And now this: What's happening in B'more this month?

And now this is a new format trying to occasionally place a wider range of short notices with less in depth content. Let me know if this is useful.  

Grand Central sold:

Mount Vernon sees big changes in the 1000 block with Grand Central closing, Eddies slated for demo, the Hippo turned into CVS and a few carriage structures at Morton Street proposed to be half demolished ( that proposal was nixed by CHAP). According to Ed Gunt's article in the Fishbowl the building will be converted to offices and a restaurant. It is part of the Mount Vernon local historic district. The closure is an indication on the former hub of gay gathering places is transforming after the Baltimore Pride festival has been relocated and after the LGBT communities have found wider acceptance across town.
Fishbowl

Grand Central (Photo: Ed Gunts, Fishbowl)

Trinacria Ristorante Bar closes

The Trinacria Ristorante/Bar which Deli owner Vince Favia had opened in 2014 and re-styled in 2016 is closed indefinitely. From a lengthy online discussion on the Facebook page Baltimore Voters one can glean that the closing is related to a private matter and not necessarily an indication that business wasn't good. Apparently the closure and its circumstances were discussed in detail at a recent meeting of the Mount Vernon Improvement Association.

Fishbowl reported first about the closing.

Trinacria's across from Mt Vernon Market

Schematics for new Port Covington buildings reviewed by UDAAP

Anyone who doubted whether Port Covington's new town was still alive and happening could see that plans are still moving forward when the Urban Design Advisory Panel UDAAP reviewed designs for a set of buildings to house apartments, offices and a food hall under the name Rye Street Market. ("Chapter One" also dubbed "Cyber Town USA".) The designs are prepared by Hord Coplan Macht and MGMA Design and Hoerr Schaudt for landscape and site design.

BBJ- Port Covington's European-influenced Rye Street Market goes before city design panel

Port Covington: Chapter One massing in the context of the Distillery
(Foreground) (From UDAAP presentation)

Cross Street Market will open soon

The on and off Cross Street Market $8.4 million renovation undertaken by Caves Valley is now going into the final stretch for its first phase. The two phase approach was chosen after merchants who wanted to remain in the market made it clear that they could not survive a full closure.

BBJ First pase of Cross Street Market almost ready to open, Southbaltimore.com

Cross Street Market (Rendering Caves Valley Partners)

Re-applied for Howard Street tunnel refurbishment project 

Another on and off project is the freight tunnel under Howard Street which is too small to allow double stacked container freight cars to pass through and thus creates a bottleneck for freight movement from the Port of Baltimore and the entire East Coast. CSX, the owner of the tunnel had withdrawn from the project and the federal government had denied an initial application for funding. Now CSX is back and would commit $91 million with a matching amount by the State. The request to the feds is now being re-submitted for $238 million of the $466 million project. Jim Foote, the new CEO of CSX is in agreement regarding the importance: "This critical infrastructure project would position Baltimore, the state of Maryland, the mid-Atlantic and the entire nation for long-term, sustainable economic growth, reduced highway congestion and a cleaner environment," Foote wrote in a letter of support of the application addressed to U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

SUN Maryland, CSX apply again for federal funding for Howard Street Tunnel expansion in Baltimore , BBJ Maryland increases commitment for Howard Street Tunnel by $56M

Monument Brewing Company tap-room now open in Highlandtown on what could be a local Highline

Breweries with integrated taprooms are all the rage. One of the newest examples is the Monument Brewing Company and their new digs at Haven Street in Highlandtown. The venue was recently the place to kick off  volunteers working on the Rail to Trails loop prominently feature in the City's Green Network Plan.  The Loop would pass right behind the Brewery where some outdoor seating already suggests the potential for a beer garden. Chris Ryer, Executive Director of the Highlandtown CDC and now Planning Director called the rail alignment and potential trail "Highlandtown's new Highline".
Currently, Monument City Brewing has two core beers — 51 Rye IPA and American Brown Ale. With the new brewery, that lineup will double with the Battle IPA being upgraded from a seasonal beer to a core product while Praay said they will also begin making a pilsner year round.
On the Grid

Monument City Brewing Co. (Photo: On the Grid)

Monument City Brewing Co. (Photo: Monument)

AIA will begin their waterfront lecture series this month

AIA Baltimore will put its traditional Spring Lecture series under the title of "Edge" this year, meaning the edge between land and water. AIA writes in their press release:

Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative has set a goal of a swimmable and fishable Inner Harbor. What could this look like? The 41st annual AIA Baltimore and BAF Spring Lecture Series invites local practitioners and globally recognized designers and scholars to address “the edge”—where the land meets the water—from a variety of perspectives: health and ecology, resiliency in the face of climate change, and social equity.

The lectures will serve as inspiration for a local design competition. Multi-disciplinary teams of architects, landscape architects, and planners are encouraged to submit designs for a project that engages the water’s edge of a future swimmable and fishable Inner Harbor. Projects will be featured in the Baltimore architectural journal T3XTURE and in an exhibit sponsored by AIA Baltimore and the BAF this fall.  

 The Spring Lecture Series is free to the public. Lectures will be held at Falvey Hall in the MICA Brown Center (1301 W Mt Royal Ave). 

AIA Spring Lecture series

March 20: Edge of Edge
Edward S. Casey, PhD, Professor, Stony Brook University
Travis Price, FAIA, Travis Price Architects/Spirit of Place-Spirit of Design, Inc.
Carmera Thomas, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Moderator: Julio Bermudez, PhD, Professor, School of Architecture and Planning, The Catholic University of America

March 27: Engaging the Edge
Kent Bloomer, Bloomer Studio, Yale University
Misha Semenov, Yale University
Christopher Streb, Biohabitats

April 24: The Intentional and Unintentional Edge
Daniel Campo, Morgan State University
Barbara Wilks, FAIA, W Architecture & Landscape Architecture LLC

May 1: The Edge of Experience
Roger Tyrrell, CHORA, University of Portsmouth
Katie O’Meara, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)

AIA website: