New Arena: Tale of Two Families

If the Cordish and Paterakis families can execute their plan to build a new Baltimore arena, it will thread together three key pieces of the families’ real estate portfolio. The Cordishes, of The Cordish Companies, and the Paterakis family, of H&S Bakery fame, are pursuing a $450 million arena to make better use of the city-owned waterfront property they both hold master leases on at piers 5 and 6. But it’s also easy to see how a 15,000-seat arena at that location would benefit the developments around it – much of it controlled by either H&S Properties Development Corp. or Cordish. As Waterfront Partnership President Laurie Schwartz told me, it’s likely that people visiting the arena for sports or performance events will arrive early to have dinner or stay late to enjoy some nightlife. If it’s nightlife people are looking for, Cordish’s Power Plant Live! will be a big beneficiary, as it lies just one block up Market Street – a direct pedestrian connection from Pier 5. If families visiting the arena for a circus performance or Disney on Ice are looking for some before-dinner shopping or a meal, the Paterakis-developed Harbor East is only one pedestrian bridge away. So is the Cordish-developed Power Plant, where Hard Rock Café and Phillips have always been big draws to out-of-towners. Yes, visitors to the Pier Six Pavilion in the summertime have the option of dining at the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in the Pier 5 Hotel of the McCormick & Schmick’s in the same complex. But the variety and high-end nature of Harbor East provides the variety such visitors relish. The Paterakis family also holds the master lease on the Pier 5 Hotel and the McCormick & Schmick’s, a low-density development that has never been seen as the highest and best use of waterfront property. Blake Cordish, who heads up real estate development for The Cordish Companies, acknowledged that the arena is aimed at cleaning up the myriad of parking lots and access roads on pier 5 & , which were already identified in the Inner Harbor 2.0 master plan as problematic. “From an urban planning standpoint, the location fills a void between the Inner Harbor and Inner Harbor East and is ideally positioned in terms of access to existing parking, roadways, and transportation infrastructure,” Cordish said in a statement. Then there’s the cross-harbor pedestrian bridge, an idea already floated in Inner Harbor 2.0 and viewed by planners as a lofty idea that would take years to realize. Cordish’s plan make the bridge look more realistic, but it makes business sense, too. South Baltimore residents wouldn’t need to trek around the harbor or take the Water Taxi to reach Power Plant, Harbor East and other Inner Harbor attractions. Cordish also said the bridge and arena designed by an internationally recognized architect “has potential to bring international attention to Baltimore, similar to the Sydney Opera House.” Of course, all of this will cost a lot of money, and the Cordish family already seems aware that Baltimore residents have grown tired of seeing public subsidies for big waterfront developments. But the location would allow the company to seek naming rights from a high-profile company. Cordish said, one that “would minimize the need to public assistance.” The Cordish family didn’t say whether they’ve already been talking to companies interested in the naming rights for a new arena. But one would think they would start by thinking local – maybe directly across the harbor at Under Armour Inc.’s Tide Point Headquarters. -Kevin’s Take, Kevin Litten