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A developer behind the effort to redevelop a stretch of South Baltimore that includes M&T Bank Stadium and Horseshoe Baltimore Casino said the new sports entertainment complex known as Topgolf is poised to open there “within the month.”
The opening of the high-tech golfing, dining and events venue is the first anchor tenant to open at what’s now known as the Warner Street Entertainment District. The project is a private-public partnership among city and state officials, the casino and developers from Caves Valley Partners, a Baltimore firm with a portfolio that includes Cross Keys, Cross Street Market, and Horseshoe Baltimore.
The four-block district, which also will be outfitted with a new concert venue and an overhauled, pedestrian-friendly streetscape linking the Inner Harbor to M&T Bank Stadium and the casino, is soon to be renamed and rebranded, Caves Valley partner Arthur Adler told a crowd gathered at the Baltimore casino Thursday for the city tourism bureau’s annual meeting.
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While working on the casino project about a decade ago, Adler said developers promised state officials to return to the area to focus on creating an entertainment corridor that connected the stadium to the casino. It took years to acquire the properties, Adler said.
“The whole time, the Horseshoe Casino team’s focus was to create an entertainment corridor that didn’t exist elsewhere in the city,” Adler said. “There’s great areas in the city where you can go out for great meals, and have fun and all that, but we wanted to bring unique features to the entertainment district … because, while we’d love for the Baltimore City customer to come in, we really want to draw from the surrounding counties and frankly, further out.”
Though Adler did not give a timeline for the opening of the concert venue, he said it also would offer a unique experience. To be called the Paramount, the 70,000-square-foot venue is being designed so that “no viewer will ever be more than 115 feet away from the stage,” according to developer Design 3 International.
Officials are hopeful the district, which has been backed with millions of city dollars, will help revitalize casino revenues as well as tourism spending in the city, which took a hit during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tourism officials said Thursday that travel is picking back up.
Al Hutchinson, CEO and president of Visit Baltimore, said the recovery is due in part to an increase in domestic travel, a resumption of events and meetings at the Baltimore Convention Center, and the CIAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament, which is set to run in the city through at least 2025.
But the recovery period is not over, he added.
“Though we’re not back to pre-pandemic visitation, we’re optimistic about the future of travel and opportunity for Baltimore to emerge as an urban retreat with several new developments and reinvestments in places and spaces that will create excitement for visitors in the years ahead,” he said.
Speakers at Thursday’s event also highlighted the redeveloped Lexington Market, which is set to fully open to the public within the next few weeks, as well as the ongoing developments at Port Covington in South Baltimore.
hallie.miller@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Hallie Miller covers housing for The Baltimore Banner. She's previously covered city and regional services, business and health at both The Banner and The Baltimore Sun.
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