Latest news with #MarylandStadiumAuthorityBoard
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Board approves Pimlico contracts in what might be last handout for Maryland racing
The three-member Board of Public Works approved contracts that some say will lead a generational opportunity to reinvigorate Pimlico Race Course and the surrounding Park Heights community. (File photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.) The Board of Public Works gave the green light Wednesday to 'a once-in-a-generation opportunity' to reinvigorate horse racing in Maryland, even as one member questioned if this would be the last chance for the industry. The three-member board approved contracts for the demolition and rebuild of Pimlico Race Course and the purchase of a Carroll County farm that will become a horse training center. The effort is not only another state attempt to save the industry, but is also seen as a way of revitalizing the Park Heights community in northwest Baltimore. 'Almost a year ago today, this board approved the transfer of ownership of the Pimlico race course to the state of Maryland, seizing a once in a generation opportunity to reimagine thoroughbred racing in the entire state with the celebration of the 150th Preakness states that is taking place next week,' said Gov. Wes Moore, who chairs the board. Moore said the new track, once completed, will 'become a year-round hub for economic activity within Park Heights' and 'serve to revitalize Maryland's horsing industry,' an industry he said accounts for 28,000 jobs and $3 billion in economic activity. But it's an industry that has struggled for decades, and one that some have questioned the value of using state taxpayer dollars to save. Treasurer Dereck Davis questioned whether this latest effort represents the state's final attempt to steady a struggling industry. 'The state, with the implementation and subsequent completion of this project, we will have done everything we could do to make racing successful, other than the third weekend in May every year' when the Preakness is run, Davis said. 'Is there anything left that I guess we can do or — this has to be successful, I guess is what I'm getting at. The state's invested a lot of money over the years. This has been an issue since I first came to Annapolis, literally 30 years ago.' Davis said he did not question efforts to revitalize Park Heights but wondered aloud if remaking Pimlico and consolidating thoroughbred racing at the track would save the industry. 'I guess what I'm asking, is this just a pipe dream, quite frankly, … can provide racing, or is it just sort of a niche thing that we enjoy every third weekend in May, and then it's just sort of out there waiting for the next May to come?' Davis asked. Craig Thompson, board chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority Board, which will have a hand in the redevelopment, agreed that the state 'has done everything that it can to make sure that we lay the foundation for the success of not only the 150th running of the Preakness, but the racing industry, as it grows and expands and races to come in Baltimore.' Continued success will hinge on what he called the 'participation and spread the word' theory. 'It's going to be very important for each and every one of us to participate in the Preakness and in the non-racing … days in Park Heights,' Thompson said. 'Support the community. Make sure that on those non-racing days you come to the Park Heights community. You're going to see a wonderful evolution and revolution in that area. So, when there's not a race, still come. Participate in that area.' The plan approved Wednesday includes a $15.2 million contract with Baltimore-based Clark Construction Group related to the demolition and redevelopment of Pimlico Race Course. Demolition of the storied but deteriorating track could begin later this year. The 2026 Preakness Stakes will be run at Laurel Park, but is scheduled to return to a new Pimlico in 2027. Thompson showed renderings of what the new facility would look like. In addition to the Preakness, the plan calls for consolidating all thoroughbred racing in the state at Pimlico, expanding race days. 'This is more than just about a racetrack, as historic and important as it is,' Thompson said. 'This is about bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in state investments to Park Heights. The Pimlico Plus plan that the state is implementing will transform Pimlico into the home of Maryland thoroughbred racing, going from hosting about 15 racing days per year to well over 100.' The board voted unanimously to approve the contract with Clark Construction and voted 2-0 — Comptroller Brooke Lierman recused herself from the vote — to buy a 328-acre Carroll County farm for nearly $4.5 million. The property known as Shamrock Farm will become a new training facility to support expanded racing at Pimlico. The purchase price was the highest of three appraisals conducted for the racing authority. The General Assembly in 2024 set aside $110 million for construction of a new, state-of-the art training facility as part of a thoroughbred racing centralization plan. The planned state-of-the-art facility will house 800 horses. Davis was not the only board member to question the effort: Lierman raised concerns about who would have ultimate oversight as the state invests hundreds of millions into the project. Currently, the project includes the Maryland Thoroughbred Race Track Operating Authority, the Maryland Stadium Authority, and the Maryland Economic Development Corp., as well as the reconstituted Maryland Jockey Club. In July, the race track authority will be disbanded. The stadium authority will oversee construction while MEDCO handles economic development around the track and the possibility of a hotel and parking garage. 'It's a lot of cooks in the kitchen on what's already a very complicated project,' Lierman said. 