Espn Zone

The old ESPN Zone space in the Inner Harbor has a new tenant in Phillips Seafood, David Cordish confirmed this morning.  ESPN Zone opened on Pratt Street in 1998, and closed definitely in June of last year in a big corporate shutdown of several of the other franchises. The spot at 601 E Pratt St. at Power Plant has been vacant since, and Cordish Companies, developer and landlord of the complex, had been looking to fill it. In today's announcement, Cordish Cos. says bringing Phillips, which left its longtime home at Harborplace in June, to Power Plant is makes sense because the two " share a rich history in the redevelopment of downtown Baltimore.” The new location is expected to open in Fall 2011.

Modell's Sporting Goods opened a "pop-up" store Friday in the former ESPN Zone space in downtown Baltimore to sell Ravens merchandise. The "pop up" store on East Pratt Street next to Phillips is the first of its kind for Modell's in the Baltimore-Washington area and was opened in response to growing demand for Ravens items. The store will stay open in the temporary spot in the Power Plant at the Inner Harbor as long as the Ravens are in the playoffs. The team will face the Houston Texans on Sunday in a divisional playoff.

The Walt Disney Co.'s announcement Wednesday that it will close the ESPN Zone in Baltimore and four other cities next week brought a sense of loss but also hope that a new attraction would quickly replace it and help keep the Inner Harbor fresh for visitors. Next Tuesday will be the last day of business at Baltimore's location, which opened 12 years ago as the first store in a chain that spaciously blends sports-bar dining with arcade-style entertainment. The venue is an anchor of the Power Plant, a mid-1990s redevelopment that helped spread retail and entertainment venues further east along the harbor.

Dan Rodricks dropped by Phillips Harborplace on Sunday for a sweet good-bye to the Light Street Pavilion anchor restaurant. He wasn't the only one. Here's Rodricks' story about the people who showed up for the last day to reminisce about the celebrities that came through back in the go-go '80s, A-listers like Muhammad Ali, Queen Latifah andBrad Pitt. Later this fall, Phillips will open a new restaurant nearby in the Power Plant space forrmerly occupied by the ESPN Zone.

Peter Bondra , who scored 503 NHL goals, will participate in a question-and-answer session and sign autographs at a free Washington Capitals pre-playoff party at ESPN Zone in Baltimore on Wednesday at at 8 p.m. Capitals broadcaster Steve Kolbe will be the emcee, and the team's mascot, Slapshot, will be on hand. Pro basketball: Maryland GreenHawks center Michael Anderson and guard Scooter Sherrill were voted to the Premier Basketball League West All-Star team for the game May 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Modell's Sporting Goods opened a "pop-up" store Friday in the former ESPN Zone space in downtown Baltimore to sell Ravens merchandise. The "pop up" store on East Pratt Street next to Phillips is the first of its kind for Modell's in the Baltimore-Washington area and was opened in response to growing demand for Ravens items. The store will stay open in the temporary spot in the Power Plant at the Inner Harbor as long as the Ravens are in the playoffs. The team will face the Houston Texans on Sunday in a divisional playoff.

Phillips Seafood and the Cordish Cos. announced today that Phillips will remain in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, moving into the former ESPN Zone space at the Power Plant. The Power Plant location is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2011. You can follow the story here . UPDATE:  The new Phillips will include a crab deck on the floating barge that ESPN Zone used as an outdoor bar. Here's what I wrote on June 14,  few days after Phillips announced its separation from Harborplace and after chatter had begun about its relocation into ESPN Zone had: "If that does happen, it could give Phillips something the Harborplace location never could - a waterside setting for outdoor crab feasting.

For years, dining in Howard County has been characterized by family atmosphere, and if adults wanted a night on their own, they'd suddenly find themselves right at the top of the price ladder. There haven't been enough of those in-between places. Then came the opening a few months ago of affordable but chic Facci in Laurel, whose crazy and instant success suggested two things: that there had been a great desire for moderately priced, sit-down places that aren't part of a big chain, and that kids are fine going to places that aren't for kids.

ESPN Grill, the sports-themed entertainment and dining complex that will open next summer inside the Pier 4 Power Plant, has been renamed ESPN Zone.Disney Regional Entertainment, the Walt Disney Co. affiliate in charge of the venture, announced yesterday that it chose the new name to reflect better the experience that awaits patrons."

