Paul’s Place, GroundWork Kitchen Culinary Arts Training Center

Paul’s Place, Groundwork Kitchen is the home of a new restaurant and culinary training school. The project was located on an under-used parking lot at the pivotal intersection of Washington Blvd and West Cross Street in Pigtown.

The new building serves to infill the void and provide new food options to the community as well as job training. Groundwork’s restaurant along with the recently opened Milk & Honey Market and successful Suspended Brewing are creating a new culinary hot spot in a relative food desert. Groundwork will offer sit down dining, carry-out and carry-out, with the majority of the food created by students in the training program.

The project was financed with a combination of private and public grant funds, philanthropy, New Market Tax Credit equity and conventional debt. The development received funding from the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation as well as the Neighborhood Improvement Impact Fund, the Abell Foundation, T. Rowe Price Foundation, Enterprise Community Loan Fund and a State of Maryland bond bill grant. The fiscal estimate by Sage Policy Group, Inc. predicted 122 jobs and $12.2 million generated by Groundwork Kitchen in its first year. In addition to creating employment opportunities and providing quality meals, the facility creates a new gateway to Pigtown Main Street, encouraging economic activity and investment along Washington Boulevard.