'Sometimes when there are multiple cooks in the kitchen, it's hard to determine where the buck stops.' Lierman asked Thompson to 'help us understand how there is going to be oversight when there are so many different bodies who are involved, to be sure that there are loopholes, to be sure that we know where these bonded dollars are going, that … we are spending them efficiently. Because there is a limited amount of dollars, and I think the General Assembly has been pretty clear that there's not going to be any more.' Lierman recused herself from the Shamrock Farm purchase request and left the room for the discussion and vote. The comptroller said during the meeting that she recused herself 'on the advice from the state ethics commission.' She did not elaborate. A spokesperson for Lierman cited state ethics law that requires recusal ' because of a qualifying relative's employment with a business entity that is a party to this matter.' 'As is the practice of members of the Board of Public Works, Comptroller Lierman notified both her colleagues on the board and made the appropriate disclosures to Ethics ahead of today's meeting,' Robyne McCullough said in an email response to questions. 'She did not participate in any discussions on this item and left the room prior to BPW consideration.' McCullough declined to answer questions regarding the identity of the relative in question or the connection to the farm purchase. 'I don't think we're going to go into that,' McCullough said. She said the decision to not elaborate on any recusal 'is a practice for us and we're just being consistent.' The board also unanimously approved a payment of more than $1.2 million to Tyrone Jones and two law firms as compensation for time Jones spent behind bars on an erroneous conviction on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. Moore, as he has done in the past with others who were erroneously convicted, apologized directly to Jones. 'Mr. Jones as the governor of this state, but also, more importantly, as a father and a husband and a son and a fellow Marylander, I want to share words that you deserve to hear, because I'm not just speaking on behalf of myself and the treasurer and the comptroller, I'm speaking on behalf of this entire state: I'm sorry. It should have never happened, and I know there are no words that can undo the injustice and what was taken away from you and your family,' Moore said. Jones, now 48, was convicted in Baltimore City of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in 1999 related to the shooting death of Tyree Wright. In that trial he was found not guilty of first- and second-degree murder. He spent the next 10 years in prison as part of a life sentence. In 2009, Jones filed a petition for post-conviction relief and a judge vacated his verdict. City prosecutors, who initially said Jones should get a new trial, declined to retry Jones, and dropped the case. Jones applied for compensation under the Lomax Act but was initially denied. A hearing officer ruled that the charge of conspiracy to commit murder did not qualify for compensation. The General Assembly in 2024 passed legislation that changed the eligibility standards. Jones was confined for 3,611 days. As a result, he was awarded $976,233.85 in compensation by the Office of Administrative Hearings. The money will be paid out in five installments. The first payment of $98,678 was due May 2. He will receive four additional payments of more than $219,000 each between December 2025 and July 2027. The state hearing officer also awarded payments to two law firms related to the case. Brown Goldstein Levy will receive nearly $137,000. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel will receive more than $110,000 in legal fees. The money paid to Jones and his attorneys comes entirely from the state. In two months, that will change. Starting in July, payments made to individuals who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned will be split equally between the state and the jurisdiction where the individual was convicted. That change is part of a compromise budget agreement reached by the House and Senate earlier this year.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Herb Belgrad, pioneering lawyer who led Camden Yards development, dies at 90
Herb Belgrad, first chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority Board, at his home recently. (Photo by William F. Zorzi/Maryland Matters) Herbert J. Belgrad wasn't much of a baseball fan. In fact, he wasn't really a sports fan at all. But on April 6, 1992, Belgrad, the first-ever chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority board, knew he had helped to create something special. It was the first Opening Day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and there sat Belgrad with then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer, watching as the bands played and the fans began to filter into those dark green folding seats. Bruce Hoffman, a former executive director of the authority, recalled the moment. 'I looked at the governor, and the tears were running down his face,' Hoffman said. 'He was so freaking happy. And that's when Herb really took the deep sigh and said: 'You know, we pulled it off.'' Belgrad, 90, died Sunday while on his regular morning walk along the Baltimore waterfront in Canton. Family members said he fell into the Patapsco, though they aren't sure how exactly. They believe it could have been a heart attack, as he had recently developed heart issues. The city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death accidental, adding that it was caused by a heart condition, hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and complicated by drowning. Belgrad was a labor and divorce lawyer who became an architect of the deals that brought the ballpark to life — and ensured the Orioles would remain in Baltimore to play there. Born in Washington, D.C., Belgrad later attended City College high school in Baltimore and graduated cum laude from Johns Hopkins University, according to an online obituary from his family. A master's degree from the University of Illinois and a law degree from the University of Maryland would follow. Belgrad briefly served as an assistant city solicitor, before going into private practice at Tydings and Rosenberg, where he became a partner. He was there from 1968 until his retirement in 2020. But it was his volunteer work — especially at the stadium authority, but also with the Maryland State Ethics Commission, local bar associations and Jewish charities — that came to define his career. Belgrad is survived by his wife of 65 years, Joanne Lott Belgrad, and their three children, Steve Belgrad, Susie Hayes and Leslie Finton, as well as eight grandchildren. His children said Belgrad worked tirelessly, such that he didn't have much time for hobbies. But they said he was always there for the important moments in their lives. Hayes said she has fond memories of late nights spent together, after he arrived home from work. 