Hollins Market Plaza

Abstract

The Hollins Market neighborhood was originally known as the Hollins Park Community. Today, the neighborhood is known as Hollins Roundhouse. Hollins Market (a public market) is a contributing historic property within the Hollins Market Historic District. The public market was founded in 1836 by Joseph Newman, a piano manufacturer, and his brother Elias Newman. The market was destroyed in 1838 by a severe windstorm, and rebuilt, completed in 1839. Hollins Market takes its name from a prominent Baltimorean, John Hollins, who was instrumental in securing a modern water supply system for Baltimore City in 1804. Originally the public market’s structured buildings and three blocks of street vendors made the market the biggest of its kind in Baltimore City. Now the market consists only of inside stalls. According to a healthy foods assessment of Baltimore City Public Markets there is an epidemic of chronic health problems faced by inner city residents including childhood and adult obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure due to poor food choices and the limited availability of healthy foods. Findings suggest several strategies to promote healthy eating including increasing the availability, affordability, and promotion of healthy foods and/or restricting or de-marketing unhealthy foods. During a site visit at Hollins Market, it appeared that large amounts of unhealthy prepared foods, produce, and meats are being sold and the market is only 50 percent occupied at the present time. The Hollins Plaza Project will address this chronic health epidemic by offering services at the public market that will improve food choice. Hollins Market Plaza will not be a stand-alone project. It will be integrated into a major redevelopment project in the Poppleton neighborhood, just a block north of the Hollins Market neighborhood. The Poppleton community’s Center\West Project will be an immense economic driver in the entire Southwest Baltimore community. This four-phase $800 million redevelopment project will include 1,700-1,800 housing units and 100,000-200,000 square feet of commercial space. The Hollins Market Plaza will start and finish before Center\West is completed. The anticipated residents, employees and visitors of Center\West will also be customers of Hollins Market Plaza. The community’s housing stock is elegant, Italianate-style homes built for influential Baltimoreans and small alley houses on 30-foot wide streets built for working class and poorer Baltimoreans. The neighborhood is a few blocks away from Downtown, the Inner Harbor, major hospitals such as UMD Hospital System and Bon Secours, the Stadium District, and the University of Maryland BioPark.