News-Letter

Media Credit: Britni Crocker Mayor Sheila Dixon recently announced plans for a $100 million reconstruction of Inner Harbor's commercial Pratt Street, including new retail and recreation spaces.

After a delay of four decades, Baltimore politicians and architects have revived plans to renovate the Inner Harbor into a tourist-friendly boulevard.

Mayor Sheila Dixon revealed the final reconstruction plans last Wednesday during the annual meeting of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. The main project is to convert the 16 blocks of Pratt Street into a friendly and inviting entry into Baltimore's premier business and waterfront districts.

The City of Baltimore hosted the Pratt Street Design Competition last spring and settled on the firm Ayers Saint Gross of Baltimore and the Olin Partnership of Philadelphia as the two winners, primarily because they have created an innovative yet feasible plan for the remodel, according to an e-mail from Mayor Sheila Dixon.

"The designers' plans came together with my vision in making Baltimore a more liveable city. This is a huge task for the city, and it's going to require a lot from all of us. But it's an ambitious and excellent plan, and I think we have the ability to get this done," Dixon wrote.

The partnership's original plan was to convert Pratt Street into a grand two-way street nearly double its current width, enabling smoother flow of traffic into the Inner Harbor. However, the city revised the two firms' plans into a much narrower one-way street, with a median strip to create a separate lane for bicycles and buses. City officials reasoned that a one-way street would be more appealing to businesses and would encourage pedestrians and tourists to patronize the local shops and restaurants.

"We revised their original plan to create more active street-level frontage for businesses," Dixon said.

The final plan presently includes renovations to the most valuable real estate in Baltimore, including the Gallery at Harborplace, the World Trade Center and the Harborspace Pavilions. It also includes plans for a new public recreational park in the nucleus of the city, as well as an extra acre of public land near Inner Harbor's water edge and a new public sculpture garden right along Lower Jones Fall.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools