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PORT COVINGTON 104 • SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS • December 2017 P ort Covington, a master planned, mixed-use redevelopment in south Baltimore, is promising to take placemaking to new levels. In effect, the proposed "city within a city," as some media outlets refer to it, will completely renovate the look and the demographics of Baltimore. Retail will play an important and early role during the first phase of development, which begins next year. Port Covington is a 235-acre former railroad hub on the Patapsco River. It's being billed as one of the largest urban renewal efforts in the country and prom- ises to draw big business to Baltimore. It's being developed by Sagamore Development Co., which is owned by billionaire Maryland native and Un- der Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank. The catalyst for the Port Cov- ington project is a relocation of Under Armour headquarters there. The new Under Armour campus will take up 50 acres and include office, manufac- turing and athletic space. In addition, Baltimore has just submit- ted its bid to Amazon to be a contender for the future site of HQ2. According to an op-ed in the Washington Post, Port Covington "checks all the boxes" on Am- azon's wish list. The $5.5 billion development will take some 25 years to be complete. The site will eventually feature 18 million square feet of various com- mercial uses as well as 2.5 miles of restored waterfront, 40 acres of parks and green space and transit resourc- es, including the potential extension of Baltimore's light rail to the site. "There has been nothing done in the United States on this scale inside an urban framework, in an actual American city," says Marc Weller, president of Sagamore Development Co. Officials say the expected popu- lation influx will create its own tax base. But because the development isn't built out yet, market demands have yet to be determined. So retail will play an important role in setting the scene at Port Covington as con- struction gets underway. "The retail aspect of the Port Cov- ington Project is intended to be ar- tistically led retail that will include restaurant and entertainment in the first phase," Weller says. "We will overinvest in the retail por- tion of the project in the first few years for placemaking purposes, with the inten- tion of creating premium office, residen- tial and hotel spaces later down the line around it," added Weller. Port Covington is being engineered to bring in large and small business- es, new residents who can choose be- tween a variety of for rent and for sale home types and tourists, but it is also committing to do its part to support the site's adjacent residents. The developers are working with six neighborhoods that surround the site to deliver on agreements they made to ensure local residents are hired and to provide workforce development oppor- tunities. Goldman Sachs recently invest- ed $233 million in the Port Covington project because it was drawn to "impact investments" such as these, according to the Baltimore Sun. Reshaping Baltimore's Urban Core Port Covington will bring in big business and global attention to Charm City, but developers say they will include and support the site's neighboring communities. Lynn Peisner Developers say Port Covington's location right on Interstate 95 positions it for success.