Harborplace Stores Still Open: Hours and Closing Dates

When does Harborplace close? The honest answer depends on which door you walk through. At Life in Charm City in the Pratt Street Pavilion, the last day is Oct. 25. At Neighborhoods Urban Goods in the Light Street Pavilion, it is Oct. 31. At Angeli's Pizzeria upstairs, the owner hopes to stay through the end of the year. At Mason's Famous Lobster Rolls, an employee guessed November might be the last month but wasn't sure.

The pavilions at Pratt and Light streets aren't winding down on a single schedule. Each business is setting its own. Several of the merchants who have said where they're going next are landing elsewhere in the city: Fells Point, the 27th floor of the World Trade Center, and a storefront under construction on Pratt Street. For anyone who has walked the Inner Harbor promenade for years, the last stretch of Harborplace is less a single farewell than a forwarding-address list.

The End Date Has Moved Three Times

The tenants' staggered exits make more sense once you see how often the landlord's timeline has changed. MCB Real Estate owns both pavilions. It announced plans on Oct. 30, 2023, to tear them down and replace them with a $900 million mixed-use project: two apartment towers, offices, shops, restaurants and open space. In the meantime, MCB offered short-term leases to tenants who agreed to leave when the company was ready to start demolition.

Baltimore Fishbowl has tracked what tenants were told over time:

1. First, the pavilions would close after the July 4 holiday.
2. Then, after Labor Day.
3. As of mid-September, they would stay open through the New Year's holiday. The same report described the extension as running into the first quarter of 2027.
4. In its Oct. 2 report, Fishbowl said MCB has told tenants the pavilions will stay open until the end of 2026.

Meanwhile, the construction calendar points earlier. MCB said in June that it aimed to start the first phase, which includes demolishing the pavilions, in the fourth quarter of 2026. Its permit applications listed Oct. 15 as a proposed start date. In September, The Baltimore Banner reported that MCB hadn't yet secured hundreds of millions of dollars in financing and hadn't given a demolition timetable.

There is also a court case. On Sept. 21, seven city residents filed suit in Baltimore City Circuit Court against an MCB affiliate and the Mayor and City Council. They're seeking to stop demolition, and they challenge the process around the 2024 charter amendment. MCB responded publicly on Sept. 23 that it would keep moving forward. As of early October, no ruling had been reported.

With the official date this uncertain, tenants are making their own calls. Luis Medina of LAMESA Raw told Fishbowl that small independent merchants tend to be more nimble than businesses with large corporate owners, which set a firm closing date and stick to it. Some owners, including the operators of Cuples Tea House and Neighborhoods Urban Goods, timed their exits to the fourth quarter. Others want to stay as long as they can.

Who Is Still Open, and on What Terms

More than a dozen tenants were still operating in the two pavilions as of mid-September. The status below comes from Baltimore Fishbowl's Oct. 2 update and The Banner's Sept. 21 visit. Most of it reflects what employees and owners told reporters, so it can change.

A few more names fill out the picture. Idris Coleman, who sells Motion streetwear, told The Banner he would stay as long as he could. Crepe Lena was still open after an earlier expected summer shutdown, and its owner had no firm date. Readings by Mia, which Fishbowl calls Harborplace's resident fortune teller, hasn't been in her Pratt Street space regularly for months but sometimes sets up along the promenade.

One tenant is growing. After Made in Baltimore left its first-floor Light Street space in June, the CollegiateLuxe HBCU Store took it over and kept its original second-level space. It now promotes itself as the only two-story retail experience at Harborplace. The store carries apparel from Morgan State and other historically Black colleges and universities, and it ran a 15 percent off homecoming-season sale this weekend.

The two buildings also keep different hours. Most Light Street tenants open Wednesday through Sunday, while Pratt Street tenants may open seven days a week. On a Monday or Tuesday, the Light Street side may be largely dark.

Where the Merchants Are Going Next

This is where Harborplace's ending spreads into the rest of the city. Not every departing business has announced a new home, but the ones that have are mostly staying in Baltimore.

