As the city prepares to turn Cross Street Market over to a private company to redevelop and operate the facility, merchants who will be displaced by the project are seeking compensation.

Towson-based Caves Valley Partners is slated to take over the market in January and begin construction this spring. The work could last about 10 months, developer Arsh Mirmiran said in November, when the deal was announced after months of negotiation.

The redevelopment will mean disruption and lost business for the market's existing merchants, even for those who eventually return, said attorney John C. Murphy, who is representing the Cross Street Market Merchants Association.

Murphy sent a letter to Mayor Catherine E. Pugh on Thursday seeking relocation compensation for the businesses, which he said employ about 70 people.

Murphy said relocation compensation can be “substantial” but is standard procedure when a public entity acquires property for redevelopment plans.

In this case, the city already owns the property and many of the merchants — there were about 18 as of November — are on month-to-month leases.

Mirmiran of Caves Valley Partners said his team has met with the merchants and expects to extend letters of intent to most of them in early January. He said he has offered to offset some of the financial hit as part of new lease negotiations for those interested in returning, he said.

Mirmiran said he was aware of the letter and surprised the merchants had opted to take that step.

“It would be incredibly atypical for compensation to be paid to tenants that don't have term left on their lease,” he said.

Pugh spokesman Anthony McCarthy said the city had not received the letter. Robert Thomas, executive director of the Baltimore Public Markets Corp., which oversees the market, could not be reached.

nsherman@baltsun.com