When the ESPN Zone opened in the Power Plant last summer, people sometimes waited in line for three hours to get in.More than a year later, lines -- though shorter -- still snake out the door of Baltimore's Inner Harbor attraction.The sports entertainment complex has done twice the business expected, according to its creators, Walt Disney Co. -- more than 1 million visitors."It's really surprised us at every level," said Art Levitt, president of Disney Regional Entertainment Inc. "From the tourist to the local level, it's been well received.

Phillips last day at Harborplace is Sept. 18 The iconic Maryland seafood restaurant will end it 31-year tenure in the Light Street Pavilion after the Sunday dinner service on Sept 18. Phillips will reopen in the nearby Power Plant Live balding in the space vacated by the ESPN Zone, sometime this fall. No firm date has been announced for the reopening, and no details about arrangements for the restaurant's employees were available.

Phillips Seafood and the Cordish Cos. announced today that Phillips will remain in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, moving into the former ESPN Zone space at the Power Plant. The Power Plant location is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2011. You can follow the story here . UPDATE:  The new Phillips will include a crab deck on the floating barge that ESPN Zone used as an outdoor bar. Here's what I wrote on June 14,  few days after Phillips announced its separation from Harborplace and after chatter had begun about its relocation into ESPN Zone had: "If that does happen, it could give Phillips something the Harborplace location never could - a waterside setting for outdoor crab feasting.

The old ESPN Zone space in the Inner Harbor has a new tenant in Phillips Seafood, David Cordish confirmed this morning.  ESPN Zone opened on Pratt Street in 1998, and closed definitely in June of last year in a big corporate shutdown of several of the other franchises. The spot at 601 E Pratt St. at Power Plant has been vacant since, and Cordish Companies, developer and landlord of the complex, had been looking to fill it. In today's announcement, Cordish Cos. says bringing Phillips, which left its longtime home at Harborplace in June, to Power Plant is makes sense because the two " share a rich history in the redevelopment of downtown Baltimore.” The new location is expected to open in Fall 2011.

Phillips Seafood will open a 500-seat restaurant by early October at the Inner Harbor's Power Plant, in space left vacant last summer by ESPN Zone, Phillips and landlord the Cordish Cos. announced Thursday. Phillips, an original Harborplace tenant, announced last month that it would close its restaurant in the Light Street Pavilion by Sept. 30 after 31 years in that location. The new restaurant will occupy the 15,000-square-foot first floor of the former ESPN Zone space, but not the second floor, which has not yet been leased.

Five former ESPN Zone employees filed a class action lawsuit Monday against the company, alleging it had violated federal standards for notifying and paying workers who lost their jobs when the Inner Harbor location closed in June. The federal lawsuit claims that ESPN Zone, owned by Walt Disney Co., did not provide laid-off workers the mandated 60 days' notice of termination under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act. The company has previously stated that it followed the federal regulations.

A group of workers laid off from the ESPN Zone say the company violated federal workplace protection laws when it suddenly closed the Inner Harbor restaurant in Baltimore two weeks ago — an allegation the company denies. More than 20 of the 140 people who worked at the sports-themed restaurant and entertainment venuegathered outside the Power Plant development Wednesday morning in a protest organized by the United Workers Association of Baltimore, an advocacy group for low-wage workers.

When the ESPN Zone kicks off in Baltimore's Power Plant next month, it will also launch a new yearly event for the Inner Harbor -- an outdoor sports festival for fans and participants alike.This year's event will be captured on videotape and beamed into 75 million homes around the world via a half-hour program on ESPN the following day, promoting Baltimore and the first ESPN Zone entertainment center simultaneously. Dan Patrick, co-anchor of ESPN's nightly "SportsCenter," will be the host.

Just as Baltimore's Harborplace was a leader in the wave of festival marketplaces that swept the country in the '80s, the Inner Harbor again will serve as proving ground for a new dimension in family entertainment.Opening in the Power Plant this summer will be the ESPN Zone, Walt Disney Co.'s latest entertainment concept, a production that's part high-tech dining room, part sports arena.If the idea of using Disney wizardry succeeds during its high-profile trial run here, the company will expand the restaurant-playground idea nationwide.

It was the final last call for ESPN Zone Baltimore. After a dozen years serving up burgers, brews and chicken wings to fans absorbed in sports on big-screen TVs, the chain's original location at the Inner Harbor closed for good Tuesday at midnight, a casualty of fierce competition, waning popularity and the recession. The chain's owner, Walt Disney Co. announced the decision last week to close five of its sports-themed restaurants, including Baltimore's, and blamed the battered economy.