Ron Kreitner, executive director of WestSide Renaissance Inc., said, "They are contributing to a very constructive life on the street that, when you add it to a large attraction like the Hippodrome or Camden Yards, it creates a very nice sense of an urban place in the heart of the city."
The city sees an arena as having "catalytic value" beyond what housing or retail would provide. Officials point to Washington's Verizon Center, with ground-level retail and a Metro stop built into the structure, as an example of how an arena can revitalize an area and be an active destination even when it's not hosting an event.
"Ground-level retail is where you start," said recently resigned city Planning Director Douglas B. McCoach III, who urges developers to think even more creatively.
At the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, he said, a TV studio is located next to the arena, creating excitement at street level. That kind of dynamism is missing from the 1st Mariner Arena, he complained.
"The arena today is a big box," McCoach said. "It's almost a windowless box, and that doesn't really contribute anything to the life of the city."
Three sides of the arena are completely blank, critics note, offering nothing to passers-by. The fourth side, on West Baltimore Street, has the arena entrance, but nothing else.
"The perimeter has got all kinds of problems," said Gilbert Thomas, senior principal at Marks, Thomas Architects and co-chairman of the Urban Design Committee. "Without mixed-use development in an arena, it tends to be a dead box."
Frank, the deputy mayor, said that won't be the case with the new arena. He said the city will work with the Urban Design Committee to "make sure we can deliver a product that everyone is proud of."
"This is an opportunity to exploit," Frank said. "It can and should be the Camden Yards of arenas."
stephen.kiehl@baltsun.com
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