Middleton & Meads Relocating from South Baltimore Neighborhood to Carroll-Camden Industrial Area

Middleton & Meads has been repairing trucks, fire equipment, and buses in Baltimore for more than 100 years, and has made its home at 1900 S. Hanover St. in the South Baltimore Neighborhood since 1969. Last year, the company sold its property to developers Caves Valley Partners (CVP) thus expediting a search for its next home. Middleton & Meads has found that new home at 1415 Bush St. in South Baltimore’s Carroll-Camden Industrial Area.

Middleton & Meads, which relocated its body shop to Carroll-Camden in April, will move its front office space in September and its mechanical shop by the end of the year. The move is a bit of a consolidation for the company as it is moving from a 4-acre property with 60,000 sq. ft. of building space to a 3.87-acre property with 43,000 sq. ft. of building space. Middleton & Meads is currently under construction on a building addition on the new Bush St. facility that the company is leasing.

President Ron Middleton told SouthBMore.com that while the space is a little bit smaller, it is an improved facility with a better parking lot design. He said there is also room for expansion.

Middleton also told SouthBMore.com that trucks are much safer now so there has been a bit less business in recent years, and that they have sized the new facility appropriately. The company has used proceeds from the sale of its facility on S. Hanover St. to invest in its new facility.

Middleton & Meads previously had a small shop at 1415 Bush St., but when two other tenants moved out of the complex, it created the space for the company to move its entire operation to Carroll-Camden. Middleton & Meads already has several signs around the property.

“I’m excited for us to stay in South Baltimore,” said Middleton. “It’s a good thing for us and the city.”

Regarding the move and growing amount of redevelopment in the area, Middleton said, “The timing was right. You have seen what is happening in South Baltimore and it was only a matter of time before we would have to go.”

He noted that the property next to Middleton & Meads (1800 S. Hanover St.) has already been sold twice for redevelopment. 1800 S. Hanover St. was also sold to CVP in 2016 for part of the same redevelopment project.

Middleton & Meads sits in the South Baltimore Neighborhood which has been very active with real estate redevelopment, especially around Wells St. This street is at the end of the site and is one block from Port Covington where a 235-acre, $5.5-billion redevelopment from Sagamore Development Company and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group recently began.

The Middleton & Meads’ move will be a change for the family-owned business. “It’s nostalgic and kind of sad,” said Middleton. “My two great uncles started this company by building engines. We’ve been Downtown, we were later kicked out of the current site of the Inner Harbor in the 1960s, and then came here. But, the fact that we can continue is pretty awesome.”

1800 S. Hanover St. and part of the Middleton & Meads soon-to-be former facility, which also extends onto part of the 1800 block, is the site of a proposed 267-apartment, 367-parking space building with additional retail. CVP is selling what it is calling the northern 40% of the properties it assembled at 1800 and 1900 S. Hanover St. to Wood Partners for this new mixed-use building.

CVP is still in the planning stages for the southern 60% of these properties. CVP Partner Arsh Mirmiran told SouthBMore.com that they are aiming for mixed-use and are hoping to get a large retail presence on the property. “We will monitor both the office and apartment markets to determine which direction we go with the rest,” said Mirmiran.

CVP was closing in on a deal for a grocer to join the project, but it did not pan out. Mirmiran said they will continue efforts to try to lure a grocery store for the development.

Mirmiran also said plans for CVP’s portion of the project will likely be announced in about a year, and that the Middleton & Meads buildings will be demolished soon after the company moves out.

CVP is also underway on Stadium Square, a three-block, $300-million mixed-use project which is about six blocks southwest of this S. Hanover St. redevelopment.

Current Middleton & Meads at 1900 S. Hanover St. 

New facility at 1415 Bush St. 

About the Author: Kevin Lynch

Founder and Publisher of SouthBmore.com, longtime resident of South Baltimore, and a graduate of Towson University. Diehard Ravens and O's fan, father of three, amateur pizza chef, skateboarder, and "bar food" foodie. Email me at Kevin@InceptMM.com and follow me on Twitter at @SoBoKevin.