South Baltimore Little League to Receive More Than $250,000 in Improvements Through Agreement with 28 Walker
South Baltimore Little League (SBLL) has reached an agreement with McHenry Row Developer Mark Sapperstein of 28 Walker for more than $250,000 in improvements to the baseball facility SBLL owns at 1100 E. Fort Ave. in Locust Point. The improvements, along with a five-year landscaping and maintenance agreement, are a donation from 28 Walker. SBLL’s facility is surrounded on three sides by McHenry Row which features retail, apartments, and offices, as well as a future hotel.
SBLL and 28 Walker worked for more than two years to put together this new agreement, which includes the following upgrades:
- Walk-in gate between fields 2 & 3
- New fencing and landscaping along Fort Ave.
- New backstop and dugouts for field 2
- New fencing around fields 1 & 2
- Re-grading of fields 1 & 2 with all new sod and infield dirt
- Scoreboard for field 2
- Electricity to fields 2 & 3
- Install batting cage on concrete pad
- 8 new commercial grade picnic tables
- 8 new commercial grade trash cans
- Removal of old wood and concrete bleachers and replaced with new metal bleachers
- Paving of gravel road leading to fields 3 & 4 and clean up of the same area
- Removal of shipping containers and old carnival trailer currently used for storage and replaced with an 800 sq. ft. building
Work has already begun on these improvements and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. This will be the second round of improvements by 28 Walker, which added new turf, backstops, dugouts, fencing, and landscaping around the perimeter to fields 3 and 4 in 2015.
As part of the agreement, SBLL has granted an easement that allows 28 Walker to use eight feet of land behind fields 1 and 2 to install a new sidewalk along Porter St. “We wanted to build a sidewalk to give people another safe way to walk from Fort Avenue to Harris Teeter and the new Porter Street Apartments,” said Sapperstein.
“I really think this is going to be beneficial for our program and the families who utilize it,” said SBLL President Quinn Hren. “I’m happy we were able to come to an agreement. It took a long time and lot of volunteer hours by a lot of people to get this done.”
Volo City also uses the SBLL facility for adult and youth sports.
“We wanted to pull this all together for the kids and also the participants of Volo City,” said Sapperstein. “They are going to feel like they are playing in the Major Leagues. It’s a really good feeling to come here to work every day and watch the kids play. It’s rare to see fields in the middle of a real estate project. I take pride we were able to pull that together.”
He also noted that improvements will be visually appealing to the McHenry Row tenants, businesses, and visitors.
Sapperstein said he is eying a third round of improvements which could include a new club house for vending, as well as a larger on-site parking lot.
SBLL previously maintained the fields which were gifted to them by Coca-Cola in 1997. In 2013, Domino Sugar donated a new back stop and dugouts to field 1. Under Armour has also made donations including a scoreboard on field 1.
Porter Street Apartments will open at McHenry Row in September and new restaurant Iron Rooster is expected to open in the next few weeks. 28 Walker will also soon begin construction on a 126-room Marriott Hotel as well as a 60,000 sq. ft. office building, which is already fully leased.
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.
