At the inaugural Charm City Night Market last fall, 12,000 people flocked to the heart of Baltimore’s historic Chinatown to sip soju, snack on steamed buns, dance with Korean drumming troupes, and browse works by Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) artists beneath glowing red lanterns strung overhead.

It was an energy similar to the lauded Chinatowns of San Francisco and New York City but, unfortunately, one that locals hadn’t felt on the 200 block of Park Avenue since Baltimore’s hub for Asian immigrants faded away decades ago.

What many didn’t know was that the festival was only the first step in a full revitalization of the once-bustling community.

“Our ultimate goal was to always to resurrect an AAPI presence in Chinatown,” says Leandro Lagera of the Chinatown Collective, which organized the festival. “The Night Market proved that there could be something there that is more permanent.”

Park Avenue Plans

Though the overall transformation is still in its early phases, community leaders have already expressed a keen interest in resurrecting the historic district. It’s all expected to begin with a project spearheaded by local developer Christopher Janian of Vitruvius Co., who is planning a reconstruction of the vacant lot at 400 Park Avenue.

Janian plans to transform the lot into an 80,000-square-foot apartment building featuring efficient living spaces (10 percent of the units will be less than $1,000 per month) and street-level shops and restaurants that pay homage to historic Chinatown. He has partnered with the Chinatown Collective to consult on what the design of the retail and dining spaces will eventually look like.

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Park Avenue Partners, an LLC comprised of Janian and three other firms, has also purchased the neighboring building at 409 Tyson Street, as well as a block of five dilapidated rowhomes at 406-414 Park Avenue. The plan is to renovate the former homes into one large space that will eventually house a modern Asian restaurant.

“We chose this neighborhood based on the impact we believe we can deliver,” Janian said at a hearing before the Commission for Historic and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) Tuesday. “It’s culturally and historically rich. It has great theaters and art galleries, and a central location in the city, but it needs more thoughtful investment and less vacant buildings.”

The development around 400 Park Avenue is expected to be a catalyst for a number of other future projects (including entertainment, retail, nightlife, and dining) that help to build up the neighborhood as a whole.

“While Chris’ project is the start, it’s not the end all of what Chinatown will end up being,” Lagera says. “They’re taking a stab at the northern tip of where Chinatown was, and there’s a whole other Southern area that we have concerns about getting developed also.”

The Fate of Martick’s

Many community organizations, including Downtown Partnership and the Baltimore Development Corporation, have expressed their support for Janian’s proposed apartment complex, but a particular point of contention surrounding the project is the fate of the old Martick’s Restaurant Francais at 214 West Mulberry Street.

The former restaurant—a pre-Civil War building best known as an inclusive haven for the arts and jazz communities throughout the ’40s and ’50s—is stationed at the corner of the proposed mixed-use building site. It was one of the first integrated bars in Baltimore, which attracted the likes of Billie Holiday and John Waters throughout its lifespan.

Though they have explored options to preserve it, Park Avenue Partners claims that it isn’t financially viable to save the structure due to a decade of deterioration that has produced mold, crumbling masonry, and significant water damage.

“The only financially viable option we have is to demolish a long vacant building,” Janian stated at the demolition hearing before CHAP, “and to keep the spirit of Martick’s alive by celebrating diversity, inclusivity, and progressiveness throughout our development.”

A number of residents spoke out against the proposed demolition at the CHAP hearing earlier this week including Henry Johnson, a local architect and longtime patron of the restaurant.

“I have a vested interest in something that is difficult to explain,” Johnson said. “And that’s the essence of a place that lingers. As a designer, every time that you take something that’s so authentic, it will always be a scar. It’s just a fact. Everytime it goes away, it’s missing.”

Ultimately, CHAP moved to table the request to raze the building for another month so that the commissioners, and the community, could further review the proposal and engineering plans.

Preserving the Past

In keeping with the theme of preserving the past, the Chinatown Collective has done extensive research about the early AAPI immigrant community in Baltimore. In fact, the idea for the Night Market was partially inspired by a 1958 Baltimore Sun article that explained how older AAPI immigrants clung to traditions that the young strived to Americanize.

“In previous generations, there was this idea that you were either traditional or you were ‘American,’” says Stephanie Hsu of the Chinatown Collective. “And what we’re finding now is that you can very much be both. We’re trying to create a more nuanced understanding of what it means to be both Asian and Asian-American in a city like Baltimore.”

When starting to think about the resurgence of the area, collective members connected with other Chinatown organizations across the country to facilitate conversations about identity in today’s society.

“Even though a lot of this project is rooted in the past, the interpretation of it is meant to be very forward-looking,” Hsu says. “There’s this simultaneous remembrance of those who paved the way before us and the continued evolution of AAPI creativity.”

Chinatown for All

The collective also plans to meet with other AAPI associations in the area, such as the Baltimore Asian Pasifika Arts Collective, to gather feedback on the proposed development. Says Lagera: “We’re not going to assume we know what a new Chinatown is going to look like based solely on our vision.”

While planning for the larger revitalization down the line, the Chinatown Collective will also continue to host its own signature events. The group is partnering with the Towson Asian Arts & Culture Center to host a sake and soju dance party in Graffiti Alley on March 30, and plans are already underway for the second-annual Night Market next fall.

