BALTIMORE — When you think of West Baltimore, or West North Avenue specifically, images like this might come to mind.
"It is one of our most disinvested areas in the city. It is certainly very much in need," said Gary Rodwell, CEO of Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation.
These are the images they want you to associate with West North Avenue instead: neighbors gathering over good food and drink, brand-new apartments rising from former vacant lots, or a born-and-raised West Baltimorean investing in her own community by opening a new business.
"It was a food desert," said Debbie Wilson, owner of D&B Deli. "And we wanted to figure out how we can impact the community. We wanted to bring a healthy food concept - well, as healthy as can be - healthy yet delicious."
"This area hasn't had a new food concept in 40 years," her sister and co-owner of the restaurant, Bianca Tabbs, told WMAR-2 News.
Their deli is part of The Mill On North Food Hall. It's home to seven local vendors in a building that was once a lumber mill, but hasn't seen any action in close to 20 years. The proud new owners are Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore and the Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation.
"It's important to bring assets and amenities to communities that have often been left out of those opportunities," said Dan Ellis, CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore. "Bringing something that's really exciting, that's really cool to West Baltimore, to West North Avenue is something that makes people want to be here."
"My relatives used to live on this block and it was a time when there was community and memories and families," Gary Rodwell, CEO of Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation, told WMAR-2 News. "Now we're all excited about that returning as a result of the work that we are collectively doing."
That work includes includes new housing and mixed-use development along West North Avenue. It's part of a larger effort to revitalize the neighborhood - an effort that dates back years. This particular project started in 2020.
New food hall coming to West Baltimore
"Because COVID happened, so everything was pushed back from materials to permits to health," Tabbs explained. "That process was interesting. But we learned a lot. We learned how to navigate."
People who live here are excited about it finally coming to life.
"Change is contagious," Wilson said. "This is an anomaly right now, but in a few years this could be normalized, and that's what we want to find a new normal, a new beginning, a new chapter."
The grand opening of The Mill On North is Thursday, April 24 at 10 a.m., but it's "softly" opened every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. already. You can find more information here.
