A community in need, not bricks and mortar, was the inspiration for creating what is being touted as the city?s first black-owned indoor mall.
Developer Renwick Bass, who has weathered a seven-year odyssey to build a 10,000-square-foot indoor shopping center in the middle of North Avenue, said the idea hit him like a thunderbolt.
“When I saw this building in 2000, it just hit me, I knew what I wanted to do. I had a vision,” he said on the eve of the grand reopening of The Shops at North and Charles, on North Avenue between St. Paul and Charles streets.
And now, despite a 2005 fire that totaled the first incarnation, the newly renovated mix of retail stores and office space has become a unique business incubator for black business owners, Bass said.
“Entrepreneurs need a place to get started, they have to wear a lot of hats, and I thought this could help,” he added.
Thus the longtime real estate developer, in partnership with his wife, Stacey, began the slow process of securing financing for a facility that now houses about 15 black-owned businesses in an airy, bright space in a neighborhood where others have tried and failed.
“What some people see as problem, we call home,” Bass said of the troubled North Avenue corridor.
With three fully renovated floors, the mall has an apparel store, a hair salon, a cell phone shop and even a karate studio.
“We only have two open spaces left and room for two kiosks,” Bass said.
The path to the mall?s vibrancy is even more surprising given the devastating fire that leveled the building in 2005. But with an $800,000 investment from a local doctor, Bass rebuilt.
“We just made it better,” he said.
Kia Felton, owner of Natural Art hair salon, said a sense of community attracted her to the building.
“I like the fact that it?s a community,” she said as she cut a customer?s hair. “It?s special.”
F YOU GO
» The Shops at North and Charles
23-25 E. North Ave., Baltimore
Grand reopening celebration is 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday.
» A live performance by Brash Music recording artist Anthony David starts at 6 p.m., followed by a CD signing from 7 to 9 p.m.
