Harborplace

Today Noon: Lunch with Legends featuring Dr. Miles Harrison at Sports Legends at Camden Yards. Harrison will share his experiences as one of the founding members of the Morgan State lacrosse team of the 1970s. 4 p.m.: Welcome pep rally, Inner Harbor. 5 p.m.-10 p.m.: LAXFEST, Inner Harbor West Shore Park. Featuring interactive lacrosse-themed games, music, food, drinks, bands, vendor booths and a 4-on-4 beach lacrosse tournament. After dusk: Fireworks, Inner Harbor. Tomorrow Noon: Division I semifinal, Johns Hopkins vs. Delaware, M&T Bank Stadium.

Planet Hollywood International Inc. is looking to its movie-themed restaurant in Baltimore as it launches a makeover of the troubled chain, the Orlando, Fla.-based company said yesterday.Hoping to boost sales and profitability at a time of waning popularity of theme restaurants, the company said it will overhaul its menu, restaurant design and merchandise by April. Becoming profitable by 2000 will also entail cutting costs, in part, by franchising some restaurants outside the United States and possibly selling others, the chain said.

Phillips restaurant, an original tenant of Harborplace in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, is planning its first major renovation since opening nearly 19 years ago.The popular, family-run restaurant, known for its crab cakes, piano bar and hanging Tiffany lamps, will be redesigned -- but in a way that continues to reflect its Eastern Shore roots, Honey Konicoff, Phillips corporate director of marketing, said yesterday.The local chain, which started in Ocean City and has locations in White Marsh, Washington and Tysons Corner, Va., hasn't settled on a new theme for the renovations, which will be completed over the next couple of years, she said.

It's probably the only place around town where you can buy a 65 million-year-old triceratops dinosaur skull.The Discovery Channel Store at Harborplace, which opens tomorrow, is banking on more than cable brand recognition to lure tourists and locals alike into its new showplace in the Light Street pavilion.It's also counting on one-of-a-kind merchandise that reveals something about the world, though the prehistoric remains for $184,000 is as exclusive as it gets.The store relies on a format that makes use of interactive exhibits and lively displays, such as the dozen video monitors encased in sculpture and suspended over the cash registers.

The body of a black man was found last night in the Inner Harbor between the Light Street and Pratt Street pavilions at Harborplace and was sent to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy and identification, police said.Detective Chris Bieling of the homicide squad said a man and his wife were walking along the Harborplace promenade about 10: 25 p.m. when he spotted the floating body and called police. A police marine unit removed the body from the water.Bieling said the body appeared to have been in the water for several days.

The Hard Rock Cafe has its neon guitar.Planet Hollywood has its palm trees and zebra-striped awnings.ESPN Zone will soon have a giant "sports kebab" -- a collection of sports balls on a skewer.So how can a new retailer make a splash in the Inner Harbor?Representatives of the Discovery Channel showed one approach yesterday when they asked Baltimore's Architectural Review Board for permission to create a waterfall outside the store they plan to open at Harborplace."We're looking at something very sculptural, very architectural, that begins to play up the significance of the harbor," said designer Steven McGowan of FRCH Design in Cincinnati.

As a band played ragtime tunes and confetti and balloons rained down from a newly whitewashed ceiling, merchants at Harborplace's Light Street Pavilion opened new or redesigned shops yesterday as part of an overhaul of one of Baltimore's most popular destinations.After three months of renovations that included tearing out the former Sam Smith Market on the upper level of the pavilion, Rouse Co. unveiled the renamed Light Street Shops.Gone was the cluttered and faded look of a portion of the urban mall that had shown its age after 18 years.

In the glow of election victory, Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger unveiled his grand "mini-Harborplace" -- privately financed waterfront reverie that would crown the east county's revitalization.Four years later, Ruppersberger has shoveled more than $140 million into rebuilding the eastern communities, but his dream for a four-star restaurant, a maritime museum and retail shops on Dark Head Cove, not far from the Chesapeake Bay, is a fading memory.Critics say his administration has failed to capitalize on Baltimore County's greatest asset -- 175 miles of creeks, coves and rivers -- and push strongly for a waterfront destination that could compete with Havre de Grace, Chestertown and Rock Hall, bringing badly needed money to the area.

California Pizza Kitchen, a national restaurant chain featuring 25 varieties of hearth-baked pizza, will open in Harborplace in downtown Baltimore in early August, Rouse Co. said yesterday.The casual restaurant, with indoor and outdoor waterfront seating for 155, will move into a 3,700-square-foot spot between the Cheesecake Factory and Wayne's Bar-B-Q in the Pratt Street Pavilion.The chain has grown to 80 restaurants in 22 states since its founding in Beverly Hills, Calif., in 1985, as part of the California-style pizza craze.

