Retail kiosks sprout up at Harborplace

The Baltimore Sun

Harborplace has seen plenty of changes since its opening 27 years ago - on July 2, 1980 - brought national acclaim to Baltimore. And it remains a potent draw, with more than 100,000 people expected to gather there tonight to watch fireworks.

But the latest addition to the Inner Harbor promenade has drawn opposition and revived long-standing concerns about commercial use of waterfront parkland. Nearly a dozen glass and metal kiosks have been installed near the two signature pavilions, selling items such as sunglasses, T-shirts, tanning lotion, handbags and sandals.

The owner of Harborplace says the kiosks add to its festive nature and help boost sales, but others contend the change tarnishes one of the city's crown jewels.

"It had an Ocean City Boardwalk, tourist-trap feel," said Donald Bromer, a former Harborplace merchant, who said he was shocked to see them on a recent visit. "It looked like it could be in Any Mall, USA."

Some civic leaders also question the process by which the city approved the kiosks. They say there should have been more public discussion beforehand or at least notification of citizens' groups that have asked to be consulted about changes to the waterfront.

"They are continuing to rape and pillage every square inch of the water's edge," said Louise Alder, a South Baltimore resident who headed Citizens for Preservation of the Inner Harbor.

In the late 1970s, her group opposed the construction of Harborplace in its current location for fear it would eliminate a prime open space and lead to unbridled development along the shoreline. "They're just cluttering it up more with these kiosks," she said.

Even the top-ranking city official who embraced the idea and helped get the kiosks installed says he wasn't pleased with their appearance when he saw them. Because they weren't initially positioned quite the way the city had approved them, they looked unsightly and blocked pedestrian access and views of the harbor, acknowledged Andrew Frank, the city's deputy mayor for Neighborhood and Economic Development.

And when the kiosks were closed up at night, he said, some had corrugated-metal roll-down grilles reminiscent of "post-riot architecture" from the late 1960s.

Frank said the situation has been remedied somewhat by the removal of empty kiosks and the repositioning of others.

"The outcome was not what was anticipated, and it may not have been the right thing to do," he said. "They absolutely created clutter. ... It's very frustrating to me."

The kiosks are owned and leased by an affiliate of General Growth Properties. The Chicago-based company bought the Rouse Co., developer of Harborplace and the Gallery at Harborplace, three years ago. When it opened, Harborplace was hailed as a pioneering effort by Rouse to create a new kind of urban marketplace that would encourage people to shop and dine downtown and stroll along a waterfront reclaimed after years of neglect.

The General Growth affiliate, Harborplace Associates Limited Partnership, sought a license to operate up to 14 structures, called "retail merchandising units" - or RMUs in development parlance - on city parkland to supplement the stores and restaurants inside the waterside pavilions at Light and Pratt streets.

A license agreement was approved with no discussion during the city's Board of Estimates meeting on April 18. The agreement permits General Growth to operate the 14 kiosks on Inner Harbor parkland for nearly five years, until March 31, 2012.

Each of the structures takes up about 6 feet by 8 feet of the public right of way. According to the license agreement approved by the Board of Estimates, General Growth is allowed to place eight north of the amphitheater between the two pavilions, four in front of the Light Street pavilion and two in front of the Pratt Street pavilion. In return, General Growth agreed to share profits with the city: 13.5 percent of the gross revenues for years one through four and 15 percent of gross revenues for year five.

State Sen. George W. Della Jr., whose district includes Harborplace, questions the legality of commercial enterprises on parkland the city promised to preserve when voters approved the Rouse development in a 1978 referendum. As part of the plan presented to voters, the city vowed to maintain 26 acres around the harbor as permanent parkland if 3.2 acres were made available for commercial development.

"It's pushing the envelope," Della says. "The way they're bunched together, they impede views of the harbor. I think they're in violation of the city charter."

Christopher Schardt, senior general manager of Harborplace and the Gallery, said outdoor vending is one of many ways that General Growth has been working to expand its retail and entertainment offerings downtown.

He said the outdoor kiosks will be operated seasonally, from April to September, during the same hours as the stores inside Harborplace. A holiday exhibit featuring Santa Claus' house takes over the space between the two pavilions in the fall. Schardt said the outdoor vendor program has the potential to create 40 to 50 jobs and company officials are excited about it.

