Dive Brief:
- The Baltimore Convention Center may soon be getting a $600 million overhaul that will double its current 300,000 square feet of floor space and deliver a new hotel, the Washington Business Journal reported.
- According to Maryland Commerce Secretary Mike Gill, officials will ask Gov. Larry Hogan and the state's general assembly to fund a $3 million study that will tell convention center officials what kind of expansion would most benefit the convention center.
- Other initiatives to modernize and expand the 37-year-old convention center, as well as to build a new one, have been nonstarters, but state officials say an upgrade is necessary to attract more visitors to the city.
Dive Insight:
Gill said that the expansion and overhaul is necessary to compete with other major city venues.
If convention center officials do get the OK for a renovation, they will join Under Armour as major investors in the future of Baltimore. The sportswear company announced in January that it plans on building its new headquarters on a 50-acre city waterfront site. Company officials say construction of the campus will take at least 20 years and will feature public waterfront access, a field house with indoor practice fields, a basketball court, 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space, a 7,000-seat stadium and nearly three million square feet of office space.
Under Armour said it has about 1,900 employees at its current Baltimore offices, but company officials say the new headquarters will house more than 10,000.