By tomorrow evening, the last of the merchants at the Sam Smith Market at Harborplace will have packed up -- jewelry and sunglasses and candy and magnets -- as part of the ongoing overhaul of one of Baltimore's most popular destinations.By April, about half of the 26 specialty boutiques on the upper level of the Light Street Pavilion expect to be back, joined by 14 new small retailers, in fresher, brighter surroundings.The Rouse Co. began cordoning off the market yesterday to prepare for the next phase of renovations of the waterfront attraction that sparked downtown's renaissance 17 years ago. For the first time since then, both pavilions along Light and Pratt streets are getting an estimated $25 million makeover -- an attempt to boost sales and refurbish aging infrastructure.

Cephas Thomas didn't know whether he'd laugh, cry or give a speech when "Paddy" Culbert finally returned to town. He knew it would be a moment he'd never forget. Two years ago, Thomas, security director at the Renaissance Harborplace, was at work in the lobby when Culbert, a New Hampshire businessman, happened to be driving by. The New Englander had been working crazy hours and was tired. He didn't realize he was about to have a stroke. What Thomas did over the next 30 minutes might have saved Culbert's life.

The agent for a Baltimore Ravens rookie linebacker said his client was targeted by police at the Inner Harbor because he is black, a claim that has sparked debate over racial profiling as police step up enforcement there in the wake of a recent shooting. Tony Fein was charged Sunday in the assault of a white police officer who received a tip from Harborplace security that a group of men were passing around a large silver object suspected of being a firearm. The device turned out to be a mobile phone.

After the recent shooting at Harborplace, the Baltimore police committed to stepped up enforcement downtown. Are you confident in the city's ability to keep the harbor safe? Yes 13% No 80% Not sure 7% (1,764 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Do you think Maryland Del. Jon S. Cardin owes the public a further explanation of his Baltimore City Police-assisted marriage proposal? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

After their 23-0 preseason win over the Redskins, do you think the Ravens are better, worse or about the same as last year's team? Better 54% Worse 8% The same 38% (1,332 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : After the recent shooting at Harborplace, the Baltimore police committed to stepped up enforcement downtown. Are you confident in the city's ability to keep the harbor safe? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

First White House Black Market closed its flagship clothing store in February. Shortly after, the Aveda beauty store and J. Crew declined to renew their leases and moved out. And then Origins also closed its store. The Harborplace & The Gallery shopping complex at Baltimore's Inner Harbor has been losing some of its highest-profile tenants as the recession has driven retailers to downsize and close underperforming stores to deal with a drop in consumer spending. The economic climate is hitting shopping centers all across the country, but downtown areas like Baltimore, where retailers tend to have smaller, less profitable stores, can be harder hit and more vulnerable than larger suburban malls during slow economic times like these, retail experts said.

Ouch! On a visit to Harborplace this week, as the news was coming out about its owner's bankruptcy, I couldn't help but think about that brilliant summer day in 1980 when it opened. Some 29 years later, in the financially gloomy spring of 2009, it was hard not to feel concern for the hard times at the Pratt and Light Street pavilions. What was the owner, General Growth, thinking - or more to the point, not doing? The place had many vacancies, and some of the places that were trying to do business were not at all what you might expect.

General Growth Properties Inc., the mall owner at risk of bankruptcy, received offers of almost $400 million for properties including Baltimore's Harborplace & the Gallery and Boston's Faneuil Hall, according to a person familiar with the matter. General Growth put the two properties and New York's South Street Seaport up for sale in December. More than 10 bids were received and General Growth could sell the properties individually or as a package with offers of almost $400 million for all three, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the sales aren't public.

Baltimore developer David Cordish, the surprise front-runner in Maryland's recent slot-machine bidding, is also the logical favorite to buy Harborplace and the Gallery from their pitiful and nearly bankrupt landlord. He has the smarts to revive Baltimore's waterfront centerpiece, owned by the giant General Growth Properties. He could probably get the financing, even in this miserable recession. He wants not just Harborplace but also its sister "festival" markets in Boston, New York and elsewhere.

It may be a buyer's market, but Harborplace is going to be a tough sell. General Growth Properties, the financially strapped owner of the pavilions and The Gallery, says it is looking for investors or buyers for its waterfront markets here and in New York and Boston. Buying into these projects would require deep pockets since the commercial credit market is so pinched, but as critical to the future of Baltimore's prime waterfront venue, an investor would need vision. The heart of the Inner Harbor's revitalization 30 years ago, Harborplace remains a draw for tourists.

When did Baltimore become a junked car, sold off for parts? I was still trying to make sense of Constellation Energy, about to be spirited away by a Midwesterner who was going to take our last Fortune 500 company from us, but at the last minute running into the arms of les francais and the chance to stay ici. Then, just as that whirlwind was settling down, we learned that Harborplace - Harborplace! Centerpiece of the Baltimore Renaissance! Engine of its waterfront revival! - had been put up for sale by its cash-poor, bankruptcy-threatened landlord.