"Harborplace is one of the key properties for General Growth Properties and something we are very proud to be associated with," he said. "We want to do everything we can to maintain it and adapt it and keep it as viable as possible."

But critics of the outdoor vending units say they occupy space that was previously open between the two pavilions and, from certain angles, they block views of the water and the historic ship Constellation.

"Creeping commercialization of the waterfront," architect Klaus Philipsen calls it. "This completely flies in the face of the resolution not to have vendors hawking their wares on public property."

A co-chairman of the Urban Design Committee of the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Philipsen noted that there have been flaps about the sudden appearance of harbor structures in the past, particularly when, in the early 1990s, the city approved a visitors center for the Constellation that blocked views of the frigate itself.

"We keep having the same discussions," he said.

City Solicitor George Nilson said the April 18 vote by the Board of Estimates, of which he is a member, constituted the legal approval General Growth needed to install the kiosks. He said the 13.5 percent of gross revenues that merchants are to share with the city is "no insignificant percentage."

Frank said he worked with General Growth on its plan and acknowledges that the proposal was not presented to the city's design review panel or any citizens groups that monitor changes to the shoreline.

"I am responsible for and regret the lack of any third-party review process prior to their approval by the Board of Estimates," he wrote in a June 13 e-mail to several people who inquired about the kiosks.

Based on the initial plans he saw, Frank said, he "embraced and supported" the concept as a way to energize the area and saw no need for additional review. He noted that any revenues the city receives from the kiosks will go "back to maintaining the Inner Harbor." He added that there have been many recent improvements to the shoreline, such as hanging flower baskets and removal of signs.

Despite complaints from the public and Frank's own dissatisfaction, the kiosks will not disappear. Frank said General Growth has agreed to work with the city to evaluate the outdoor kiosk program at the end of the summer, but they will remain until then.

Schardt concurred that General Growth will work with the city and review the kiosks at the end of the season.

Donald Fry, president of the Greater Baltimore Committee and a director of a new harbor-improvement group called the Waterfront Partnership, said he appreciates what General Growth has done to work with the city and enhance the harbor but would like to have had advance notice of its plans for the kiosks.

"I'm sure there was a level of expediency involved in this case, but I would hope the city will recognize the need to touch base with a lot of stakeholders before these sorts of decisions are made in the future," he said. "There needs to be some real attention to the appearance of the Inner Harbor or it is going to lose its luster."

ed.gunts@baltsun.com

Harborplace timeline

September 1964: Inner Harbor master plan unveiled.

April 1973: Dedication of the public wharf on the west shore, where visiting ships dock. April 1974: Construction begins on the Inner Harbor promenade. September 1974: Baltimore City Fair held on the West Shore at what is now Rash Field.

June 1976: Maryland Science Center opens.

July 1976: Seven tall ships and six military vessels from around the world sail into Baltimore's Inner Harbor to celebrate the nation's bicentennial, revealing the potential of the Inner Harbor as a tourist destination.

November 1978: Voters approve referendum permitting the use of 3.2 acres of public parkland to be developed by the Rouse Co. for Harborplace as long as 26 acres remain public parkland.

January 1979: Ground broken for Harborplace.

July 2, 1980: Grand opening of Harborplace.

1981: Grand openings of the National Aquarium in Baltimore (Aug. 8) and the Hyatt Regency Baltimore hotel (Oct. 6). James Rouse featured on the cover of Time magazine.

June-July 1986: 25 tall ships come to the Inner Harbor in conjunction with the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in New York.

September 1987: Opening of the retail section of the Gallery at Harborplace, Pratt and Light streets. The hotel above opened on April 9, 1988.

June 1992: 12 tall ships visit the Inner Harbor to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' voyage to America.

April 9, 1996: James Rouse, founder of the Rouse Co., dies.

January 1998: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith break ground for a Planet Hollywood restaurant in the Pratt Street pavilion of Harborplace. It closed in September 2001.

June 2000: 30 tall ships visit the Inner Harbor for the millennium.

May 2004: Inner Harbor Visitor Center opens just south of the Light Street pavilion of Harborplace.

November 2004: General Growth Properties of Chicago purchases the Rouse Co. for $12.6 billion.

April 2006: West Shore Park opens.

June 2007: Retail kiosks open between Light and Pratt pavilions. Establishment of the Waterfront Partnership approved by Baltimore's Board of Estimates.

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