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Sources: Baltimore's 1st Mariner Arena to be rebuilt on current site - developers split on potential impact
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Hate it or love it, the aging 1st Mariner Arena’s days might be numbered.
Media reports published Friday cited unnamed sources who said city and state officials have decided to raze the existing arena, opened in 1962, and construct a modern facility in its place.
The Baltimore Development Corporation in December assembled a nine-member panel to evaluate nine arena proposals from leading developers including Ed Hale, Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse, Turner Development Group, and others.
BDC President M.J. “Jay” Brodie could not be reached for comment Friday.
Hale, chairman and CEO of the Baltimore-based bank which lends its name to the building, said construction of a new arena at the site could take more than three years, and “doesn’t make sense at all.”
“I just disagree that that’s the spot,” he said. “I don’t think you can build it there and have the continuity of events that have been going there for years. Once you get out of the queue and that stops, they’ll look for alternative sites.” The Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team, operated by Hale, would also be without a home field and would “for all intents and purposes...[be] out of business.”
Frank Remesch, the arena’s general manager told The Examiner in February that the arena is on pace for its most profitable year yet.
“Talk of a new arena is frustrating, because we continue to bring in the biggest shows,” Remesch said at the time. “We support a new arena 100 percent, but we also support this arena.”
But a new facility could provide an important boost to the downtown economy, said Janet Marie-Smith, vice-president of planning and design for Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse.
She said her firm’s proposal to the panel included rebuilding an arena on the same site. Marie-Smith said she worked for Atlanta’s Ted Turner when that city demolished the Omni Coliseum in 1997, and completed the Philips Arena on the same site two years later.
“Not only did we find that the [events] we were worried about came back in spades, there was a renewed interest,” she said. “It’s an urban location to revitalize downtown and Baltimore has been a pioneer in doing that. It seems crazy that we wouldn’t stick to that principle.”
acahall@baltimoreexaminer.com
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1:30 PM MST on Wed., Jul. 30, 2008 re: "Sources: Baltimore's 1st Mariner Arena to be rebuilt on current site - developers split on potential impact"
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1:12 PM MST on Wed., Jul. 30, 2008
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2:39 PM MST on Sun., Jul. 20, 2008
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MJ said:
There is no where for events to go right when the arena gets knocked down except outside under a circus tent. By far the dummist site to put an new arena that might not fit unless they cut off half of Hopkins Place. I agree with Ed Hale putting the site in Canton most signifcantly in Gateway South. The only way to cover fans at concerts are to put them under the JFX and the Blast? they probably play in Towson.
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MJ said:
In the future of all new arenas ours here in Baltimore may be a little too small for pro franchises to think about moving any expansion team here by fact an 18,500 seat building would be the last place looked compare to a 20,000 seat arena. The idea about this is Orlando is constructing an 20,000 seat arena for the Magic and why I bring this up is because Orlando has only around 500,000 residents compare to Baltimore who has over 700,000 residents, around the vicinty of 300,000 residents including about 100,000 residents in York,PA that connects to Baltimore overall up to 1,100,000 people would watch a team play here.So a new franchise would clearly make it here with a 20,000 seat arena.
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Attila the Hon said:
Seeing that Janet Marie Smith is involved in the proposal to build the new arena on the same site as the current one, I am absolutely convinced that this is a scam that the BDC is walking into. Ms. Smith bragged that Atlanta didn't lose any of the events needed to fill an arena's schedule. What she did not mention was that Atlanta shifted those events to the Georgia Dome and Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum. BALTIMORE DOES NOT HAVE ANY OTHER FACILITIES LIKE THOSE TWO. This bit of poor planning is no surprise, considering that Ms. Smith was partially responsible for Camden Yards' little-league measurements. All those responsible for this plan should not be allowed to destroy Baltimore! They must be stopped now!
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