THEN Since its start in 1915, 1100 Wicomico has always been a home for invention and reinvention. It was originally built for Jacob Epstein, a Lithuanian immigrant whose growing wholesale business, Baltimore Bargain House, couldn’t be contained by any city structures of the time. Famed local architect Joseph Evans Sperry, also known for the Enoch Pratt Library (Hampden Branch) and Bromo Seltzer Art Tower, dreamt up a place that was less of a static structure and more of a hive, incorporating high-powered elevators, conveyors, interior driveways and railroad tracks to optimize its use. The eight-story building, newly prominent on the Baltimore skyline, quickly became a city unto itself, where 1,600 employees ranging from new immigrants to industry experts moved goods from across the world around the country.

NOW Over 100 years later, the space is reclaiming its identity as the economic hub of Southwest Baltimore. Outfitted with modern amenities and optimized with multiple floors of flex-space, the building is again buzzing with innovation and industry. And, as more than 90% of the structure’s original features are still intact, the BIC is a living monument to industrial collaboration and forward thinking.