Plans to add a modernized facade and new public pavilion to historic Broadway Market will be unveiled before a city panel this month as plans to redevelop the space get underway.
The exterior improvements will help clean up and make the space in Fells Point more inviting to patrons, a city markets executive said Thursday. Development inside is still in the planning stages.
It is the first sign that efforts to renew Broadway Market are finally getting underway 14 months after the city issued a request for proposals. A $5 million re-do by a partnership of private developers was rejected by the city last year amid protest from residents and local businesses, prompting the city to take over the project.
The newest plans will be unveiled before the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, or CHAP, Feb. 13 during a hearing that will allow consideration of the exterior improvements for the market that first opened in 1786.
Renderings obtained by the BBJ show a paved outdoor pavilion will be added to the north “shed” at Broadway and Fleet Street replacing a small parking lot and creating a landscaped outdoor gathering space. The red brick facade of the market will be cleaned and repaired, and the market will sport rows of large arched windows to let in more light. Windowsills and doorways will be painted a dark green accent color.
The north “shed” is 15,000 square feet located at 1640 Aliceanna St. The market’s south “shed” at 1641 Aliceanna St., is 17,600 square feet.
Last year a plan by Klein Enterprises, the Dolben Co. and the Atlas Restaurant Group was rejected after some business owners and Fells Point residents pushed back on a proposal to install a 400-seat restaurant inside a gutted and redeveloped market.
Since then, community input has been sought by the Baltimore Public Markets Corp., which owns and operates the Broadway Market. Robert Thomas, executive director of the markets corporation, said Thursday cost estimates had not yet been completed for the facade work.
The city has hired PI.KL Studio LLC for the design work.
“It’s the most that we can present. At this point, there’s nothing more specific than that,” Thomas said, of the initial designs.
Thomas said the initial designs show the outside space redevelopment will be presented in tandem with ongoing plans for leasing for new tenants for the interior.
