Robin Godwin: Atlas Restaurant Group Breaks Ground on Seafood Concepts at Cross Street Market

Atlas Restaurant Group announced today the company’s two concepts at Cross Street Market—Watershed and Atlas Fish Market—are now under construction. Watershed is a Maryland seafood restaurant taking over the 5,200 sq. ft. space on the west side of the market that was once Nick’s Inner Harbor Seafood. Atlas Fish Market will be an adjacent oyster bar and retail seafood market situated across the interior walkway from Pizza di Joey.

Watershed will have a large rooftop deck and it will seat 125 people indoors and 185 people outdoors. Atlas described Watershed as “both a hip, everyday spot for locals, as well as a destination restaurant for visitors of Baltimore’s historic Federal Hill scene.” The rooftop deck will have a covered bar, outdoor patio, and game area. Renderings of the indoors show a large horseshoe bar in the middle of the space and booth and table seating along the walls. This design is described as “a funky warehouse feel with a spacious open dining room featuring warm, weathered wood banquets and maritime-inspired lighting.”

The menu at Watershed will include local seafood dishes and hard shell blue crabs.

To accommodate the new rooftop deck, Atlas will completely demolish the interior of the space besides the three exterior walls. The roof will be torn out as the existing roof is not strong enough to support the new deck. A new level concrete slab will be poured to eliminate the current slope, and the interior will have structural columns added to support the roof. There will be a one-and-a-half foot step-down between the rest of the market and Watershed as a result of the new flat surface that will be flush to the sidewalk at S. Charles St.

Large HVAC units currently located on top of Watershed’s future space will be relocated.

The exterior design features a painted Watershed sign with a fish logo on the S. Charles St. brick facade, along with graphics for Watershed, Cross Street Market, and Atlas Fish Market along the north and south facades of the space. The S. Charles St. facade will continue to have signs for Cross Street Market.

The exterior stairwell to the rooftop deck will go on a sidewalk on the north side of the market. The stairwell will be in an enclosure that will also have storage. A new sidewalk will replace surface parking on the south side of Watershed’s space.

Atlas Fish Market will include a full-service bar with 16 seats. It will serve a variety of east and west coast oysters, as well as have a small menu of fresh selections from the raw bar. In addition, Atlas Fish Market will be a seafood retailer selling items such Maryland crab meat, Chilean sea bass, Scottish salmon, Portugese octopus, Gulf shrimp, Chesapeake rockfish, and more.

“As we break ground on Watershed and Atlas Fish Market, we are excited for what the future holds and grateful for the opportunity to expand our footprint to the historic Federal Hill neighborhood,” said Atlas Restaurant Group Founder and President Alex Smith in a press release. “We are proud to be a part of Baltimore’s community and our commitment and investment in this city’s future is unwavering. We will continue to strive to provide new, exciting dining options for its residents.”

Atlas worked with BCT Design Group on the design of the two concepts. F.M. Harvey is the general contractor on the project.

With the addition of these two new businesses, Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurant Group will have 21 concepts across four markets nationwide. The company is also planning a Washington, D.C. market expansion later this year.

Cross Street Market reopened last year after receiving an $8.5-million renovation by Caves Valley Partners. Watershed and Atlas Fish Market will bring the total number of businesses to 20. There will be a total of 23 businesses in Cross Street Market; one of the remaining stalls has been leased, but not yet announced, and two stalls are currently available for lease.

Read SouthBMore.com’s articles detailing the different aspects of the Cross Street Market redevelopment here.

SouthBMore.com photo