https://www.thebalti...FLPKZNNUW6TP3A/

I can count one single person who wants this to happen.

I see Johnny Boy showing up to a meeting something like this....

A public opinion poll making the rounds among Marylanders this week is gauging how people feel about a plan to revitalize Camden Yards, M&T Bank Stadium and the surrounding neighborhoods.

“Camden Crossing,” according to the poll, could complement public-funded upgrades at the two sports parks with additional investment from the Baltimore Orioles into a “public-private partnership.” That investment would aim to create new economic opportunities in the area with housing, hotels, shops, office space and health and education services, the poll says. It asks respondents how familiar they were with the revitalization plan.

 

Where exactly would Camden Crossing — also the name of a group of townhomes located to the west of the stadium — be located? The poll doesn’t say, and Orioles CEO and managing partner John Angelos declined a request to comment Tuesday about the poll. But a source familiar with the proposal, who asked not to be identified by name because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the potential redevelopment, said the project would likely encompass the existing Camden Yards campus and dozens of acres around the stadium and adjacent to it.

Rosenthal on the lease delay.  He notes, just like everyone else who's looked at a map, that there's no land adjacent to OPACY to build an Atlanta-type complex on.

The problem is that John Angelos desires a lease that includes more than the commitment by the state to unlock $600 million in public funds for ballpark improvements. He also wants to develop an area around the park similar to The Battery Atlanta, a complex adjoining the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park, which opened in 2017.

Angelos’ desire to replicate The Battery Atlanta is understandable. The Braves posted record revenue of $588 million in 2022, including $53 million from The Battery Atlanta, according to Braves Holdings, which is indirectly owned by Liberty Media, a publicly traded company. The Battery, however, sits on 60 acres. Building an office complex, entertainment district or even a sole apartment building at Camden Yards would appear impractical.

 

The only open spaces around the ballpark and B&O Warehouse are parking lots to which the Ravens share mutual rights. Some of those lots sit directly above the Howard Street rail tunnel. The Ravens, who play only 10 home games per season but have sold out every regular-season date at 71,008-seat M&T Bank Stadium since arriving in Baltimore in 1996, undoubtedly would oppose the elimination of parking spaces. And, according to a state official who was granted anonymity so he could speak candidly, “the engineering costs of building over the Howard Street tunnel are far beyond anybody’s capability to make a buck.”

 

So, what is Angelos holding out for?

Rosenthal: Why the Orioles haven’t signed a new lease to stay at Camden Yards - The Athletic

If anyone wants to do some sleuthing, check the MD business registry and see if any real estate development LLCs have recently been incorporated by any entity that could be connected to John. Follow the money. John isn’t smart enough to pull off this heist on his own, but he’s obviously got the means to hire the right people to help him.

Now that I think about it, the downtown Holiday Inn closed during the pandemic, so there's some mostly unused land - bordered by Pratt, Lombard, Howard, and Eutaw Streets - that the O's would have to be very interested in.  But that's maybe an acre or something?  In Atlanta, it's sixty.

I thought the same thing: Where are they going to build all of this? Both stadiums are surrounded by parking lots. Maybe there's some warehouses to the south that can be razed and built up but that is far from OPACY.

My fear is he's knowingly asking for something unrealistic as an excuse to move the team.

It does seem like there's an opportunity - you've got Harborplace being redeveloped, the Gallery sitting empty, the Mechanic Theater has been a pile of rubble for 15 years, etc.  Maybe someone with imagination could figure out how to combine those redevelopments with Camden Yards, I don't know.

It does seem like there's an opportunity - you've got Harborplace being redeveloped, the Gallery sitting empty, the Mechanic Theater has been a pile of rubble for 15 years, etc.  Maybe someone with imagination could figure out how to combine those redevelopments with Camden Yards, I don't know.

Bring back the Skywalk!

I thought the same thing: Where are they going to build all of this? Both stadiums are surrounded by parking lots. Maybe there's some warehouses to the south that can be razed and built up but that is far from OPACY.

 

My fear is he's knowingly asking for something unrealistic as an excuse to move the team.

That's interesting. 

Just across the street from the old Holiday Inn, on the way to the Hippodrome, is the bar that Babe Ruth bought his father with his check from the 1914 World Series.  That famous picture of Ruth and his father standing behind a bar looking more or less identical was taken there.  Maybe they could incorporate that, too?

The Goddess “Gentlemen’s Club” – The Bar That Ruth Bought - David B. Stinson Author (davidbstinsonauthor.com)

Bring back the Skywalk!

Love it

Frankly, the convention center is the elephant in the room. Move it someplace else. Turn that and a chunk of HarborPlace into what they've done in Atlanta. 

a Mid-Atlantic town closer to the Northeast is never going to have the same amount of land as areas in the south. It's just not going to happen. 

Just say no to this "Battery" idea. Waste of money. Does zero for the residents of Baltimore. If they want to buy out the businesses in that section of the warehouse closest to Ravens stadium, but not in Oriole Park, and have 7 floors of a pre-game/postgame destination, The MASN Bar & Grill, fine. Don't ask the people to foot the bill for it. Tell Little John please don't fire the front of house manager when he changes the channel from MASN showing 2018 Heartland Poker Tour highlights, to an actual live sporting event going on. 

For something like the Battery to work the baseball team has to be good and draw people downtown to frequent the businesses there. So John Boy needs to put his money where his mouth is and see to it this team has the resources it needs to remain competitive. 
 

After all, What good is a Bubba Gump or a Guy Fieri Flavortown restaurant across the street from the stadium if the team is losing 110 games a year with a bottom 5 payroll?

For something like the Battery to work the baseball team has to be good and draw people downtown to frequent the businesses there. So John Boy needs to put his money where his mouth is and see to it this team has the resources it needs to remain competitive. 
 

After all, What good is a Bubba Gump or a Guy Fieri Flavortown restaurant across the street from the stadium if the team is losing 110 games a year with a bottom 5 payroll?

Does Bubba Gump do good even in a place as huge as Time Square? If you're gonna do something, do it with local flare. Not some generic, crap restaurant.