Whole Foods to Expand in Baltimore’s Harbor East with New Flagship Store

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Whole Foods Market is expanding in downtown Baltimore. The supermarket chain recently announced it will relocate to 711 S. Central Avenue, where it will occupy almost 50,000 square feet of space, more than double the size of its current location.

The site is located east of Central Avenue, between Aliceanna and Lancaster Streets, in Harbor East. It was formerly occupied by Baltimore Contractors. Now, Whole Foods will open a new flagship store at the site. The supermarket chain first opened a location in Harbor East in August 2002, at the corner of Fleet and South Exeter Streets.

Whole Foods expects to start work at the site later this year. It did not reveal the cost of the project. The new Whole Foods Market will include two outdoor patios and expanded café seating with a second floor mezzanine. Until the building is finished, the current Whole Foods Market location will continue to house retail operations.

Just like many other buildings in Harbor East, the new Whole Foods Market will be part of a mixed-use project, which consists of almost 290 luxury apartments and 45 condos above ground floor retail. Bozzuto Construction is the general contractor, with Hickok Cole Architects as the project’s architect. The Bozzuto Group is a minority partner in the project and will provide development and management services for the residences.