Sagamore Reveals Founder’s Park and East End District of Port Covington

Yesterday at Baltimore City Planning Department’s Urban Design & Architecture Review Panel (UDARP), Sagamore Development revealed the final districts for its 266-acre Master Plan for Port Covington. Founder’s Park and East End will take shape at the former Baltimore Sun property which still operates as a printing facility. The districts are east of Hanover St., directly south of McComas St., and north of Cromwell St.

Sagamore already revealed plans for West End, East Waterfront, Cromwell St., and Hanover St., and Under Armour revealed plans for its 50-acre campus. Also at Port Covington is an existing 26 acre NGK-Locke, Inc. facility which Sagamore does not own.

Founder’s Park will be highlighted by a large passive oval-shaped park that will also serve as traffic circle. Surrounding the park will be tall buildings, likely 300-plus ft. tall buildings to the north and 125 ft. tall buildings to the south. The buildings to the north will also face a redeveloped McComas St. which would be widened and include a light rail station, medians, and bike lanes. There will also be a bike and pedestrian bridge connecting McComas St. to Light St. in South Baltimore/Riverside. The bridge would go under I-95 and over the train tracks at a clearance of at least 23 ft.

The buildings will have first-floor retail and offices or residential units above. This area is expected to have the highest concentration of parking and residential units in Port Covington.

Founder’s Park will sit just east of the current Baltimore Sun printing facility. Sagamore said it was in discussion with the company about reconfiguring the building in the future and providing adequate infrastructure to get its trucks in and out. Sagamore noted the facility employs up to 400 people.

Just east of the Founder’s Park District is East End, which will also be highlighted by tall buildings to the north and smaller buildings to the south. East End is directly north of the proposed East Waterfront Entertainment District which will include Sagamore Spirit, East Waterfront Park, and an outdoor pedestrian-only shopping area called Penny Lane.

Sagamore is also proposing a rail or bus circulator to run through the districts.

Along with a redeveloped McComas St., Sagamore is looking to install lighting in the area underneath I-95. It will also construct parks, including basketball courts and a skateboard park, and include lighting features on the buildings facing McComas to brighten the area.

On May 26th, Sagamore will seek final approval for its Port Covington Master Plan from UDARP. The Master Plan includes 1,500,000 sq. ft. of destination, attraction, entertainment and specialty retail spaces; 7,500 residential units; 500,000 sq. ft. of “maker and light industrial manufacturing space;” 200+ hotel rooms; 5,400,000 sq. ft. of office space; and, 40+ acres of public parks.

Renderings Courtesy of Sagamore Development 

The 1900 block of Light St. would be connected to Port Covington by the pedestrian bridge. Tall buildings are proposed to rise over I-95 from this view. 

About the Author: Kevin Lynch

Founder and Publisher of SouthBmore.com, longtime resident of South Baltimore, and a graduate of Towson University. Diehard Ravens and O's fan, father of three, amateur pizza chef, skateboarder, and "bar food" foodie. Email me at Kevin@InceptMM.com and follow me on Twitter at @SoBoKevin.