In response to the massive turnout last year, the collective is hoping to expand the festival’s footprint to Charles Center, while also adding experiences like a kid’s area and DIY art installations.

When reflecting on the event, one of the aspects that Lagera and Hsu say they’re most proud of is that it not only brought together AAPI residents, but people of all backgrounds. This convergence is something they hope will continue as Chinatown develops.

“There’s an interesting opportunity here to really champion a new generation that is striving to be much more socially conscious,” Hsu says. “For many of us who are second- and third-generation, we think about what it really means to fully represent multiple communities of color coming together and celebrating each other.”

Inside the kitchen at the Alexander Brown Restaurant downtown, white-aproned chefs chop vegetables, measure liquids, and debone fillets of Ora King salmon to be served with miso butter and forbidden black rice.

It’s a scene typical of any restaurant that is a week out from its official grand opening, but small details throughout the space reveal that this kitchen—housed inside the historic Alex. Brown & Sons investment bank building—is anything but ordinary. The dry ingredients, for example, are stored inside a massive antique vault equipped with analog clocks and metal engravings.

“The building was actually built around this vault,” says the restaurant’s director Matthew Foody, adding that it was used to store bars of gold. “You would have to set the clocks, close the door, and then at 8 a.m. it would unlock.”

The vault is one of many treasures that operators have preserved throughout the building’s 18-month transformation into the Alexander Brown Restaurant, which is taking reservations now and officially opens on February 4.

Upon first stepping through the doors off of East Baltimore Street, diners will notice original marble walls and columns, the domed stained-glass skylight above, and a historic portrait of the building’s namesake Baltimore merchant with his sons near the entrance—which has been on display since the property was built as a headquarters for Brown’s investment firm in 1901.

“It’s quite a historical painting,” says Ben Griswold, a descendant of the Brown family, which still owns the building today. “The combination of the all of the art and architecture, along with the food experience, is one that is going to be really unique to the city.”

The dining destination has been brought to life by siblings Blake Casper and Allison Casper-Adams, who own restaurant-and-retail concept The Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida. Last year, they opened The Library, a restaurant inside the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg inspired by our own George Peabody Library.

The duo was introduced to the Alexander Brown property by Griswold’s son, Alex, who is a friend of the Casper family.

“My brother and I came up to Baltimore to meet with Johns Hopkins for our project at the hospital, and we thought, ‘While we’re here why don’t we go look at that bank that Alex is always talking about?’” Casper-Adams recalls. “Everyone is always asking how we chose Baltimore, but it really chose us.”

Designed by Jordan Winston of The Oxford Exchange team, the 102-seat space adds to the bank’s original aesthetic with brown leather chairs, plush emerald banquettes, modern light fixtures, and colorful bathroom art by pop-culture painter Ashley Longshore.

In addition to the architectural details, the restaurant pays homage to Alexander Brown by adopting the philosophies of the famed merchant and textile trader.

“A lot of what we’ve been able to discover about him and the firm goes along with how he brought the best of the world’s diversity to Baltimore,” says executive chef Andrew Fontaine, formerly of Antrim 1844 in Taneytown. “We want to draw from the best places, whether it’s a mile away or on the other side of the world.”

While the seasonal menu makes use of local produce in many dishes, Fontaine is also bringing in ingredients like A5 Wagyu beef from Japan and grits from Anson Mills farm in South Carolina. Globally inspired options on the opening lineup include a foie gras torchon with apple butter, short rib pappardelle, vegetable curry with fried tofu, local pork chops with sorghum and collard greens, and duck breast with pickled daikon and baby bok choy.

Led by beverage director Jeff Bejma, who formerly headed up the speakeasy-style program at Clock Restoration inside The QG, the bar menu will further the historical feel with champagne by the glass, regional wines, craft beer, and classic cocktails that tell stories of the building.

Among them will be a spicy mezcal drink named “The 1904,” after the year the building survived the Great Baltimore Fire. There will also be the bourbon-based “Joyride,” incorporating coconut orgeat, lime, and allspice dram.

“The day that this building opened as a bank in 1901, a young man walking up Calvert Street came across a parked automobile,” says Bejma, a self-proclaimed history buff. “He decided to take it for a joyride, and actually ended up crashing it into the building.”

Once a thriving hub for banks and insurance companies, the neighborhood now features many overhauled structures including the 10 Light Street apartments and Chez Hugo Bistro inside the old Merchant’s Club building. According to Griswold, the new phase of the property fits in with the transformation of the central business district as a whole.

“It’s become more of a residential area,” he says. “Hopefully the restaurant will play a role in increasing its vibrancy.”

Throughout the next few years, the Casper family plans to expand its footprint by revamping the Rite Aid adjacent to the property. The plan is for that space to mimic the multi-use Oxford Exchange in Tampa, which houses its own restaurant, coffee shop, bookstore, and co-working areas.

For now, the team is looking forward to sharing the history of Alexander Brown with the community through the restaurant’s dishes, drinks, and design.

“Baltimore deserves this restaurant,” Foody says. “If we apply the same philosophy that made the Alexander Brown firm successful, we hope that it will work for us in the next 130 years, as well.”