Mother of NFL Player Deonte Harris to Open Baltimore County Smoothie Shop
By Keith Loria September 30, 2021 3:06 pm
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Enjoy a Bowl, an acai bowl and smoothie shop owned by the mother of NFL player Deonte Harris of the New Orleans Saints, has signed a 1,314-square-foot lease in Middle River, Md.
The new store will open at 11531 Wakefield Street, a single-story retail building situated within the mixed-use Greenleigh development.
Lisa Harty, Deonte’s mother, created Enjoy a Bowl when her Baltimore-raised son told her he couldn’t find his favorite acai bowls and smoothies in New Orleans, where he plays for the Saints.
“I spent many hours cooking and providing nutritious meals for my family, but as they moved out of state, it became increasingly difficult to provide what they wanted,” Harty said in a prepared statement. “After inventing some of my own, I flew to New Orleans to teach him how to prepare them himself and found out later that he was passing along the recipes to his teammates. The response was so favorable that I was encouraged to start a new venture—Enjoy a Bowl, in Baltimore.”
Developer and landlord St. John Properties, together with Somerset Construction Company, initiated development activities in 2007 on Greenleigh, a 1,000-acre, mixed-use business community. Upon completion, it will include 1,900 residential units, including single-family homes, townhomes and multifamily units, and 2 million square feet of commercial office space.
More than one-half of the eventual 200,000 square feet of retail space has been developed at Greenleigh, including a main street-style shopping center comprised of 67,000 square feet of space with multiple pad sites.
“When creating the perfect tenant mix at each retail center, we are always looking to combine both national brands with those that are locally owned, as this creates differentiation and uniqueness,” Bill Holzman, vice president, retail leasing for St. John Properties, told Commercial Observer. “We are confident that the neighboring community will support Lisa Harty because of her high-quality product line and the fact that she is a local entrepreneur.”
Located in Baltimore County, between U.S. Route 40 and Eastern Boulevard, the property is situated just minutes from I-95 and I-695.
“Greenleigh is among the fastest-growing, mixed-use communities in Baltimore County and the retail provides necessary amenities to the employees working here during the daytime hours, as well as the residents that visit during evenings and weekends,” said Holzman, who represented the landlord in the deal.
Enjoy a Bowl will open early in 2022 and offer cold-pressed juices, smoothies and acai bowls, among other healthy food items.
Keith Loria can be reached at kloria@commercialobserver.com.
