Seven retail tenants set to open at Baltimore Peninsula by fall

Baltimore Peninsula is filling in with more than just restaurants. Seven retail tenants were set to open by fall across the South Baltimore waterfront project, adding a noodle bar, sushi spot, karaoke venue, nail salon, child-care center and a cafe concept to one of the city’s biggest new mixed-use districts.

The new businesses are Urbano, Live-K Karaoke, Slurp Noodle Bar, Shinkansen Sushi, Inspire Nail Bar, Blü Cā and Everbrook Academy. All seven were slated for one of the five buildings completed in 2023, a sign that the first phase of the development is moving from construction toward the daily rhythm of leasing, lunch traffic and after-work use. Urbano already had a soft opening in the Rye Street Market office building, while Live-K Karaoke was expected this summer with a Japanese barbecue menu and a karaoke-focused format.

The rest of the rollout was spread across the summer and fall. Slurp Noodle Bar was expected in May, Shinkansen Sushi in June, Inspire Nail Bar in summer, Blü Cā in the fall and Everbrook Academy by the end of spring. That mix matters for Baltimore because it goes beyond the standard waterfront formula of offices and destination dining. A child-care center, a nail salon and grab-and-go food options serve people who live and work nearby, not just visitors coming for a night out.

The retail push also comes as the office side of Baltimore Peninsula has gained traction. Hines, which manages the already-developed portion, said the neighborhood’s 440,000 square feet of Class A office space was about 75% leased. Recent office tenants included Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and Truist Bank, following earlier deals with Insight Global, the University of Maryland’s Flex MBA program, PwC and Newmark. That leasing activity gives the new storefronts a built-in customer base and suggests the district is beginning to function as a workplace neighborhood rather than a speculative project.

The broader development still has unfinished business. The 177-acre site was rebranded from Port Covington to Baltimore Peninsula in 2022 under MAG Partners, and the first major phase wrapped up in 2023. But the remaining land is still owned by Bank OZK and is being marketed to a new developer, leaving the next chapter unresolved even as the completed blocks continue to lease up. For now, the most visible progress is on the ground level, where Baltimore Peninsula is starting to look less like an idea and more like a place people can actually use.