Market House lease negotiations postponed to Oct. 15 as partners seek longer-term certainty

The Annapolis Finance Standing Committee postponed consideration of ordinance O 33 25 on the Market House lease to its Oct. 15 meeting after Market House partners said longer-term certainty was needed to justify substantial planned investments in the building.

Committee members and city staff described ongoing negotiations and said a revised redline lease had been exchanged recently; staff asked the committee to hold further action until additional review is complete. "My hope is then for your next finance committee meeting that we would have more back from that," city staff member Ashley Buckland said, noting the exchange of a red-line draft and that central services is being positioned to lead future lease negotiations.

Why it matters: Market House operators told the committee they have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to reopen and operate the downtown space and want longer-term renewal certainty to support additional major capital work, including new flooring, painting, full restroom renovations, upgraded storage and HVAC service contracts.

Partners from Market House detailed the investments and requests. "We need to have some visibility on our future so that we can invest in the property," said Keith Bouchard, identifying himself as a partner. Bouchard told the committee the operator group has invested "several $100,000 so far" and listed planned work including a kitchen renovation and ongoing HVAC maintenance contracts. Jody Danick, identified in the meeting as a Market House partner, described the lease negotiations as continuing and recounted the facility's long history and the effort to reopen the building.

Several council members and staff noted that past negotiations involved different personnel and records going back years. Alderman Finlayson said the city has lost institutional knowledge when longtime staff left and urged reliance on historical documents and experienced city staff to guide the current talks. Buckland described a transition toward centralized lease handling: "Moving forward, having central services be that point for those negotiations is the long term vision," she said, but added that the city is not yet fully organized to assume all historical context immediately.

Market House partners asked the committee to adopt renewal language that provides longer-term certainty and avoids frequent five-year administrative extensions that require repeated council approval. "At a certain point in my career that I want to see this through, and I want to be here 20 years from now," said a Market House partner. Partners said they were willing to accept reporting requirements and investment commitments in exchange for longer lease visibility; they cited other long-term city leases as precedent.

Action and next steps: After discussion, a committee member moved to postpone O 33 25 to the Oct. 15 Finance Committee meeting; the motion was seconded and the committee approved the postponement. City staff and Market House representatives said they expect to continue negotiations and present updated redlines before that meeting. Staff invited Market House partners to attend a Rules Committee meeting on the Friday before Oct. 15 if they wished to discuss details with additional council members.

The committee also asked staff to ensure all materials needed for a final decision are provided before Oct. 15; staff said that meeting will be the last committee meeting of the current term and that a decision is expected then.

Ending: The committee did not act on the lease itself; both city staff and Market House partners said they were optimistic compromises could be reached ahead of the Oct. 15 meeting and that updated redline language would be circulated in advance.