Robin Godwin: Atlas Restaurant Group in Lease Negotiations for a Crab House, Seafood Tavern, and Seafood Market at Cross Street Market

Cross Street Market developer Caves Valley Partners (CVP) and its leasing team at CANAdev announced in February they had a letter of intent signed with an established restaurateur to take over the former Nick’s Inner Harbor Seafood space with a new seafood concept. Alex Smith’s Atlas Restaurant Group has confirmed today it is in negotiations for that space.

Atlas owns Harbor East restaurants Ouzo Bay, Azumi, Loch Bar, The Elk Room, Italian Disco, Bygone, Harbor East Delicatessen, and The Lollipop. Maximón and Ouzo Beach are coming soon to Harbor East and The Choptank is taking over a space in the South Broadway Market in Fells Point. Atlas has additional restaurants outside of Baltimore.

Atlas released the following in a statement: “Atlas Restaurant Group is currently in lease negotiations with Cross Street Market for a full service Seafood Tavern / Crab House. In addition, we will open our first direct to consumer seafood market. Anticipated opening dates of these two concepts will be April 2020. The concepts will be two new brands, interior designs and will be unique to the city of Baltimore. We look forward to being a part of the Federal Hill community, and being the anchor tenant in the historic Cross Street Market.”

Atlas declined to comment further at this time.

CVP Partner Arsh Mirmiran told SouthBMore.com in an email, “I can confirm that we are finalizing lease negotiations with the Atlas Restaurant Group to open both an iconic local crab house and a fresh seafood market in the Cross Street Market.” He noted that the fresh seafood market will be located within the main portion of the market, along with other fresh and prepared food stalls.

The news first broke last night on Councilman Eric Costello’s social media accounts after he attended a meeting at Cross Street Market.

The space for Atlas is about 5,000 sq. ft. and has an entrance on S. Charles St. This space was recently gutted after Nick’s left in January. Preliminary work to update the systems, exterior, and entrances to the space has been underway. Mirmiran previously told SouthBMore.com that a rooftop deck for outdoor dining is a possibility for this space.

The block-long, 31,800 sq. ft. Cross Street Market is currently completely closed as renovation are underway. Phase One is expected to open in May with longtime vendors Steve’s Lunch, Fenwick Meats, and The Sweet Shoppe returning. It is expected that 10 to 12 additional tenants will also open in the spring and summer.

Vendors will include Ceremony Coffee Roasters, which is based in Annapolis; Annoula’s Kitchen, a modern Mediterranean soup and sandwich place from Anna Leventis, owner of SoBo Market and SoBo Café; Cans Filling Station, a craft beer concept from Will Glass of Taps Fill Station, which has locations at Mt. Vernon Marketplace and The Bourse in Philadelphia; Ono Poké, a poké and Hawaiian-style restaurant that has a location Downtown; Taco Love Grill, a family-run taqueria based in White Marsh; Burger Bar from the team at Southside Diner; Vietnamese pho restaurant from Hanover Phubs; Korean concept Rice Crook; and Haitian cuisine farmer’s market and event business Sobeachy.

Specific vendors have not been announced yet, but Cross Street Market will also have a wine bar and craft cocktail bar; a vegan stall; a pizza stall; a fried chicken stall; and a “market within a market” stall which will sell farm-fresh items like produce, sauces, breads, cheese, dairy, pastas, home goods, and more.

Renovations began in April 2018 and the entire market closed in January of this year. CVP is undertaking an $8-million renovation with contractor MacKenzie. Baltimore Public Markets Corporation (BPMC) still owns the building and contributed $2 million to the renovation to update the systems in the building. CVP has a lease agreement with BPMC for a term of up to 50 years.

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