When he decided to open a new Greek restaurant on Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown, John Zoulis knew he wanted to feature dishes that moved beyond the usual moussaka, souvlaki, and fried calamari so often found on Greek-American menus.

Enter Estiatorio Plaka, named after the historic neighborhood near the Acropolis in Athens and open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Though you will find the usual offerings, like eggplant dip, grape leaves, and a truly exceptional moussaka, as well as respectable renditions of souvlaki and fried calamari, there are also less familiar dishes fashioned from recipes passed down by Zoulis’ Greek-born maternal grandmother, Evagelia.

Offerings like braised lamb shank served with rice pilaf and delicate dolmades, or the Cretan dakos salad (think Greek panzanella) made with Greek barley rusk, cherry tomatoes, and fetalike manouri goat cheese, are far from what you typically find even in the heart of Baltimore’s Greek community.

“We are trying to introduce new flavors and tastes to Baltimore,” says Zoulis. “We wanted to carry some new dishes that have never been in the area before.”

The entrepreneur, who also owns G&M in Linthicum Heights, is a real-estate developer by day, but he’s equally passionate about hospitality. His interest was piqued at an early age when his father, Minas, opened Tom’s Restaurant of Seinfeld fame on the Upper West Side of New York. “I always wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps,” says Zoulis, who was born in New York City but whose roots remain on the Aegean island of Kasos, where his family is from.

After years in the making, the restaurant at the corner of Eastern Avenue and Oldham Street is like something straight out of the Greek islands, with its sun-dappled dining room, stucco, stone, and light wood surfaces, and décor details such as clay vases sourced from the island of Sifnos.

The menu also reflects Zoulis’ love of country, with all the fish flown in daily from the Mediterranean and a wine list filled with Hellenic highlights. On our visit, must-order appetizers included the salty-sweet combination of feta baked in phyllo. The rectangle of cheese was enrobed in a blanket of dough, baked until it softened, trickled with thyme-infused honey, then showered with sesame seeds.

Another classic, the grilled octopus slicked with olive oil and a sprinkling of oregano, was a great way to start the meal. The one disappointment was a whole baked bronzino, served simply with olive oil, oregano, and garlic. It was a tad overcooked and could have used a little more zing. The red snapper, a generous filet of flavorful fish sitting atop a bed of dill-flecked tomato orzo, was a more successful offering.

Dessert is not optional here, as all of the sweets are made in-house and can be previewed from behind the glass case at the adjacent bakeshop. The baklava, tissue-thin layers of phyllo laced with walnuts and pistachios, is an excellent example of the Greek treat, but the orange cake portokalopita—redolent of sun, sea and the sweetness of island life—will truly transport you.

ESTIATORIO PLAKA 4718 Eastern Ave., 443-833- 0330. HOURS: Sun.-Thurs., 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 7 a.m.-10 p.m. PRICES: Appetizers: $9-22; entrees: $20-33; desserts: $5-9

LIVE
The Southeast Baltimore enclave has maintained a strong Greek base since the 1930s, though today a broad range of residents proudly call this rowhouse community home. Amid a wave of recent change—Greektown’s population grew 31 percent during the 2010s alone—the neighborhood has embraced an influx of young families and newcomers from Latino and other non-Greek backgrounds while retaining a shared sense of safety and mutual community support.

SHOP
Residents here enjoy unusually plentiful options for Baltimore. The main drag in the 4600-4700 blocks of Eastern Avenue includes corner stores and small grocers for basic household and kitchen items. Prima Foods around the corner in Bayview has endless wholesale-priced feta cheese, imported olive oil (and olives), and other Greek specialties for sale, and close-by shopping centers (Yard 56, Canton Crossing) provide the usual chains and big box stores.

ARTS/CULTURE
While the characteristic white-and-azure flags and painted facades decorate the neighborhood year-round, major annual festivities include the lively Greek Independence Parade every March and the annual four-day St. Nicholas Greek Folk Festival in June.

PLAY
Families enjoy the beloved playground and tot lot at Lehigh and Gough (named after the late, longtime neighborhood caretaker, Gloria Hertzfelt). A drive up to the eastern border of Hopkins Bayview brings you to ball fields, basketball courts, and a wading pool at Joseph Lee Park.

