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A Maryland developer would abandon plans to build a $250 million sports themed office and recreation park called Gateway South, and Baltimore's only slots casino would be constructed on the land instead if city and state officials approve the change.
The Baltimore Development Corp. is drafting a "Memorandum of Understanding" that gives control of an 11-acre, city-owned parcel south of M&T Bank Stadium, to Baltimore City Entertainment Group, one of four bidders for slot machine licenses in Maryland and the only group seeking to build a slots facility in downtown.
The new casino parcel, which the city acquired from the Maryland Chemical Co., is bounded by Russell, Bayard, Alluvian and Warner streets. It's roughly three times larger and than a city-owned tract at Warner and Stockholm streets where BCEG had been planning to build its casino.
The city awarded the Russell Street site in 2006 to a group headed by Cormony Development and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, after that group proposed to build 600,000 square feet of office space and a massive "sportsplex" with indoor and outdoor fields, a health club, retail space and a new Greyhound bus terminal.
According to First Deputy Mayor Andrew B. Frank, BCEG approached Cormony about taking over its land and shifting its casino there, and Cormony agreed to bow out. Frank said BCEG would assume Cormony's financial obligations to the city for the cost of preparing for the Gateway South project, a figure of about $13.25 million.
Samuel Polakoff, Cormony's president, could not be reached.
The advantage to BCEG, Frank said, is that it gets a building site that is larger and more visible from Russell Street, with greater accessibility to major highways but still within the area where a slots facility is permitted in Baltimore City. The Russell Street site also is farther from the nearest residential community, Sharp-Leadenhall, than the Stockholm street parcel, Frank noted.
BCEG initially applied to build a slots parlor containing 500 machines but indicated it may later seek to increase that number to the maximum allowed for a city facility -- 3,750. The larger building footprint afforded by the Russell Street site presumably would make it easier to increase the number of machines.
Frank said the mayor's office supports the change in locations for the slots facility because the city stands to receive a share of its proceeds, and the Russell Street site is "far superior" to the smaller Stockholm Street parcel for a gaming facility. He said city officials regret that the Cormony project would not move ahead, but the city stands to gain more in direct revenues from the casino than from Cormony's project.
"It was a well designed, well conceived project," he said of Cormony's Gateway South plan. "But from a very narrow perspective, this site will generate far more ... as a slots facility than as a mixed-use project. The city will receive 2.99 percent of the gross revenues ... We used our judgment that this is in the best interests" of the citizens of Baltimore.
Reich Petch is the architect for the gaming facility. Before the change in locations becomes official, it must be approved by the state's Video Lottery Facility Location Commission and the City's Board of Estimates. BCEG is seeking to open its facility by Dec. 31, 2010, making it the first of four facilities to open in Maryland.
The Baltimore Development Corp. is drafting a "Memorandum of Understanding" that gives control of an 11-acre, city-owned parcel south of M&T Bank Stadium, to Baltimore City Entertainment Group, one of four bidders for slot machine licenses in Maryland and the only group seeking to build a slots facility in downtown.
The new casino parcel, which the city acquired from the Maryland Chemical Co., is bounded by Russell, Bayard, Alluvian and Warner streets. It's roughly three times larger and than a city-owned tract at Warner and Stockholm streets where BCEG had been planning to build its casino.
The city awarded the Russell Street site in 2006 to a group headed by Cormony Development and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, after that group proposed to build 600,000 square feet of office space and a massive "sportsplex" with indoor and outdoor fields, a health club, retail space and a new Greyhound bus terminal.
According to First Deputy Mayor Andrew B. Frank, BCEG approached Cormony about taking over its land and shifting its casino there, and Cormony agreed to bow out. Frank said BCEG would assume Cormony's financial obligations to the city for the cost of preparing for the Gateway South project, a figure of about $13.25 million.
Samuel Polakoff, Cormony's president, could not be reached.
The advantage to BCEG, Frank said, is that it gets a building site that is larger and more visible from Russell Street, with greater accessibility to major highways but still within the area where a slots facility is permitted in Baltimore City. The Russell Street site also is farther from the nearest residential community, Sharp-Leadenhall, than the Stockholm street parcel, Frank noted.
BCEG initially applied to build a slots parlor containing 500 machines but indicated it may later seek to increase that number to the maximum allowed for a city facility -- 3,750. The larger building footprint afforded by the Russell Street site presumably would make it easier to increase the number of machines.
Frank said the mayor's office supports the change in locations for the slots facility because the city stands to receive a share of its proceeds, and the Russell Street site is "far superior" to the smaller Stockholm Street parcel for a gaming facility. He said city officials regret that the Cormony project would not move ahead, but the city stands to gain more in direct revenues from the casino than from Cormony's project.
"It was a well designed, well conceived project," he said of Cormony's Gateway South plan. "But from a very narrow perspective, this site will generate far more ... as a slots facility than as a mixed-use project. The city will receive 2.99 percent of the gross revenues ... We used our judgment that this is in the best interests" of the citizens of Baltimore.
Reich Petch is the architect for the gaming facility. Before the change in locations becomes official, it must be approved by the state's Video Lottery Facility Location Commission and the City's Board of Estimates. BCEG is seeking to open its facility by Dec. 31, 2010, making it the first of four facilities to open in Maryland.
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Quite the tradeoff. In lieu of a place of commerce (office/retail), health (athletic fields/health club), and mass transit (Greyhound terminal), we're going to get....gambling? This is a key moment for the city and state to say "no" and make a statement about what is important and in what direction this city is going to be taken.
DBVT (08/07/2009, 11:34 AM )