'He would perch at the dining room table, doing his work, and we would come in intermittently to interrupt him,' Hayes said. Belgrad's calm nature permeated the household, where loud family fights were practically unheard of, Hayes said. As a lawyer, Belgrad developed a knack for being an adversary without being adversarial. 'So many people, when they negotiate now, especially in business, it's like a zero-sum game — what someone else wins is what someone else loses,' Steve Belgrad said. 'He would come at issues around negotiation and stuff, with sort of an innate sense of fairness, and trying to get to an outcome that was going to be fair to both sides.' Janet Marie Smith, the Orioles' in-house architect during the construction of Camden Yards, said that Belgrad was a 'pioneer' as the stadium authority's first board chairman. Driven by immense civic pride rather than love of sport, Belgrad became a steadying hand for high stakes negotiations, which brought the Orioles downtown from the aged Memorial Stadium. 'Herb, as the leader, set a tone for really believing that this project was more than just solving a problem for the baseball team. It was the cornerstone of reinventing Baltimore,' Smith said. At a critical decision point — deciding whether to keep the B&O Warehouse that became the backbone of Oriole Park — Belgrad was pragmatic rather than emotional, Smith said. He insisted that a study be performed, assessing the economics. Ultimately, the warehouse won out. 'There were many people who thought tearing down the warehouse would be of no consequence, because it was just, well, a warehouse. It wasn't the U.S. Capitol,' Smith said. 'People were like: 'Tear that ugly thing down. It's just going to block the view of the city,'' Steve Belgrad said. 'And he was very firm on, that's what is going to add character.' As Opening Day neared in 1992, the warehouse still hadn't been restored. In fact, it looked 'bombed out,' Smith said. It was Belgrad and Hoffman who went to the General Assembly and found the funds to rehab the outside, in time for first pitch, Smith said. The interior development came later. Belgrad was proud to have Camden Yards on the national stage as host for the 1993 All-Star Game. Smith said she believes it helped raise the city's profile in time to attract the Baltimore Ravens — even if the move came after Belgrad's tenure as chairman. Belgrad's relationships with the General Assembly, Schaefer and even the Orioles were built on trust, said Hoffman, whom Belgrad appointed to serve as the authority's first executive director. 'People trusted us, and they always trusted Herb,' Hoffman said. 'He was just one of those people that you knew he was telling you the truth. And you knew that once he shook your hand, the deal was done.' Mark Wasserman, a top aide to Schaefer, said that even though Belgrad was appointed board chairman by Gov. Harry R. Hughes, Schaefer opted to keep him around for the stadium project he envisioned transforming Baltimore. He did so even though Belgrad had supported Schaefer's opponent for governor, Maryland Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs, Wasserman said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 'The little blip politically was very quickly put to the side,' Wasserman said. Once he became board chairman in 1986, he faced complex challenges: Quickly negotiating deals to relocate the commercial bakery, the middle school, the grocer and more that stood on the site of the ballpark. Negotiating a lease with the Orioles. Belgrad spearheaded it all. And in doing so, came to define the role of the stadium authority. 'The challenge was to take something, which was at that point, a shell of an organization — really just a piece of paper — and give it funding and give it direction,' Wasserman said. Belgrad did just that. Belgrad also exerted a considerable amount of effort to bring an NFL team to Baltimore, but he knew that memories of the Baltimore Colts' departure in the middle of the night still stung. 'He was very hesitant to sort of do to another city what happened to Baltimore,' Belgrad said. 'And so he focused on trying to get the expansion teams, which didn't happen. His children said he was known to wear a pair of sweatpants that advertised the 'Baltimore Cardinals,' after an unsuccessful bid to attract the then-St. Louis Cardinals football team to Charm City. For John Moag, the stadium authority board chairman who came next, Belgrad became a valued confidant. 'Most of the time when we met to talk, I was either asking him for advice, or we were talking about family,' Moag said. Joe Spear, retired senior principal for architectural firm Populous, which was then HOK Sport, said he remembered Belgrad's even-keeled nature more than anything. 'He clearly believed that business should be conducted in a normal tone of voice. You disagree, and you might be passionate about it, but there's no real call to be shouting at somebody,' Spear said. Belgrad was also disciplined, Spear said. He would host the Orioles, the architects and the stadium authority at his law office for meetings, and he would ensure that lunch was on offer. But not for himself. 'He came in, and he had his brown bag and we're all eating this catered lunch, and he's there with his sandwich,' Spear said. A funeral service for Belgrad will take place Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson's Chapel in Pikesville.
