Amid a spate of recent closures and longstanding vacancies, some green shoots are sprouting in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood.

A new diner is coming to the Broadway Square location once occupied by Jimmy’s Restaurant, an iconic Charm City spot popular with politicos and local celebrities.

“The neighborhood is so excited about getting a breakfast place back,” attorney Stephan W. Fogleman told the Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore City at a hearing Thursday. Jimmy’s closed in 2019, later becoming Denzel’s Shark Bar Grill, a Jamaican restaurant.

Fogleman told the liquor board that restaurateur Bimal Malla had just signed a memorandum of understanding with residents to help address their concerns about loitering and security. The restaurant will eventually operate from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m., but will cut off carryout orders after midnight and hire additional security for the late-night hours.

It’s not Malla’s first concept in Baltimore: He also owns Sakoon Indian Fusion on St. Paul Street and formerly ran a pizza restaurant on Reisterstown Road. In Fells Point, the menu will include sandwiches and pizzas, a few Indian fusion pies and breakfast offerings like waffles and eggs.

Malla, a former Marine, said he hopes to recapture the vibe of the old Jimmy’s, which he used to frequent while working as a truck driver for H&S Bakery.

Malla is planning to expand the dining area into the second floor of the historic South Broadway building, which sold last year to an LLC for $820,000, according to online property records. Malla said he hopes to have renovations complete in time for a March opening, though he doesn’t have a name for the eatery picked out just yet.

Across Broadway Square, longtime bartender Steve Mavronis has returned to the basement bar of the Admiral Fell Inn. (The inn, which is currently closed, will open in April as The William Fell Baltimore, a Tapestry Collection by Hilton hotel.)

The subterranean tavern had been shut down last year by Ashish Alfred’s restaurant group, along with his concepts Osteria Pirata and Duck Duck Goose, but Mavronis said the bar reopened in mid-December to host its annual eggnog-tasting event.

While the restaurants next door to it remain closed, the tavern is open 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday with Mavronis, its bartender of 16 years, serving up his signature eggnog and other drinks.

The surrounding neighborhood and larger hospitality industry have been going through tough times during rising inflation, Mavronis said, noting that “bar and restaurant life is not easy.” Amid the winter slow season when tourism and conventions are down, “you gotta rely on your locals.”

Those locals will have another place to choose from soon. Nearby, The Wren, from Le Comptoir du Vin owners Will Mester and Rosemary Liss, is set to open early this year in the former Birds of a Feather whiskey bar.