Steel & Rye owners to open market inside former Milton bank

The building that'll become Two Pence Market opened around 1930 as Blue Hill Bank & Trust Co.

The market is planned to have two outdoor patios, including one area covered by a pergola.

Two Pence Market will be a sibling entity to the restaurants Steel & Rye, located just down the street, and Brookline's Prairie Fire.

The market is planned to have a bakery with sandwiches, bagels and produce items, as well as a takeout window for ice cream.

JD Wild, the managing partner of the development firm the Elevated Cos., bought the site from Bank of America in 2023 for $1.2 million.

An aerial view of 2 Eliot St. in Milton Village.

A former Bank of America branch in Milton will open this summer as a market with a quick-serve cafe and a retail space located inside the bank’s former vault.

Two Pence Market, from the duo behind the Milton restaurant Steel & Rye, is expected to open this summer at 2 Eliot St. in Milton Village. It is located one-fifth of a mile from Steel & Rye, which opened in 2012.

The market’s leadership group includes the two people behind Steel & Rye, Dan Kerrigan and co-owner and culinary director Brendan Joy. They are joined by JD Wild, the managing partner of the development firm the Elevated Cos., which bought the site from Bank of America in 2023 for $1.2 million. All three are Milton residents.

“We’re all circling through Milton Village on a daily basis,” Kerrigan said.

Wild already had bought a former mill building across the street from the old Bank of America, where he had opened a fitness center, Muscle & Flow. Kerrigan said his family became members, and Wild was a regular at Steel & Rye. They were also raising kids and involved in youth sports in town, he said, so it was natural that they’d connect.

The former bank branch sits at the neighborhood’s main intersection and is the first building you see when coming in from Dorchester. That made it a great opportunity, according to Kerrigan.

“This building’s kind of the cornerstone of Milton Village,” he said.

The proponents won town-permitting approval last year. Plans show a cafe with sandwiches and bagels, along with coffee and produce items. There’s a planned takeout window, including for ice cream, along with indoor and outdoor seating with two patios.

The bank’s former vault will include wine, spirits and a selection of gifts, according to the proposed plan.

Restoration work found a clue to its history hidden in a wall: A bank statement dated 1930 from Blue Hill Bank & Trust Co.

Kerrigan said the team wanted to create a spot that feels like it’s always been part of the neighborhood, and Wild said it was a priority to restore the brick of the bank building.

“Two Pence honors Milton’s past while creating a welcoming space for residents and visitors alike to connect, shop and meet throughout the day,” Wild said.

Kerrigan and Joy are still the owners and operators of Steel & Rye, which they expanded in 2020 with S&R Bakery. They also have a sibling restaurant in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner called Prairie Fire.