LAMESA Raw to Fells Point. Medina's store sells women's dresses made of raw cotton, and he is one of the last tenants with direct ties to The Rouse Company. He started selling at Rouse's Gallery at Market East in Philadelphia in 1987, and he has been at Harborplace since 1990, when Rouse still owned the pavilions. He began with a push cart in the Light Street Pavilion and moved into a storefront within a year. He told Fishbowl his Harborplace store did especially well this summer, when the tall ships drew crowds to the Inner Harbor. After the end of the year, he plans to run his store at 728 S. Broadway in Fells Point full time.

Creatively Black Baltimore to the Top of the World. The art exhibition is the largest occupant of the Light Street Pavilion. This fall it opened a second show at the Top of the World Observation Level, on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center Baltimore at 401 E. Pratt St. Curator Larry "Poncho" Brown said the group will keep its Light Street space through the end of the year, which gives it two downtown locations for now. Organizers have called the World Trade Center its primary site once it leaves Harborplace.

Matriarch Coffee to Pratt Street. An employee said last month that the owner plans to move to a new location under construction nearby on Pratt Street. No street number has been reported.

Cuples Tea House, for now in Savage Mill. Lynnette and Eric Dodson closed Cuples Tea House and Vinyl and Pages on Sept. 30. No new storefront has been announced. Cuples products are sold at Boyd Cru Wines in Savage Mill, according to Fishbowl. The shop's farewell post read, "The End....but not forever. Thank You Baltimore! Stay tuned for the next chapter."

Made in Baltimore, next location expected. The store's last Harborplace day was Sunday, June 28. In late July, The Banner reported that a new retail location was expected to be announced within 60 days.

No relocation has been reported for Neighborhoods Urban Goods or Life in Charm City. Both have the same owner and sell Baltimore- and sports-themed apparel and gifts, and both are running half-off sales until they close. Those "Store Closing" signs are new to Harborplace. The Rouse Company's strict sign standards didn't allow them.

The Remaining Calendar

Since the end is happening store by store, it's easier to plan a visit around specific dates than around one closing day:

• Wednesdays through Sundays: the best days to find the Light Street side open.
• Fridays and Saturdays: Angeli's Pizzeria is serving on the second level.
• Sunday, Oct. 25: last day for Life in Charm City.
• Saturday, Oct. 31: last day for Neighborhoods Urban Goods.
• November: a possible, unconfirmed last month for Mason's Famous Lobster Rolls.
• Nov. 21 to Dec. 27: Christmas Village in Baltimore. Its official site lists the location as West Shore Park, Inner Harbor. Hours are noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It's generally closed Mondays and Tuesdays, but it opens Dec. 21 and 22, and it's closed Nov. 25 and Dec. 25.
• Through year-end: the target for Creatively Black Baltimore, LAMESA Raw and Angeli's.

The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore held its own send-off for the "old Harborplace" on Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater during its Baltimore by Baltimore festival. Create Baltimore ran a tent where visitors wrote postcards about their Harborplace memories.

What Replaces the Walk

When the pavilions come down, the change will reach past the two buildings. The first phase is called the Inner Harbor Park and Promenade Project. It rebuilds portions of the waterfront promenade and 22 to 23 acres of shoreline on city-owned land from the Maryland Science Center around to the National Aquarium, and the Maryland General Assembly has approved more than $65 million in public funds for it. Parts of the promenade will be raised about three feet as a precaution against rising sea levels. MCB says the pavilions have to come down even before financing for the new buildings is secured, because they sit on top of utility lines and storm drains being rebuilt in this phase. The pedestrian bridges over Pratt Street and Light Street are also slated for demolition. The full project is expected to take at least five years.

For anyone who wants a few more visits, the most dependable plan is to check each business's own hours before heading down. Then follow the merchants who have a next address: LAMESA Raw at 728 S. Broadway, Creatively Black Baltimore on the 27th floor at 401 E. Pratt St., and Matriarch at its Pratt Street location once it opens.

On Capital Living, I cover the businesses that give a neighborhood its character, and the merchants leaving Harborplace are a good example. If you own near the Inner Harbor and want to know how a multi-year waterfront rebuild could affect your plans, Jonathan Rundlett can walk you through it calmly. Get a Free Home Valuation, and we'll talk through your timeline.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.