Russell Street proposal expanding

The Baltimore Sun

The developer of a sports-themed office and recreation complex proposed for a blighted stretch of waterfront south of M&T; Bank Stadium said yesterday that he hoped to nearly double the amount of office space originally planned for the $250 million project that city officials hope will transform the Russell Street corridor.

Cormony Development, the lead developer of Gateway South, showed a city design panel preliminary plans that include 1 million square feet of office space, an increase from the 600,000 originally proposed. The 1.5 million-square-foot project would also include a sports complex with indoor and outdoor playing fields, shops, restaurants and recreational activities such as indoor golf, a fitness center and swim club. It will house "The Ray of Hope Center," a tutoring and sports program for children run by Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who is an equity partner in Gateway. It also will become the new site of a Greyhound bus terminal.

The city, which owns much of the 11-acre site east of the 500-acre Carroll Camden Industrial Park and is working to acquire the rest, had required the developer to include the bus terminal in a mixed-use project that would add new office space, with parking, to help the city compete with suburban office buildings. The Baltimore Development Corp. recommended Cormony's sports-themed project over several competitors in December, and in March Mayor Sheila Dixon chose the team, which includes Lewis' Team 52 Development and Harrison Development.

Cormony and architects from Ayers Saint Gross presented conceptual plans yesterday to the city's Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel showing a new bus terminal along Russell Street, which leads into the city from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

Preliminary designs, modeled after the Chelsea Piers sports complex in New York City, also show four multistory, mixed-use pavilions along the waterfront that would include recreational activities on the lower floors, topped by parking garages with office space above. One possible design shows a linear, glass office building sitting atop all four pavilions.

"Right now, there is nothing inviting when you come in to Russell Street," said Samuel Polakoff, managing director of Cormony. "We think this will invite people in."

M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of BDC, said officials had not been convinced at first that a sports-plex would work economically, but, "we came away believing it could work."

Members of the design panel indicated they were happy with the direction of the early designs but want to see the project make the most of its waterfront location on the shore of the Middle Branch, a view that is now obscured by deteriorating warehouses. The project has the potential to become a model for waterfront development, said panel member Mark Cameron.

Polakoff said the project could get under way, at the earliest, sometime next year.

lorraine.mirabella@baltsun.com

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