Russell Street

Members of a Baltimore design committee urged the city slots developers Thursday to consider a bolder design and do more to enhance the Russell Street corridor. "We have expressed a bit of concern that the concept is not quite what we're looking for," said City Planning Director Thomas J. Stosur after listening to a one-hour presentation by Reich & Petch, the Toronto-based architecture firm that will design the casino. The Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel advises the city's planning department on major projects but does not have the authority to veto a design.

A soft-spoken Canadian builder without deep Baltimore ties or much gambling experience sees opportunity in a deal that the biggest local developers chose not to pursue. He came to town last week to unveil his vision for a slots palace that he believes will pull in a half-billion dollars a year - an estimate that found a skeptical reception. Michael Moldenhauer's venture springs from an unusual land agreement that would let him build on a highly visible parcel near the Ravens football stadium that the city had promised to another developer for a different project.

Outside, Baltimore's proposed casino would have an industrial look inspired by old warehouses in the surrounding area and a shop-lined pedestrian zone reminiscent of the Eutaw Street promenade at Oriole Park. Inside, it would have "neighborhoods" filled with slot machines; a 400-seat buffet-style restaurant that would turn into a nightclub in the evening; a 120-seat "chop house" and a 100-seat main bar. Designed to hold up to 5,000 people at a time, it would be open from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m, seven days a week.

The development team hoping to build a casino in Baltimore plans to construct a two-story slots parlor on Russell Street that could accommodate 5,000 gamblers, according to a preliminary design unveiled at a community meeting Tuesday. The plan calls for construction of a five-story, 2,500-space parking garage, according to members of Baltimore City Entertainment Group, which applied for Baltimore's video lottery terminal license, one of five available statewide. The $50 million garage would be financed through city-issued parking revenue bonds that developers would repay with gambling profits.

An expanded and relocated Baltimore casino on bustling Russell Street is expected to significantly boost the project's profits, and inject new momentum into the state's slots program, which to date has fallen below expectations. Baltimore's developers are vowing to build the state's first slot-machine parlor, which will be several times larger than their original proposal and which, according to gambling industry analysts, likely will draw a wider clientele with an improved downtown location.

Baltimore's Parkway Theatre would be transformed to a "cinema and drafthouse," and adjacent buildings would become a steak restaurant and student apartments, under a $1.95 million development proposal submitted by Virginia-based businessman Joseph E. "Teddy" Kim. Kim said he would work with owners of the Virginia-based Arlington Cinema'N'Drafthouse operation to convert the Parkway to a 600-seat dining and entertainment space by the fall of 2011, if...

A Maryland developer would abandon plans to build a $250 million sports themed office and recreation park called Gateway South, and Baltimore's only slots casino would be constructed on the land instead if city and state officials approve the change. The Baltimore Development Corp. is drafting a memorandum of understanding that gives control of an 11-acre, city-owned parcel south of M&T Bank Stadium, to Baltimore City Entertainment Group, one of four bidders for slot machine licenses in Maryland and the only group seeking to build a slots facility in downtown.

For seven years, Second Chance has been the go-to place for salvaged ceiling tin, mahogany doors, stained-glass windows, claw-foot tubs and, yes, even the kitchen sink. (Bathroom sinks on sale, too, $5 and up.) Selling salvaged architectural antiques out of five brick warehouses in South Baltimore, the nonprofit has worked to find new uses for old stuff. At the same time, the business in the shadow of Baltimore's football stadium offers job training to workers who help customers, stock shelves or go out to demolish houses, with surgical precision, to salvage pieces.

A number of Baltimore streets will be closed this weekend for events that include a disaster drill at M&T Bank Stadium, a motorcycle and fashion show, and construction projects, according to the city's Department of Transportation. The emergency exercise, called Operation Purple Haze, begins at 7 a.m. today and is scheduled to conclude at 3 p.m. It is sponsored by the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, the Baltimore Fire Department and the Ravens and is designed as a mock disaster at Camden Yards or the football stadium.

O'Malley open to changing campaign contribution rules Gov. Martin O'Malley indicated yesterday that he would be open to raising campaign contribution limits and possibly closing a campaign-finance loophole that allows big donors to avoid the limits. Under state law, an individual or business may give no more than $4,000 to a candidate during a four-year election cycle and no more than $10,000 total in that period. Some donors have gotten around those regulations by giving through separate but related limited-liability companies.