The building that once housed Mike’s Inland at Sunset on Greenway Road SE in Glen Burnie is being transformed into The Culinary Square, a shared commercial kitchen designed to give food trucks, caterers and other small food businesses a certified place to cook and grow. The 13,000-square-foot property, long known to locals as the Sunset Restaurant, has sat largely dormant since closing, but its new owners say the space will soon be buzzing again — just not with dine-in customers.
A New Owner With Big Plans for an Old Dining Room
According to The Baltimore Sun, the former restaurant building at 625 Greenway Road SE will become a shared commercial kitchen where food businesses can prepare and sell their products. CSQ Holdings, LLC recently acquired the property, and citybiz.co reports the purchase price was $2.125 million. A separate report from the Capital Gazette put the sale price at $2.1 million, a discrepancy the available reporting does not explain.
The purchase was announced through a real estate transaction as well. Per citybiz.co, Hyatt Commercial announced the $2,125,000 sale of the property, with brokers George Shenas and Collin Mercier representing the seller, Brothers Real Estate Investments, LLC. The listing described the property as one previously home to both Mike’s Inland at Sunset and the longtime Sunset Restaurant, and noted the building underwent interior renovations while under the seller’s ownership.
Room for Up to 50 Food Entrepreneurs
The site will offer approximately 6,000 square feet of restaurant and storage space for preparing meals and food items, the citybiz.co report states. The facility is being configured to support up to 50 operators, giving food trucks, caterers and specialty food brands access to a health department-certified kitchen without the overhead of building their own commercial space from scratch.
The Culinary Square’s own website confirms the project has officially landed at the Greenway Road address and that its kitchen is currently under construction. Per the site, members will eventually step into a fully equipped commercial kitchen backed by business support services, giving small operators a structured runway rather than just a place to cook.
Conflicting Timelines on When Doors Will Open
Exactly when The Culinary Square will open remains unsettled between the two primary sources describing the project. Citybiz.co reports the facility is expected to open next spring, while the company’s own website states that doors open in early 2027. Neither account offers a specific calendar date, and the discrepancy between the two timelines has not been explained.
Citybiz.co also reports that members are projected to stay in the venue for approximately 18 to 36 months before moving on to their next phase, often opening their own brick-and-mortar location. That turnover model mirrors how shared kitchens elsewhere have functioned as a stepping stone rather than a permanent home for growing food businesses.
Part of a Broader Shift in How Food Startups Get Off the Ground
Shared commercial kitchens are not a new concept in Maryland. A 2016 Baltimore Sun report found that the number of kitchen incubators nationwide had increased by more than half, to more than 200, between 2013 and 2016. At the time, Baltimore’s own B-More Kitchen had five members working in its facility with three more moving in, and capacity for about 60 small businesses, charging $750 per month for part-time membership that allowed nights-and-weekends access. The Baltimore Food Hub, which broke ground on a five-building campus in East Baltimore that same year, was planned to include a commercial kitchen alongside office space and manufacturing facilities for local food makers.
Any commercial kitchen operating in Anne Arundel County, including The Culinary Square, falls under the oversight of the Anne Arundel County Department of Health, which is responsible for inspecting and licensing most facilities that prepare food for the public. County guidance states that food intended for public consumption generally must be prepared in commercial facilities with approved equipment, with an exception carved out for cottage food businesses. The county also requires a food service facility license whether food is sold or simply given away, underscoring the regulatory bar any shared kitchen operator must clear before opening.
