The final scheduled Maryland Stadium Authority meeting of the year came and went on Tuesday with no action on a lease for the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
The stadium authority’s executive director said negotiations continue between the team and the state — and he said a month-to-month or short-term deal may be necessary if an agreement isn’t executed by the end of the current lease on Dec. 31.
Finalizing a new agreement by Dec. 31 is “still the goal,” stadium authority Executive Director Michael Frenz told reporters after the meeting at the B&O Warehouse overlooking the baseball field.
“My message to the public is that everyone’s intention, including the Orioles, is for the Orioles to remain in Baltimore for a very long time,” he said.
More on Orioles lease negotiations
Asked what would happen if a deal doesn’t get done by the end of the year, Frenz said: “My suspicion is that they would continue to be on sort of a month-to-month type of lease agreement. I mean, certainly we’re not going to kick them out on 12/31 or January 1st.”
It’s not clear if such a deal is on the table to allow broader negotiations to continue, and it also is not clear whether that would need the same approvals as a long-term lease.
Both the Maryland Stadium Authority’s 10-member board and the state Board of Public Works must sign off on a lease for Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Tuesday was the final scheduled meeting of the stadium authority board. The Board of Public Works — comprised of the governor, comptroller and treasurer — has one more scheduled meeting this year on Dec. 13.
Frenz declined to discuss too many specifics of the negotiations. Craig Thompson, the stadium authority’s board chair, did not speak with reporters after the meeting.
“There are various sticking points, as with any negotiation,” Frenz said. “I think we’re confident that those will be worked through.”
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Frenz did note that are differences on the details of a proposed development plan the Orioles want to carry out around the ballpark.
A memorandum of understanding signed between the team and the state this fall called for granting an exclusive ground lease and development rights to the team to redevelop the B&O Warehouse, the vacant Camden Station building and a strip of adjacent parking.
The details of the development rights deal are complex, Frenz said. The Baltimore Banner reported this week that the Orioles have prioritized executing a lease for the ballpark itself and the development rights deal at the same time.
Michael Frenz, executive director of the Maryland Stadium Authority
“I think both sides agree on the importance of real estate development in leading to an overall sort of renaissance in Baltimore,” Frenz said. “I just think that, again, real estate development, the notion of a ground lease, all of those things are complex. And so it just takes time to work through all of the details.”
Baltimoreans and baseball fans have been waiting for a signed lease since late September, when Gov. Wes Moore and Orioles Chairman John Angelos appeared on the video board in the middle of a ballgame to announce they’d reached an agreement to keep the team at Camden Yards for 30 years.
Frenz was asked: Was that a mistake?
“The governor is the governor,” Frenz said. “It’s his prerogative to make announcements the way he wishes to do so.”
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Pamela Wood covers Maryland politics and government. She previously reported for The Baltimore Sun, The Capital and other Maryland newspapers. A graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, she lives in northern Anne Arundel County.
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