For local merchants such as Charmayne Sturla, it’s an interesting time to be opening up shop in downtown Bel Air.
“There’s a lot to be excited about in Bel Air,” she said.
The newest arrivals to downtown include Sturla’s Old Line Mercantile gift shop, soon to open next to the courthouse, as well as Old Fields Park, unveiled last month along Bond Street.
Both are outgrowths of two high-profile projects. The small community park will adjoin the five-story Standard on Bond complex, while Old Line Mercantile just “graduated” from the nearby Armory Marketplace incubator.
The Standard on Bond, set for completion by 2026, is a month ahead of schedule, said developer Wayne Goddard. He’s also “very close to finalizing a deal for the larger restaurant space,” and almost done remodeling the Baker House Residences, at 30 E. Broadway — an “overture” to The Standard complex.
Meanwhile, a Vietnamese pho restaurant is proposed for Bond at Alice Anne Street. “We need a good pho restaurant in the Bel Air area,” owner Dan Lam, who runs a nail salon at Rock Spring Shopping Center, told the town planning commission earlier this month.
Old Line Mercantile’s Charmayne Sturla and her husband, Tony, are “very excited to bring their mix of handmade and upcycled home decor” to 4 Office St. The store will be replacing Tommy’s on Main.
Charmayne Sturla, an inclusion helper at C. Milton Wright High School and the fifth merchant to complete the Marketplace’s three-year incubator program, said getting their brick-and-mortar space was “kind of our retirement plan” that happened early.
“The stars just kind of aligned,” she said, noting they were very fortunate to have gotten involved with the incubator. “We could have never done this just making the leap [by ourselves]… Bel Air has really been so good to us.”
The couple is hoping to move by July 4, just in time for the Bel Air Independence Day Celebration.
During their time at the Armory garages, the Sturlas were “shocked” by the number of visitors. She noted weekends are “booming,” and “there are tons of people in town.”
Many can attest to the changes downtown has seen within the past two decades.
Savona Italian Cafe’s Maria Boeri, who will mark the store’s 20th anniversary in early June, remembers when the town was “like Mayberry.” The shop had a sandwich named for then-Sheriff Jesse Bane because he stopped by regularly.
“I knew every business owner; they knew me. It was so much smaller. Now, it’s really expanded and there’s more apartments [for example], but it’s still a wonderful, Main Street feel,” Boeri said.
Within the past year, new retailers on Main Street include Little Haven on Main, a children’s boutique and perinatal support center; Chocolate Moonshine, a dessert shop; and Texture and Tuft, a woman-owned home textile and decor business that opened in March.
Three previous Armory incubator businesses have also set up on Main Street, Boeri noted — including REB Records, Ferrari Frame & Design and Kore Bootcamps. The fourth, Love Evolution yoga studio, is also in town, on Bond Street.
“We are very fortunate to have a low vacancy rate in our downtown and a great group of business owners,” said town economic development director Angela Robertson.
The recent interest in downtown from developers, especially for residential projects like The Standard and Hickory Flats, has drawn its share of concern from residents fighting to preserve the small-town feel. In addition to the Harford Mall redevelopment, some worried Bel Air could turn into “a Towson.”
Like The Standard, Hickory Flats is under construction, despite uncertainty after a new density-related bill went into effect. Town planning director Kevin Small said: “Once a development is under construction, any new legislation no longer applies to the project. The development is still moving forward. Mass grading was recently finished.”
The Bond Street Build-Out Concept, laid out in Bel Air Downtown Alliance’s 2016 market study, foresees ongoing changes for the corridor — especially as the state plans to build a new district court building on Route 24, leaving the fate of the large Mary Risteau complex between Hays and Bond streets ripe for more development.
Have a news tip? Contact Bryna Zumer at bzumer@baltsun.com, or on X as @brynazumer.
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