Robin Godwin: Cross Street Market’s Opening Delayed by Ransomware Attack on City of Baltimore Computers

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Cross Street Market’s Opening Delayed by Ransomware Attack on City of Baltimore Computers

The Cross Street Market was hoping to reopen yesterday with legacy vendors Fenwick’s Choice Meats and Steve’s Lunch, but the tenants were unable to get their Use and Occupancy Permits and final inspections because of a ransomware attack on the City of Baltimore’s computer system. The market has its Use and Occupancy Permit, but the individual tenants do not have theirs yet.

Cross Street Market is being developed and leased by CSM Ventures, LLC, a partnership between developer Caves Valley Partners (CVP) and CANAdev, with construction and property management by MacKenzie.

From WBAL.com:

The hackers responsible for the cyberattacks have demanded $76,000 in Bitcoin to free the system, and Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young said that the city will not pay the ransom, even though that could be the less expensive option.

“No, we’re not going to pay the ransom, and I can’t go into specifics why we can’t pay the ransom because it’s an ongoing criminal investigation,” Young said.

As the FBI and Secret Service continue to investigate while city IT workers try to fix the issue.

“As we have already established, this will be a multi-week restoration process,” Young said.

Young said that he is hopeful to have the systems back up and running in three weeks. However, that is not a guarantee.

The team at CSM Ventures is working with the Health Department on a work-around for the computer issues that will involve more paperwork. It is hoping to get the market opened by next Monday.

The reopening of the market has been a long-time coming amid years of planning, uncertainty, and construction. Baltimore Public Markets Corporation (BPMC) released an RFP in January 2015 for development proposals, a deal was finalized with CVP in November 2016, planning began, and construction then began in April 2018 on the $8-million renovation of the 31,800 sq. ft. building. The market has been completely closed since January.

Once Cross Street Market opens, vendors will open in phases. Legacy tenant The Sweet Shoppe and Ceremony Coffee Roasters, which is based in Annapolis, are expected to open soon after Steve’s Lunch and Fenwick’s Choice Meats.

The Cross Street Farmers’ Market, a partnership between CSM Ventures, LLC and Federal Hill Main Street, has been open on Saturday morning for the past two weeks.

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