BALTIMORE — It's a popular spot to shop, grab coffee, a drink after work, or a bite to eat—Belvedere Square Market.
"You look around; it feels amazing here. It’s wonderful to come here and have lunch. I'm here almost every day walking the corridor eating lunch at Belvedere Square,” said Sam Storey, who is the York Corridor Business Improvement District Executive Director.
A bright look but a bit of crime in the area has also opened eyes to a blind spot when it came to security.
Now Max Marshall, who is the president of the Belvedere Square Merchant's Association, says they have regular check-ins from the Baltimore City Police Department.
"Having like a city police car coming in once or twice a day and having them stop in to say hey and they’re just using the bathroom makes a huge difference," said Marshall.
Back in October, Sam Storey had just taken on the new position as Director of the York Corridor Business Improvement. He had more lights and cameras installed, but he knows it's a community effort to keep people safe.
"I think that we're moving a little bit towards actually having some of those folks in the community to coordinate with our local property owners to make sure that there is direct personnel coverage. There are people standing outside promoting safety in areas where we have pockets of crime,” said Storey.
Inside Belvedere Square, vacant spaces are filling up.
"It's been great here seeing some new places move in. Scott Donally, who owns the pizza place, that company, they are going to be opening up a new taco place, Pono Taco, that's opening later this summer,” said Marshall.
Another highlight is the summer series, which is in full swing.
"It'll be fun to sort of come in and grab a drink and walk around the square and be there in a different context where the parking lot is not full of cars, so you can sort of get outside and play," said Marshall.
There were a few bumps in making sure the summer concert series could be at its full potential.
It was something that was addressed when Max and Sam were connected during WMAR's last walk through Belvedere Square.
"One of the main issues that Max raised is not having the funding that they needed to have the event that they wanted, and we had funding available to promote events," said Storey.
Storey signed on as a lead sponsor for the organization.
"The main goal of ours through that support that the cost could be as low as possible for participating vendors," said Storey.
Now, they've become partners, and the next step will be to create a mural on the front of the building at Belvedere Square.
A design that celebrates Baltimore. Expected to be completed by the end of this summer.
