Lockwood Place at 600 E. Pratt St. in downtown Baltimore is filling up.
On Thursday, Arizona-based PF Chang?s China Bistro Inc. confirmed it is opening in the building, located across from Baltimore?s Inner Harbor.
Company spokeswoman Laura Cherry said the restaurant chain will open its 6,600-square-foot dining facility in March. It will offer 208 seats in the dining room, 46 seats on its outdoor patio and 28 seats in the bar area.
The company, which also operates Pei Wei Asian Diner and Taneko Japanese Tavern brands, will employ about 120 people in both its culinary and hospitality service units, Cherry said.
The company operates two PF Chang?s China Bistro locations in Maryland, one in the Plaza at the Mall in Columbia and the second in White Flint Mall in Bethesda. It also operates two Pei Wei Asian Diner locations, one on York Road in Baltimore and the other in Dobbins Square in Columbia, Cherry said.
Earlier this week, Filene?s Basement, the Columbus, Ohio-based subsidiary of Retail Ventures Inc., signed a lease totake over the 30,000-square-foot second floor of the glass-and-metal building, owned by David S. Brown Enterprises LTD.
Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. holds the third floor.
Brown was out of the country on Thursday, and no one at Brown?s Owings Mills office would comment about activity in his building.
Filene?s, founded in 1908 with its flagship location in Boston, is an off-priced seller of name brands and designer labels for men?s and women?s fashions and housewares.
Cherry said the PF Chang?s group has been eyeing Baltimore for some time.
“Downtown Baltimore will be a great location for us, and it was just a matter of finding the right location for us before we moved in,” she said.
Licia Spinelli, director of marketing and special events for the Restaurant Association of Maryland, agreed that Baltimore should be a good fit for the Scottsdale, Ariz., company.
“This is a great testimony to the growing opportunity for restaurateurs and entrepreneurs in the city,” Spinelli said.
