City Garage and Local Artists Team Up on New Mural in Port Covington

A new mural was recently completed on a 360 ft. long wall to the west of Hanover St. and adjacent to W. Dickman St. in Port Covington. The wall, which is part of a previously fenced off area that was once used as storage for jersey walls from the Grand Prix, is across the street form City Garage, a new facility run by Sagamore Ventures. Sagamore recently took down the fence and improved the landscaping around the perimeter.

The mural is a collaboration between local artist Billy Mode, Richard Best of Section 1, and City Garage. Best, who teaches Street Art 101 at MICA, also had some of his students participate in the mural. Best and Section 1 also completed a mural along Warner St. near Horseshoe Casino Baltimore.

“The intent was to create something interesting that sparked a conversation around building Baltimore and to continue to improve the immediate area around the City Garage project. The mural is intended to capture the spirit of our community of product innovators, while working to foster relationships with local artists. It is an impressive example of what our local artists are capable of, and a reminder of how talented our citizens of Baltimore really are,” Demian Costa, managing partner of Sagamore Ventures, told SouthBMore.com in a statement.

The mural says Baltimore in a custom hexagon, modular-style font designed by Mode, and includes elements of steel, Maryland flags, and designs inspired by Under Armour shoes. Under Amour recently opened UA Lighthouse at City Garage and Under Armour CEO and Founder Kevin Plank is the owner of Sagamore Ventures.

The mural used approximately 100 gallons of Sherwin Williams paint, plus cans of spray paint.

When asked about the opportunity and future public art projects at Port Covington, Best told SouthBMore.com,”Port Covington is like a new city, and part of a city is urban art and culture. It’s phenomenal to be involved.”

Best and Mode also noted that Bustin Boards from City Garage let them borrow some skateboards to ride around on while working on the mural.

Both Best and Mode have completed murals around Baltimore and in the region. Best is also working on developing the Section 1 Urban Art Park on 3.5 acres of space below and surrounding I-83 between Station North Arts and Entertainment District, MICA, and the University of Baltimore.

The mural continues Plank Industries’ and its development company Sagamore Development’s improvements to public spaces in Port Covington. The two organizations recently completed, and have continued to maintain, landscaping improvements to medians and corners around the area. They will soon start work on a new bike path that will start on W. McComas St. just east of Schuster Concrete near Swann Park, run east of the current site of Atlantic Forest, and then connect with City Garage along W. Dickman by the new mural. The path would continue along E. Cromwell St. and loop around until it meets E. McComas St. Sagamore has acquired the permits to begin construction on the private parcels, which Sagamore owns. The permit for work on public right-of-way is under review and Sagamore is hopeful it will be approved soon.

Sagamore Development’s 260-acre Master Plan for Port Covington, which includes a new campus for Under Armour, was recently approved by the Baltimore City Planning Department. Construction is also currently underway at the Sagamore Spirit distillery.

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.