Harbor East

Harbor East is moving farther east with baker-cum-developer John Paterakis Sr.'s announcement Friday that he will break ground this summer on a new, mega-Whole Foods and later on a new residential/retail building across Central Avenue from the glittering mini-city he has almost single handedly built during the last 15 years. Things are bustling in that corner of the city, what with the planned construction of a new headquarters office tower for Exelon Corp. and a variety of other smaller scale residential, retail, office and hotel developments nearby.

The talk about city projects always goes round and round. The mayor's glowing study for the magic kingdom of Harbor Point shows that there will be 9,200 permanent jobs and 7,200 construction jobs ("Mayor, builder push for Harbor Point tax deal," June 7). Another study shows 6,611 new jobs, of which 4,320 employees will live outside of the city. The developers state the obvious - that without public infrastructure, no development can take place. The cost of infrastructure is the city's responsibility so if it costs nothing, why not go ahead with it?

H&S Bakery is moving its Harbor East distribution center to an East Baltimore business park, freeing up prime real estate that the breadmaker-turned-developer has eyed for development for more than a decade. The facility, bounded by South Central Avenue and South Eden, Fleet and Aliceanna streets, lies on the edge of the fast-growing shopping, hotel and business district. Its future home, meanwhile, is a development that was once in bankruptcy and has struggled to attract tenants.

On the day Exelon's gleaming new office tower opens on Harbor Point, I wonder if anyone will remind the company, "You didn't build that. " Remember the hubbub during the 2012 campaign when President Barack Obama said that? His point was that successful businesses don't get that way all by themselves — they had some help, including from the government that built the roads and public infrastructure necessary to open and run a private business. The remark drew much huffing and puffing from opponents who thought Obama was trampling on everything from the American dream to self-made individualism to Steve Jobs' grave.

On the day Exelon's gleaming new office tower opens on Harbor Point, I wonder if anyone will remind the company, "You didn't build that. " Remember the hubbub during the 2012 campaign when President Barack Obama said that? His point was that successful businesses don't get that way all by themselves — they had some help, including from the government that built the roads and public infrastructure necessary to open and run a private business. The remark drew much huffing and puffing from opponents who thought Obama was trampling on everything from the American dream to self-made individualism to Steve Jobs' grave.

You'd have to look long and hard to come up with a false move at the new Fleet Street Kitchen, either in the execution of the menu or the management of the posh suite of dining rooms. The physical space, the ground level of a former furniture factory in Harbor East, is grand but, even with chandeliers and monumental displays of white orchids, not imposing. Everywhere there is impressive, eye-catching evidence of both masterful contemporary artisanship and keen judgment about reclaimed materials.

The Harbor East Management Group is holding another one of its progressive dining events. Scheduled for March 6, Sip, Savor & Stroll will take participants into some dozen popular neighborhood venues. Confirmed for the March event are BIN 604, Bond Street Social, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Kozmo's Lounge at the Marriott Waterfront, Lebanese Taverna, The Oceanaire Seafood Room, Ouzo Bay, Pabu, Taco Fiesta, Talara and Wit & Wisdom. Yes, we know that some of these establishments are in Fells Point.

Under Armour will open its first store in Baltimore - the Under Armour Brand House - on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Harbor East, the sports apparel company announced. The Locust Point-based company said in November that it would open an 8,000-square-foot specialty store at 700 S. President Street in the waterfront neighborhood of upscale shops, restaurants, hotels and apartments. In its promotion for the store, a new format for Under Armour, the company promises "a store unlike any you've seen before, featuring the very best UA innovations and Baltimore-exclusive products … all engineered to make athletes better.

Harbor East restaurants like Talara, Taco Fiesta, Lebanese Taverna James Joyce and Fleming's will be offering selections of their menus at Harbor East's Fall Harvest Fest on Saturday. Taco Fiesta will be bringing chips, guacamole, salsa and burritos; Lebanese Taverna will have chicken shazam and hummus; Fleming's will be serving lamb chop lollipops and Talara will show up with smoked pulled pork brisket sandwiches and red cabbage slaw. They're all bringing booze, too. The Harbor East Fall Harvest Fest will also feature live music and strolling entertainment.

Preliminary plans for a red brick and glass hotel near Harbor East were approved Thursday by the city's architectural review panel. The structure, at South Central Avenue and Fleet Street, also will have about 14,000 square feet for retail and restaurants on the first floor, said Neil Tucker, a partner with Chesapeake Real Estate Group LLC. It's too early to name retailers, he said, but that they will be equivalent in quality to retailers currently...