DINE
No surprise Greek cuisine is the star here. Mainstays like Ikaros (founded in 1969), Samos (1977), and Zorba’s (1989) have served up pastitsio, dolmades, kebab, and countless other favorites for decades. Estiatorio Plaka, owned by Greektown’s own John Zoulis, took over the former Acropolis space this summer and has already stirred up fresh buzz. Central and South American flavors add more range to the menu in Greektown, from Mexican (Charro Negro) and Salvadoran (Pupuseria Mama Tana) to Ecuadorian (La Taverna Ecuatoriana) and Colombian (Delicious Colombian Food).

Neighbor Spotlight
Lia Dimas, Lifelong Greektown Resident

“I’m born and raised here for 42 years. I live one block away from where I grew up. My parents live across the alley. They are creatures of habit, so every morning they go out in the backyard, and they have their Greek coffee, so we always wave to them as we head off on our day.

“Growing up, Greektown was more like a blue-collar type of neighborhood, but today it’s a mix. You still have the old-school generation of Greeks living here, and some younger, newer generation of Greeks like me and my husband. But now it’s a melting pot really, we have all kinds of people living here. I don’t think there’s anything else like Baltimore’s Greektown—you won’t see a Greektown in as many parts of the U.S. that’s as residential as it is here.”

NEIGHBORHOOD STATS
Population: 4,757 Occupancy Rate: 89% Owner/Renter Split: 51% / 49% Median Home Purchase Price: $194,000 Estimated Monthly Mortgage: $1,323 Estimated Rent: $1,580 Walk Score: 88 Transit Score: 67
—Sources: Baltimore City Department of Planning, Live Baltimore 

Our stomachs crave tradition. Perhaps none is as cherished by Americans as eating leftovers the day after Thanksgiving, but in a rowhouse restaurant in a small enclave of East Baltimore on November’s last Friday, it’s souvlaki and moussaka that Dr. Laura Sterni seeks, not stuffing or mashed potatoes.

Nicholas Georgalas is working the grill at Samos, ensuring that Sterni and his other loyal customers feed their Greek fixes. In a city whose culinary scene has evolved immeasurably since Georgalas opened what was then a tiny carryout spot in 1977, his eatery—like Ikaros and Zorba’s, the others that make up Greektown’s Big Three—continues to thrive, despite dwindling numbers.

For the past 30 years, The Big Three was The Big Four. On Christmas Eve, the Acropolis Restaurant served its last roast leg of lamb. Owner George Avgerinos closed it after selling the business. His father, Dimitrios, opened it in 1987 and ran it until his death in September. As Baltimore went to print, there was no word on the new owners’ plan for the space.

How has the remaining trio survived? The restaurateurs who run these relics of a bygone era are men of many years and few, heavily accented words, but those words, like the ingredients in their time-tested dishes, each serve a distinct purpose.

“Greek cuisine is pretty simple,” Georgalas says as he uses tongs to flip a skewer of chicken, onto which he adds a dash of salt, pepper, and oregano. “Lemon, olive oil, garlic, onion. We don’t use too many elaborate things. When I first opened up, I had a vision of selling burgers and hot dogs to American people and souvlaki and gyro to Greek people. But we sell our ethnic food to everybody. Everyone wants spanakopita.”

Samos’ customers place to-go orders at a counter in front of the open kitchen, yet there’s no menu hanging over it nor printed ones within grabbing distance. It’s telling that, for the most part, they’re not needed.

“I’ve been coming here since medical school,” says Sterni, the director of Johns Hopkins Pediatric Sleep Center. “I walk in, and they know what I like.”

People from the neighborhood, the rest of the city, the suburbs, and up and down the East Coast have been coming to Greektown for dolmades, pastitsio, and loukaniko for decades. They are drawn not only by the authenticity of dishes crafted by first-generation immigrants, but by the knowledge that no matter how much time elapses between visits, the stuffed grape leaves, baked ziti with meat sauce, and grilled sausage with feta, peppers, and onions will taste exactly the same as it did the last time.

Delicious.

“I trust my ancestors’ experience,” says Xenos Kohilas, the owner of Ikaros. “We have a very strict mentality. We do Greek cuisine. We don’t change it, we don’t alter it, we don’t cut corners. I do not know any other way.”

Greektown’s restaurants provide a palpable sense of place.

Inside, the dining rooms show their age. Newspaper and magazine reviews that hang on the walls faded long ago, decors are dated, menus are worn. Yet after a bite of spinach, onion, and dill baked in phyllo dough pie, or a dollop of garlicky eggplant dip on a piece of warm bread, none of that matters.

