Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's decision this week to offer the Pier 4 Power Plant to Alex. Brown & Sons raises questions about Baltimore's development strategy, which for 20 years has been devoted to making the Inner Harbor the state's premier tourist destination.
Many civic leaders applauded the mayor for acting decisively to keep the prominent investment firm from leaving the city and for showing a sense of urgency about putting the long-dormant, city-owned landmark to productive use.
They say the Schmoke administration should do all it can to keep Alex. Brown in the city -- even allowing the former power generating plant to be converted to offices, if that's what it takes.
But others, primarily in the tourism and convention industry, urge the city not to lose sight of the need to keep building up the Inner Harbor as a magnet for tourists and conventioneers. To use a such prime parcel for anything else, they say, defies logic.
They prefer a $32.5 million sports-themed entertainment center proposed by Sports Center USA, a local group that lost its exclusive rights to negotiate with the city when they expired on July 31.
"I was disappointed," said Wayne Chappell, executive director of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. "There's so much vacant office space in Baltimore. There are even vacant lots where offices could be built. I think the waterfront ought to be reserved for uses that would generate additional visitor traffic to the Inner Harbor."
Mr. Chappell said he understands the importance of keeping Alex. Brown but is concerned that city redevelopment officials are straying from a long-standing strategy of ringing the Inner Harbor with public attractions rather than office space.
"This is a real departure from the past," he said. "Does that mean the [Pier 6] concert tent will be taken down next to make way for an office building? What kind of precedent does this set?"
Michael Whipple, general manager of the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, said the Sports Center would draw out-of-town dollars and continue the development momentum established by Harborplace, the aquarium and other attractions.
"Tourism [is] a billion-dollar industry for downtown Baltimore," he said. "One more downtown office building isn't going to add to that billion dollars. If it's a tourist attraction, it would add."
The Sports Center team, headed by Lynda O'Dea, invested two years and nearly $2 million to develop plans for a multi-faceted tourist attraction that would simulate sports experiences, using virtual reality and other technologies. Working with Capital Cities/ABC Inc., the developers predicted the attraction would draw 1.5 million to 1.8 million visitors a year.
Mayor Schmoke said that the Sports Center group did not satisfy all of the city's requirements, including unconditional financing, and that he was anxious to see something happen inside the Power Plant. The 1901 brick edifice has been vacant since 1990, when the Six Flags Corp. closed the remnants of a $40 million entertainment complex that opened in 1985.
One day after the Sport Center's negotiating rights expired, the city offered Alex. Brown a 60-day exclusive negotiating contract to study the feasibility of converting the Power Plant to a new headquarters.
As of late yesterday, company officials had not disclosed whether they would accept.
Chief Executive Officer A. B. Krongard disclosed this spring that Alex. Brown is seeking a site where it could establish a new headquarters and that the Power Plant is one property he has toured.
Founded in 1800, the company has about 800 downtown employees spread over half a dozen locations. Mr. Krongard has said he is not ruling out the possibility of moving from Baltimore altogether when its current leases expire in 1997.
The mayor's decision to offer the Power Plant to Alex. Brown drew support from people not in the tourism industry.
"We need Alex. Brown to stay in Baltimore City if we have to put them in the aquarium," said City Council President Mary Pat Clarke. "It is an important international company, born and bred in Baltimore. I thoroughly support the offer."
Robert C. Embry Jr., head of the Abell Foundation and a former city housing commissioner, agreed.
"If that is what's necessary to keep Alex. Brown downtown, it's a great idea, because I think it would be disastrous for Alex. Brown to move out of downtown.
"A public attraction has been tried in the Power Plant, and it failed," Mr. Embry said, referring to the Six Flags amusement center.
"Another group has tried and apparently not been successful in obtaining funding. So it's not as if the city didn't try to find an entertainment-oriented use."
The Sports Center group was selected in 1992 over six other bidders, who responded to a request for proposals from the Baltimore Development Corp. The rejected ideas ranged from an ethnic heritage museum to an off-Broadway theater.
By offering the cavernous Power Plant for office use rather than a public attraction, Mayor Schmoke contradicted a long-term strategy.
David Wallace, a Philadelphia-based urban designer who worked master plans for Charles Center and the Inner Harbor, starting in the 1950s, said the original idea was for Baltimore's central business district to stop on the north side of Pratt Street and for the downtown shoreline to be devoted to public attractions or port-related uses.
In keeping with that concept, harbor sites have been set aside for the Maryland Science Center, Harborplace, the National Aquarium, the Pier 6 Concert Tent and the Columbus Center, a soon-to-open marine research facility that will have a public exhibit hall.
By following that development strategy, successive mayoral administrations have built the Inner Harbor into an internationally known urban showcase that draws millions of visitors a year.
Mr. Wallace said the World Trade Center office building is consistent with the plan because it contains the headquarters of the Maryland Port Administration. He said he was not knowledgeable about the latest Power Plant offer but warned that the city should be careful not to make a decision that may be expedient in the short term but turns out to be a "long-term wrong move."
Perhaps the worst outcome would be if Alex. Brown spurned the city's offer and the prospective investors in the Sports Center lost confidence in the city as a result of being rejected. Under that scenario, Baltimore could lose both the company and the entertainment complex.
Mark L. Joseph, president of Yellow Transportation and the Maryland Cab Association, said he believed the city's objectives were not mutually exclusive.
He said he would urge the Schmoke administration to work with Alex. Brown to find a headquarters site elsewhere in Baltimore while seeking a new round of entertainment-oriented proposals for the Power Plant.
With a $150 million expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center due to open in two years, the Inner Harbor needs more public attractions, he said.
"It's important that we have more offerings for the visitor because, we're increasing the critical mass. People need more things to do in the Inner Harbor."