Negotiations over Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank's Port Covington project were tough, but not difficult enough to have driven the company's expansion elsewhere, a top deputy said Thursday.
Tom Geddes, who runs Plank Industries, said the development team for the $5.5 billion project at times felt that politics and conversations with special interest groups "were going to make it impossible" to carry out the company's full vision for the South Baltimore peninsula.
"I don't think Kevin would have allowed the company to leave the city, no matter how difficult it was," Geddes told members of The Baltimore Sun's editorial board.
"Under Armour wasn't going to go elsewhere, but it might grow elsewhere. We were very concerned about that. ... There were definitely days when I had in my head, we might have an Under Armour campus with 800 people and a wall around it, one road in and one road out."
Geddes credited Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, known as BUILD, for negotiating skillfully and reasonably. The talks resulted in a $100 million, citywide community benefits agreement. The deal requires Sagamore Development Co. — Plank's private real estate company — to hire local residents, build or pay for affordable housing and provide money to train workers.
Once the agreement was reached, the City Council and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake signed off on $660 million in public financing for roads, utilities and other infrastructure at Port Covington, which is currently a largely industrial site.
Construction on the waterfront development is expected to start in earnest within months. Offices, shops, homes, manufacturing spaces and a new Under Armour campus are in the developer's plans.
The land includes the site of The Baltimore Sun's printing plant. The Sun has a long-term lease on the property.
BUILD clergy and top Plank officials met with the newspaper's editorial board to discuss the behind-the-scenes effort that went into reaching the community benefits agreement.
The two sides said they expect Port Covington to set a new standard for developers in Baltimore.
Geddes said Plank and his team were committed to the city for the long term.
"We'll go through multiple real estate cycles, we'll go through multiple market cycles," he said. "There will be tough times and good times."