Dive Brief:
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Under Armour unveiled plans for the first phase of its new 50-acre Baltimore headquarters to the city's Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel on Nov. 10, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
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Presented to the panel were plans for a parking garage with 1,500 spaces and two office buildings comprising more than 306,000 square feet. The structures will be located within the city's $5.5 billion Port Covington redevelopment project. If the panel approves the plans with minimal changes, construction could start in 2017 and be finished by early 2021.
- Panel members expressed concern about the size of a planned parking garage (120 feet tall and 800 feet wide), calling it too "monolithic." Some members commented that public access to a local park had been reduced and visitors would be forced to park blocks away.
Dive Insight:
Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank's development arm, Sagamore Development Co., is spearheading the activity at the Port Covington site that the Baltimore City Council recently agreed to help finance through a $660 million bond package, which The Baltimore Sun called the biggest in the city's history.
The bonds will cover the infrastructure spending necessary for the development. Sagamore is set to reimburse the city for the bonds via future taxes. In August, the federal government turned down Baltimore's request for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery infrastructure grants around the Port Covington site.
In return for the financing deal, Sagamore promised the city a benefit package worth $100 million. That package includes profit sharing with the city, $25 million for workforce development, $10 million for loans to minority- and women-owned small businesses and $6.5 million to ensure prevailing wages for construction workers. The project should create 26,500 jobs when complete.
The Port Covington development will total 4 million square feet and include a park, field house, basketball court, a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and 3 million square feet of office space.