“Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here” by Deborah Cox blared through the speaker on Timothy Wise’s phone as he tried once more to open the now-shuttered front doors of the Harborplace Hooters Tuesday afternoon.
He thought it would always be there, he said — and Wise isn’t alone.
The franchise, known for its chicken wings, burgers and borderline seductive levels of service, closed its Light Street location with little warning despite being the longest-tenured restaurant in the city’s Inner Harbor. Hooters outlasted protests, landlords, lawsuits and survived years of alleged neglect. It planned to stick around long enough to take over a space in the redeveloped Harborplace, which last year was purchased by MCB Real Estate for $83 million. But at 34 years old, this Hooters is hanging up its crop top.
Pressure from “current market conditions” led the Atlanta-based chain to close multiple “underperforming” restaurants across the country, according to a statement from the company.
A spokesman for the restaurant was not immediately available to respond and a manager at the Inner Harbor location declined to comment. Even the Hooters Harborplace Instagram account was already scrubbed from the internet.
The Banner reported in January that Hooters had filed a lawsuit against their former and current landlords, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. and MCB Real Estate, respectively, alleging they allowed the property to go into disrepair and haven’t done much to improve the situation. Hanging wires, cracked floors and ceilings, dripping air ducts, burnt-out light bulbs and “unkempt, dirty and poorly maintained” conditions were said to be harming the business and violating their lease, according to the lawsuit. MCB Real Estate spokeswoman Alexandra Hughes responded to the concerns at the time by saying the firm planned on filing a counterclaim because the restaurant had “not been abiding by the terms of its lease.”
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Financial reports showed Hooters accounted for about one-fifth of gross rent at Harborplace and was a significant revenue generator for the development. While a few new businesses have recently opened there — including Cuples Tea House, MoreLife Organic Juices and Crust by Mack — Hooters had been a staple of the pavilions since 1990, with its closest competition the Cheesecake Factory, which opened in 1996.
The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore did not respond Tuesday to concerns regarding how Hooters shuttering will affect Harborplace.
At least five men who walked up to the restaurant Tuesday appeared distressed by its closure. Each declined to share their name, explaining they were from out of town and had not been to the restaurant before.
But not Wise. He sat on a nearby bench listening to R&B music, grieving the beloved spot’s departure.
“I’m really sad,” he said.
Hooters was a place that “knew how to serve people right.” To the Pasadena native, it was a familiar face within a changing city, where he was always greeted with humor and made to feel comfortable. About a week ago he had come in and, like usual, got his chicken tenders and relaxed for a few hours.
“I liked it here,” he said. “Now I’ve got to find somewhere else to eat.”
The next-closest Hooters is in Laurel, about 20 miles southwest.