Whether the flavors spark a memory of a long-ago meal back home or fantasies of a country not yet visited, Greektown’s restaurants provide a palpable sense of place. “The restaurants are a vessel to sustain the Greek style of life,” says Charles Village resident Minas Konsolas, who lived in Greektown when he first came to the United States from Greece in the 1970s. “Of course, now Greektown is not the only place where you can find a good Greek restaurant. We have The Black Olive and Ouzo Bay and things like that. Greek restaurants are opening around town. The attraction to go back to Greektown is always the connection to the culture itself. It sort of takes you to a different world.”

Baltimore’s Greektown has never been inhabited solely by Greeks.

“The very first residents were German,” says Rafael Alvarez, a writer who has chronicled the neighborhood and resided in it for 30 years. His grandfather moved into the house where he currently lives in 1935. “There were always Greeks in Greektown, but the huge influx did not occur until after World War II, when civil war broke out in Greece.”

The neighborhood was officially known as Highlandtown, but the locals called it The Hill then. Georgalas arrived from the Greek island of Samos in 1967. He was 18 years old. “It was dominated by Greek people, but it was laced with Italians, Polish, some Germans,” he recalls. “People were proud of their marble steps, polishing them, make them nice and white. Everybody looked after each other. There were a lot of Greek stores. You could buy things for weddings, baptisms. There were barber shops and little grocery stores selling feta cheese.”

Ted Kohilas opened Ikaros in 1969, and six years later, his brother, Xenos, moved from island of Ikaria in the Aegean Sea and joined him at the restaurant. The late Dimitrios “Jimmy” Avgerinos arrived in the neighborhood in 1970, landed a job as a cook, and opened Acropolis in 1987. John Kritikos moved from Karpathos to Greektown, where his father and brother lived, in 1982. He started working at Zorba’s in 1989 and bought the place two years later.

The restaurants have served as important anchors in the neighborhood. While they’ve seemingly remained frozen in time, the world around them has changed. Today, Greektown’s residents are decidedly less Greek. Like many immigrant populations, as second- and third-generation Greek families began acquiring more wealth, many left the city for the suburbs. Xenos Kohilas estimates that when he arrived in the mid-’70s, Greektown (which did not become the neighborhood’s moniker until the 1980s) was home to roughly 500 Greek families. That figure stands at around 150 now, he says.

Xenos took over Ikaros when his brother retired. In 2012, he moved it to its current location at the corner of Eastern Avenue and Ponca Street. “I had the option to stay in Greektown or to go to the county,” he says. “But even though the Greeks moved out of the neighborhood, the feeling of the Greeks is here.”

Today, Greektown’s strongest pillars are the same two that have anchored communities around the globe for centuries: God and food. As long as St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church remains, the restaurateurs are confident their establishments will be blessed as well. The church, Alvarez says, is what makes the area a “village.” And the villagers need places to eat.

In the back of Zorba’s dining room, there’s a window through which customers can watch a rotisserie packed with pork butts rotate over a charcoal grill. Every so often, a drip of juice falls from the kontosouvli, as it’s known in Greek, sending a sizzle and small puff of smoke through the kitchen and a shiver down the spine of the carnivores on the other side of the glass.

It tastes as good as it looks, but Zorba’s is perhaps best known for its grilled octopus. Kritikos buys only the highest-grade octopus and grills it for five to 10 minutes. You can tell when it’s perfectly done, he says, by its softness to the touch.

“People go to Greece and come back to me and say, ‘How do you make the octopus so good?’” he says, as a proud smile spreads across his face.

The dish is a favorite of Jesus Romero, a self-described lover of Greek food. He doesn’t have to travel far to get it—his Mexican restaurant, Charro Negro, is located across the street.

You don’t have to be a social scientist to see that the demographics of Greektown are changing. Next to the Greek Village Bakery sits El Merengue, a Dominican restaurant. Its next-door neighbor is the Greek Town Grill, where the chicken tikka masala is as popular as the chicken souvlaki. Pearl Regmi, a native of Nepal, bought the carryout restaurant two years ago.

“You can walk down Eastern Avenue and you might hear someone saying something in English, and then Greek, and then Spanish or Korean,” says Liam Davis, president of the Greektown Neighborhood Association. “That, in turn, impacts the food scene. There’s a vibrancy here.”

According to the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, Greektown is the most diverse part of the city, with 42 percent Caucasian residents, 35 percent Hispanic, and 12 percent African-American.

