen, which bills itself as “Baltimore’s first food incubator,” has opened inside the Accelerator Building, part of the old Jerry’s Govans car dealership near York Road and Bellona Avenue in Govans. Its mission is to provide local food entrepreneurs with the space and the resources they need to operate and expand their businesses.

Architect Jonathan Fishman of RCG Inc. served as both designer and developer for the 28,000-square foot project, which has room for up to 52 work stations that can be leased to small businesses or individuals seeking a professional environment to prepare food. The leasing program is sort of like a gym membership, except for cooks and chefs. More information is at www.bmorekitchen.com

The lower level contains the kitchen area, including a walk-in cooler, a storage pantry and conference space where tenants can meet with clients, as well as possible future space for a restaurant. The upper level contains a high-ceilinged space that is available for lease for catered events.

The car showroom dates from 1919. Before it moved to Joppa Road, Jerry’s advertised on the radio that it was located at “5600 York Road and Bellona, the best place to become a Chevrolet ownah.”

Fishman said he renamed the building the Accelerator Building to make reference to its history as a car dealership and its role as an “accelerator” of new business in the city.

Remington gets a new landmark, the “Remington Flame”



On October 13th at 7 p.m., Parts & Labor will host a ceremonial “first lighting” of a massive fireplace that sits adjacent to the restaurant’s outdoor seating area, at 26th and North Howard streets.

Parts & Labor is inviting residents of Remington and community leaders to take part in a ribbon-cutting of sorts, where attendees will enjoy snacks, cider, and live music, while rallying behind their neighborhood’s newest landmark, dubbed the “Remington Flame.”

The fireplace was designed and constructed by Majer Metal Works of Mount Vernon in collaboration with Floura Teeter’s team of landscape architects. The project was funded by the Central Baltimore Partnership’s HCPI Community Spruce-Up Grant Program with support from Johns Hopkins University and Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

The Central Baltimore grant program has been designed to stimulate neighborhood-driven, quality of life, capital improvement projects at the grass-roots level. It has leveraged more than $2 million in direct community improvements over the past four years.

The Office of the Fire Marshall in Baltimore named Parts & Labor, one of the restaurants in Spike Gjerde’s Foodshed group, the sole caretaker of the Remington Flame. That means Parts & Labor will be responsible for lighting and maintaining the fire on a daily basis.

According to Parts & Labor, the initial lighting will mark the first of many get-togethers around the fire pit, which will serve as an event space, performance venue and, on a broader level, “a place for the community to meet and unwind.”

Lance Humphries on Charles Carroll of Homewood

Architectural historian Lance Humphries, executive director of the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy, is giving a talk entitled “A House in Town: Charles Carroll of Homewood’s Baltimore Residences, today at 6 p.m. at Gilman Hall on the Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus. Ticket are available at the door or call 410-516-5589.

Marshall Craft Associates moves to Clipper Mill

Marshall Craft Associates, an architecture, interior design, and planning firm, has moved its headquarters to 2031 Clipper Park Road, Suite 105, in the Clipper Mill development of Woodberry. It also has an office in York, Pennsylvania.

DSW opens at Foundry Row

DSW Inc., formerly Designer Shoe Warehouse, is the latest tenant to open at the $140 million Foundry Row development in the 10000 block of Reisterstown Road in Owings Mills. Foundry Row Wine & Spirits is scheduled to open on October 20.

Baltimore Museum of Art renovation By Ziger Snead wins top design award

The multi-phase renovations of the Baltimore Museum of Art, by Ziger Snead Architects, was the Grand Design Award winner in the 2016 Design Awards program held on Friday by the Baltimore chapter the American Institute of Architects.

Jillian Storms won the Roger D. Redden Award from the Baltimore Architecture Foundation. The Parks & People Foundation won the Golden Griffen Award from the Baltimore Architecture Foundation.

Other AIA design awards went to: Ayers Saint Gross for the Maryland House and Chesapeake House Travel Plazas; Ayers Saint Gross for the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon; BCT Architects for 10 Light Street; Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects for the Reid Menzer Memorial Skatepark; Ziger Snead for the Center for Parks & People at Auchentoroly Terrace; Ziger Snead for the New Performing and Visual Arts Center at Friends School; Foundry Architects for a rowhouse renovation called the Court House; and Read and Company Architects for Oak Springs, a residence. Occoquan Regional Park by Hord Coplan Macht won in the Unbuilt category.

The Michael Trostel FAIA Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation went to Grimm + Parker Architects for the Francis L Cardozo Education Campus. The Award for Excellence in Sustainable Design went to Hord Coplan Macht for the Green Street Academy.

Honorable mention design awards went to: Ayers Saint Gross for the College of Charleston Dixie Meeting Barn; Murphy & Dittenhafer for the Zimmerman Center for Heritage Waterside Pavilion; Rohrer Studio for 1157 Bar + Kitchen; Peter Fillat Architects for M on Madison; Vanguard Architects for the Vanguard Retail Development offices; Whitman, Requardt & Associates for the 1-95 Newark Toll Plaza Renovation, Ziger Snead for The Centre; Hord Coplan Macht for the Edward M. Felegy Elementary School; and Cho Benn Holback + Associates for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Theater. In the Unbuilt category, an honorable mention award went to Gensler for the Naval Academy Center for Cyber Security Studies.

In a separate awards program called Good Design is Good Business, awards went to Murphy & Dittenhafer for the Zimmerman Center for Heritage Waterside Pavilion and to Vanguard Architects for the Vanguard Retail Development offices. An honorable mention went to Murphy & Dittenhafer for the Washington County Senior Center and Commission on Aging.

President’s Awards included: the Time Group, as Client of the Year; Chris Coleman of Coleman Consulting as Consultant of the Year; Plano-Coudon Construction as Contractor of the Year; G. Krug & Son as Craftsman of the Year; Dwight Griffith of Griffith Brilhart Builders as Allied Member of the Year; Price Modern for Product or Service; Jim Determan for Community Architect; Camessia Johnson for Civic Engagement; educator Robert Hodge for Service to the Profession; Fred Scharmen for Architectural Journalism; the Southwest Partnership for Community Development; Klaus Philipsen for Architectural Discourse; David Lever for Public Advocacy, and Crystal MCKenzie for Promising Emerging Professional

One of the best lines of the night came from Peter Fillat, who designed the M on Madison apartments and is now working on a residential development called L on Liberty. “I’m working my way through the alphabet,” he said.