Developer Michael Beatty pressed the Baltimore City Council to approve the issuance of $107 million in bonds to pay for infrastructure at Harbor Point, saying Thursday that the prime real estate would remain a gravel-covered lot without city-financed roads and sewer pipes. Finding private investment to construct buildings at the site is difficult enough without having to raise money for utility hookups and parks, Beatty told reporters at a morning news conference. "Without infrastructure here, you can't build buildings," he said.

Hours before introducing legislation Monday to the City Council that asks for more than $100 million in taxpayer assistance for a large waterfront development near Harbor East, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake released hard numbers to justify the financing deal. Baltimore should issue $107 million in city bonds to pay for infrastructure needed for the $1 billion Harbor Point because the project, when finished, will generate 80 times the annual property taxes that the land produced before development began, according to the analysis Rawlings-Blake distributed.

Technology company Hope LoanPort could have signed a conventional lease for its new headquarters in Baltimore. But the nonprofit doesn't work in a conventional way. Its 10 employees live in three states. Some work at home part-time but need office space to meet with clients or review documents. Sometimes a few employees need to meet in an office to work on a presentation. And the company's growth makes it difficult to gauge when it will need more space or how much more. Hope chose a relatively new but growing option, a "flexible workplace" center.

At one point during the three years that Harbor Bank of Maryland operated under heightened federal scrutiny, a regulator asked CEO Joseph Haskins Jr. why he stuck it out. Why not just retire? But for Haskins, one of the founders of the Baltimore bank in 1982, walking away was not an option. "I've grown up not running from a challenge, but facing it head on and looking to find a solution," said Haskins, 65. "And so, it isn't in my DNA to wilt under pressure. In fact, it only strengthens my resolve.

Deborah Seymour lives in Federal Hill. But working at Laureate Education Inc. and shopping and dining in Harbor East means much of her life happens on the other side of the harbor. "Between the restaurants and the retail, it is a place where you can spend a lot of time," she said. "It has become a neighborhood that you just don't leave after work. It has become a destination. " The growth along the brick-paved sidewalks has been accelerating, turning Harbor East into the city's hottest shopping destination.

At the behest of business owners - and using their financial contributions - the Waterfront Partnership is extending its safety and cleaning services into the heart of Fells Point. "It's really a great example of a community coming together to better the place that they live, work and play," said Mike Maraziti, president of Fell's Point Main Street Inc., a nonprofit that promotes commerce in the neighborhood. About 30 businesses and a few residents chipped in more than $150,000 to hire the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore Inc. to empty garbage cans, sweep sidewalks and provide safety patrols, said Maraziti, who owns One-Eyed Mike's tavern, near the corner of South Bond and Aliceanna streets.

The addition of four national retailers - Anthropologie, J. Crew, MAC Cosmetics and Lululemon Athletica - at Harbor East could solidify the Baltimore waterfront neighborhood as one of the region's top shopping destinations, local retail consultants and business owners said Wednesday. "It makes downtown even more vibrant and attractive to high-quality, upscale retailers," said Mark Millman, chief executive officer of the retail executive hiring firm Millman Search Group in Owings Mills.

180s LLC, maker of behind-the-head ear warmers, gloves and sunglasses, said Friday it has traded one downtown Baltimore headquarters for another with a move earlier this week to the E.J. Codd building in Harbor East. The company, formerly located at 701 East Pratt St. on Pier Six , signed a 10-year-lease for the mid-19th century building at 700 South Caroline St. The building originally housed the E.J. Codd Co., which manufactured boilers and parts for barges and boats. Developer Struever Bros.

    1.          When Madison Jacobson receives her Towson High School diploma on June 1, the celebration will just be getting started. Jacobson, who will head to Roanoke College in the fall, will continue the festivities at home the day after graduation, when her family throws her a garden-themed party. "It's Madison's launch from the nest," says Debbie Jacobson, her mother. "We are working with Lilly Pulitzer colors and pretty, picnicky food, like chicken salad with green grapes, croissants, fruit salad and sangria.

I read yet another article in The Sun about a teen gang fight at the Inner Harbor on Monday ("Large group of teenagers fighting in downtown Baltimore," May 20). This kind of occurrence has gotten to be way too frequent. My wife and I were witness to one of these events two summers ago, and it was pretty scary. At one point our car, stopped at a red light, was entirely circled by rowdy teens, fighting and pushing against our car. When the light turned green, I had to dodge the teens in the road to get away.