Although some residents undoubtedly harbor resentment toward the newcomers and yearn for the days of old, for the most part, people seem to get along.

“People go to Greece and come back and say, ‘How do you make the octopus so good?’”

“It’s always been a very immigrant-friendly community,” says Jason Filippou, former director of the Greektown Community Development Corporation. “The Greek and Latino communities have naturally bonded because there are many similarities. It makes sense for it to be welcoming in general because of the history of the neighborhood.” (Incidentally, when asked his preferred Greek restaurant, Filippou politely declines to cite a specific spot, instead listing his favorite dish at each: Zorba’s lamb chops, the calamari at Ikaros, and Samos’ gyro.)

“Greektown is now Spanishtown, but for me, nothing has changed,” Kritikos says. “I like to be friends with everybody. The more people in the area, the better.”

Romero has owned Charro Negro for 11 years. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, his bar and restaurant are filled with people watching a soccer match between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. Cheers and groans erupt while they sip beers and eat beef tongue tacos. “It’s Greektown, but now I see lots of Latinos,” Romero says. “The Greek people still own the buildings, but we are happy with those guys. They have accepted the Latinos very well, and I think they know we are building the economy in this town. Maybe 80 percent of our customers are immigrants. The food is authentic Mexican food. We cook everything from zero. This is the flavor from Mexico City. That’s the taste from our moms.”

If you changed the accent and “Mexican” to “Greek,” you can imagine similar words coming out of Jimmy Avgerinos’ mouth when he bought Acropolis. He died on September 19 from aortic stenosis. He was 73. “This was his dream,” says his son, George Avgerinos, who started as a dishwasher at the restaurant when he was 12 and ran it after his father’s death until selling it. “This was his life. That’s why he came to America.”

While his family carried on his legacy, it wasn’t easy, says Avgerinos, who plans to continue catering using the name Acropolis. Business was down about 20 percent since the unrest in 2015, his clientele was aging, and he was putting in six to seven days a week at work since his father passed away. In a Facebook post announcing the closing, the family called the decision “bittersweet.”

“When people want to come for an authentic meal, they come to Greektown,” Avgerinos says. “It’s not trendy, but they know they’re going to get straightforward, great food.” That’s what’s kept Sterni, who lives in Towson, tethered to the neighborhood. Her relatives from New Jersey used to stay with her on Thanksgiving, and they’d make the drive into the city to eat at Samos the next day. She doesn’t have the house- guests anymore, but here she is, holding a bag of gyros, souvlaki, and moussaka. Some traditions are worth preserving. “Turkey,” she says as she wishes the staff happy holidays on her way out the door, “can wait.”

OPEN

Taharka Bros. Ice Cream: Tonight, the team from this homegrown sweet shop will celebrate the grand opening of their new R. House location with a lineup of guest scoopers—including 92Q radio personality Pork Chop, rapper and “Secretary of Shade” commentator DDm, and our own New York Times best-selling author D. Watkins. Taharka, which also operates a stall at Broadway Market in Fells Point, will take over the Remington food hall space that formerly housed Little Baby’s Ice Cream, which closed all of its shops last month. “We could not be more excited about this new location, especially given that we make the ice cream at our factory in Hampden so close by,” founder Sean Smeeton said in a statement. “R. House offers a unique venue and a chance for us to host events that help promote a positive image for Baltimore.”

Though Taharka has become known for its scrumptious scoops (Honey Graham, Key Lime Pie, and Coffee Oreo are among its standout flavors), the local business is equally celebrated for its socially conscious philosophy. Since rolling out its hot pink “Change Maker Mobile” in 2015, Taharka has used its ice cream as a vehicle for change—employing Baltimore City youth, hosting events to raise awareness for social justice issues, and creating innovative flavors that pay homage to community leaders.

Sizka: The old firehouse at the intersection of O’Donnell Street and South Linwood Avenue in Canton has a whole new look. The property that was most recently Firehouse Coffee Co. has transformed into this new Japanese fusion restaurant. Now in soft-opening mode, the refreshed space features a black-and-white aesthetic, wooden floors, and a long sushi bar. The menu—from team behind Niwana Restaurant in Charles Village—offers tons of colorful sushi rolls, omakase (chef’s choice) meals, and entrees including salmon teriyaki and barbecue-marinated short ribs.

NEWS

Acropolis Restaurant: Dinner service on Christmas Eve will be the last to savor the stuffed grape leaves, whole branzino, and lamb souvlaki platters at this 33-year-old Greektown staple. Owner George Avgerinos—who inherited the business from his father, the late Dimitrios “Jimmy” Avgerinos—announced last week that the family had sold the restaurant and would be closing for good after the holiday. “This type of business becomes your life,” he wrote in a message posted to Facebook. “And Acropolis and all of you have been such a huge part of ours. We take this step, not to lose a legacy, but to continue it with our loved ones and families.” In keeping with that sentiment, Averinos added that the family is continuing its catering services and he hinted at a possible new location in the future. (Read more about the family business in our upcoming February issue.)

EPICUREAN EVENTS

12/19: Christmas in Mexico
Don’t be surprised if you see a line snaked around the block at The Charmery’s flagship location in Hampden tonight. Master creamer David Alima has once again collaborated with his pal Carlos Raba of Clavel to serve festive fried ice cream to the masses. This year’s treat, “Adornos Navideños,” will top fried scoops of The Charmery’s Pure Vanilla flavor with raspberry sauce and a leche drizzle to resemble an edible ornament. A portion of all the evening’s proceeds will be donated to Guardian Baltimore—Raba’s yet-to-open jiu-jitsu youth center in Remington.

12/23: Navidad en Baltimore
In yet another holiday-themed collaboration, the teams from Fells Point favorites Ekiben and Cocina Luchadoras are coming together to host this epic pop-up next week. Swing by Ekiben on your lunch break to start the holiday feast early with Chinese red-braised short rib tamales, soups, and other Chinese-Mexican fusion fare—which, judging by previous collabs, we can only expect will sell out quickly.

Mary Carol Reilly refused to drop her drawers in a room full of men. Even at gunpoint. “I thought, ‘This is it, I will just have to die right here,’” the 77-year-old one-time nun-in-training, former Romper Room teacher, ex-actress, ex-cabbie, and still-serious poker player recalls with a chuckle and blue-eyed twinkle.

Armed robbers had busted into the illegal backroom poker game in Greektown where she had a seat at one of the tables—the only woman in the joint—and told everyone to stand, face the wall, and pull their pants down to their ankles. “They broke in yelling, ‘MFer this, MFer that’ and pistol-whipped one guy because he couldn’t open the safe. The man next to me shook like a leaf.”

Known in local poker lore as “The Hold’em, Hold up,” the 2006 stick-up gained real notoriety because of what happened next. A player who had stepped out moments before to call his girlfriend heard the commotion and flagged down a patrol car. Police broke up the heist and recovered almost $24,000. Such games, often moving site to site, were more common before the Horseshoe Casino opened, Reilly notes.

How a former Catholic postulant, who became Chicago TV’s Romper Room teacher in 1967—and later acted in national commercials with Jodie Foster and the Pillsbury Doughboy—ended up in Greektown is a circuitous story.(Romper Room, of course, had originated in Baltimore in the 1950s.)

Other highlights from her Zelig-like journey: Reilly was in the courtroom gallery during the Manson trial and nearly got tossed out after she began sobbing when the details of Sharon Tate’s death were presented. She landed a bit part in the groundbreaking ’70s series All in the Family—from which she still receives occasional 17-cent royalty checks—drove a cab in Hollywood, hosted a talk show on WBAL-TV (Phil Donahue was once a guest), volunteered in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and taught English in China. In between, she taught literature to Archdiocese of Baltimore middle schoolers for 25 years.

“If you want to understand my life,” she volunteers before, yes, a lively poker game including several political types at a secret backroom location in Southeast Baltimore, “you’ve got to understand I was always running away from three things—my mother, the Catholic Church, and Baltimore.” But always running back, too.

Reilly grew up in a multigenerational household near Pimlico (sneaking in to pet the horses as a girl), the daughter of a depressive alcoholic father, who ran the family’s downtown leather shop, and an overworked, neurotic, devout, loving, and kind mother. After attending the all-girls Seton High, Reilly started at what is now Frostburg University—“far away as I could get”—before quitting to join the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius. “A girl I had a crush on left school to get married, and that had broken my heart,” recalls Reilly, who was still coming to terms with her sexuality.

However, after learning of her parents’ mental health issues (her father had undergone electroshock therapy), the convent asked her to leave. A few years later, her beloved younger brother’s suicide sent her into a alcoholic tailspin. She’s been sober 44 years.

Reilly finally told her mother she was gay in the early 1970s (by then, Reilly was sharing an apartment in New York with a prominent women’s rights leader). She and her mother were driving to mass at St. Patrick’s. Initially, her mother appeared more flummoxed than shocked or angry. “We were in the car, just me and her, and I’ll never forget it, she said, ‘What do you do?’ I said, ‘Mother! I don’t ask what you and Daddy do.’ We didn’t talk the rest of the way. Then, as we were walking up the steps to St. Patrick’s, she slipped her arm underneath my arm. Said more than any words.”

The poker, she explains, is social and competitive, which she likes. It’s also soothing— keeping her mind on the game and people around her. She’s competed twice in World Series of Poker tournaments in Las Vegas, never winning, nor losing, outrageous money. At Delaware Park, she’s known as “Sister Mary,” which she doesn’t mind. On occasion, she’ll hear, “Nice hand, Granny,” which she does. “I told one guy ‘F—you,’ and they threw me out.”

Founded in 1911, Porcelain Enamel Manufacturing—later known as Pemco International—made porcelain and enamel coating for kitchen tiles and household appliances for nearly a century in Baltimore before shuttering its massive Eastern Avenue plant in 2006. They also produced Howard Johnson hotel’s distinctive orange roofing tiles. Since closing, however, the vacant Greektown industrial site has been beset by vandalism, fire, and growing environmental concerns.

That’s about to change.

Yard 56, a 20-acre, mixed-use project at the former Pemco site, is expected to open its first phase—a retail center including an upscale Streets Market & Café grocery store and LA Fitness facility, among other shops and restaurants—by 2020. Plans for Phase II include a variety of office spaces, residential units, more retail stores, and a hotel. It’s exactly the type of development many residents of Bayview and Greektown have been clamoring for since the manufacturing giant moved its operations south, says Bayview community leader Mike Ball.

“This is going to completely change the landscape on this side of town,” Ball says. “We want to see a transformation happen in this neighborhood.”

Construction remains underway at the sprawling site, situated directly across from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, but developers expect most retailers will be up and running between the end of this year and early 2020.

Ball grew up in Bayview and has lived in the neighborhood for most of his life. He’s seen the impact that developments like Canton Crossing and McHenry Row have had in their respective areas, and believes that Yard 56 can produce similar results, benefitting current residents while attracting newcomers to the community.

Ball adds he believes that plans for a new craft beer bar, The Brass Tap, will fill what he feels is a much-needed tavern space in community. Other announced tenants include Panda Express, Chipotle, Starbucks, and Nektar Juice Bar. As of right now, no locally owned tenants have been announced, but developers expect more announcements in the coming months.

“This isn’t just like we’re building a strip center with a grocery store,” says P. David Bramble of MCB Real Estate, which took the development lead on the project and worked with Bayview and Greektown community leaders, as well as citizens to tailor it to their interests. “This is a massive investment that is going to attract people from all over the city and outside the city.”

Yard 56 comes a few years after community leaders and activists blocked an effort by other developers to bring a Walmart to the Pemco location. “A Walmart would’ve swallowed up nearby small businesses and no one wanted that,” says Jason Filippou, a Bayview resident and Southeast Community Development Corporation board member. “People wanted investment. It wasn’t a NIMBY thing. But no one wants to lose the neighborhood’s identity. This will add density. It’s why people live in cities—it’s the convenience of being close to stores, shops, restaurants, and everything else.”

Bramble says he’s excited to see how the development evolves and fits into neighbors’ daily routines.

“By pushing uses together you create synergy, and start to create a sense of place,” Bramble says. “You’re not just going to a shopping center to buy some groceries and pick up your dry cleaning. Now you’re going to a place you can enjoy a restaurant or meet a friend, maybe go to a meeting and walk across the street and have a drink. You’re going someplace.”

It goes without saying, too, Yard 56 will be a marked improvement from what it is replacing—the dilapidated former manufacturing plant that Bramble called a “blight” on the community. The environmental remediation alone is estimated to cost $15 million.

If all goes as planned, the development will not just serve local residents, but the thousands of employees at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, providing a potential place to gather, as well possibly housing opportunities in the apartment units to come.

“I think you have to look at Baltimore as a city of neighborhoods, but we also have to be thinking one level above that,” Bramble says. “We’re making sure that you are really creating a place that people will want to come back to and spend some time. It will mean a lot to the city of Baltimore.”