I’ve always liked Pimlico; it is crappy, but that’s exactly what I like about it. It’s kind of like the old wooden rollercoaster in the amusement park of fancy gimmicky fast slick steel affairs.
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Spot on description of Pimlico. There is absolutely nothing worth saving, nothing attractive, and people forget that the original grandstand burned down many years ago. It’s awful, the grounds are awful, and the surrounding area is awful. It’s a high crime area, you can’t stop at the gas station or the convenience store or anywhere nearby. You leave the area to stop and get what you need. The nearby hospital bought the Preakness Way parking lot for it’s employees, and had to put up a high fence, huge floodlights, and many security guards because it’s employees were getting held up at gunpoint in the parking lot. Back when race trackers were allowed to drive through the parking lot, you had to show your badge to get through. Now the hospital has closed it to through traffic.
Laurel and Pimlico have been under the same ownership for decades. Stronach bought them as one entity, not separately. Pimlico had been in decline for decades, you can’t blame Stronach for all of it.
Devon has the huge advantage of location. It is not in a high crime disadvantaged city neighborhood.
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Gee, somehow I managed to go there 7 days per week for years and not get robbed. I even got gas and went to the convenience store too. Oh and didn’t have to show my license one single time. Sounds a lot like people who freak out if they look around and see someone that doesn’t look like them.
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I feel like a disappointing number of Marylanders are “scared” of Baltimore, usually for over-exaggerated reasons.
Which is part of the reason that section of the city (and others) can’t improve: most of the state turns their back on them.
Although that still doesn’t make me keen to drop $500M rebuilding the dump. Especially when Kentucky is slated to build two new racetracks for under $100M combined. I know there are additional logistics to consider when renovating a large capacity facility in an urban area versus building a new racino in the boondocks, but dayum that price tag is senseless.
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That’s so spot on. I get that it’s in an area that looks awful. But I used to go quite a bit on regular race days, and always enjoyed everyone I met there. The track is certainly kind of “grimy” compared with Laurel, or the other tracks I’ve been to, but I kind of like that. I like all the locals I’ve met. I’ve been in and out of the backside a bunch of times for canter and other functions, and gave birth twice at the hospital next door.
I get why people want to tear it down or start over, I do, but I’ll still miss it.
(and oh! the old homes across Northern Parkway from the track - I love driving through there.)
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I guess you weren’t acquainted with Kevin Jones, were you? And your statement implying racism is way way way out of line. Shame on you for making those kinds of assumptions. You can check crime statistics online, it’s not a secret that the Pimlico/Park Heights area is bad.
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/man-shot-killed-outside-pimlico-worked-as-security-guard/7094075
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How much time have you spent in Baltimore? I am no longer a MDer, but I go up there frequently for football games (friends have season tickets). We park in the Cross Street Market area and either hit a bar, or walk to the stadium and tailgate. Then we venture out into the surrounding area again after the game. It’s great fun, I feel safe, and I know oodles of people who do the same and no one has ever had any problems in the stadium/downtown area. My trips to Pimlico are much different. We go at least as far away as Mt Washington for food and drinks, or out of the city into the county if we don’t feel like doing Mt Washington. A friend had a gun pulled on her at the Exxon.
BTW, Baltimore maps crime. I’m using real information.
https://data.baltimorecity.gov/Public-Safety/Color-Coded-Crime-Map/xugk-a6qb
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I’m actively involved with organizations that support Baltimore City Public Schools. I’m there multiple times a month and in neighborhoods all around the city; places I had never been growing up outside of Baltimore and would never go otherwise, that’s for sure.
If you want to see something shocking and horrible, visit Baltimore City Public Schools. They are the worst inner city schools I have visited in my life; and this includes time spent working in quite a number of impoverished cities. Places like Memphis, which has just as bad, if not worse crime stats than Baltimore. You try to tell this to Marylanders, and they just pass the blame. “Oh, they’re like that because they’re corrupt.” “We give them tons of money, there’s no excuse,” “I hate Baltimore, I never go there.” It’s especially frustrating when this state has the wealth to address this problem, yet most would rather ignore it.
I don’t mean to invalidate your friend’s experience. Yes, there is a crime problem. It is real. But avoidance and creating excess fear doesn’t improve the situation for Pimlico. I would like nothing more than to see the state invest in something positive for the city; I just think the $424M number proposed for Pimlico restoration is asinine. Horse racing will never be able to return on that investment.
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IKR - There seems to be a lot of redundancy in the commercial applications of a rebuild. Baltimore already has the Arena and the football stadium for concerts, many hotels and restaurants and shops and apartments. And a casino.
But they only bring money and opportunity to one section of the city, while the rest of the city wastes away.
A revitalized Pimlico is so badly needed. Just not at this price. You might as well light that money on fire.
I’ve been trying to think how “I” would do it, if anyone asked (not that they have :lol:). I’d probably create “multi-use space” by leaving a lot of open, undedicated space. Instead of trying to build an attractive community, and hoping “if you build it, they will come,” I’d probably remove everything. The new, luxurious grandstand they propose will hold nearly 19,000 fans. There is exactly one day a year that that facility might get used to capacity. There are other, cheaper ways to create seating for the Preakness that still provide just as much ambiance and experience, without the hefty price tag.
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I drove through that gate every single day. I know the people not just the headlines.
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Read this and then tell me that Stronach doesn’t intend on moving everything to Laurel.
Santa Anita is the model.
The first thing you would have to do is a comprehensive market study and project feasibility study to see if you will ever make any money. Stronach is saying that MD doesn’t need two race tracks, they only need one racetrack and one training center. The cost of making Pimlico habitable is so high they will never recoup their “investment,” and they don’t feel they “need” Pimlico as a racetrack. Stronach will win in the end by offering year-round racing at one location.
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This study was three years in the making and cost half a million dollars. You really believe market feasibility wasn’t covered? That was likely step one.
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Dear, Tex said, “I’ve been trying to think how “I” would do it, if anyone asked (not that they have :lol:).” Take a deep breath.
If you know where the study is published online, please let us know. I’ve only read articles about the study, not the study itself.
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Did you bother to look PB? Or just be condescending… ?
https://www.mdstad.com/studies/pimli…tudy-phase-1-2
Phase 1 report.
Part of Phase 2 report.
I’ll leave the rest of the reading to you… took me less than 5 minutes to find… :rolleyes:
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Wow snark much? I was replying to Tex’s statement about what Tex would do, which for some oddball reason prompted Laurie’s snarky remark, which was completely out of context. Can’t you participate without insulting people and trying to make things personal?
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Let’s see…several respected and long time posters find your comments, well, just unfortunate, and YOU are the injured party? I am pretty sure that we still are wondering about those creds, and, oh, yeah, I am not sure that there are any of us who you haven’t take a pot shot at on here.
Just sayin’ :winkgrin:
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So, it doesn’t sound like Pimlico is getting a lot of buzz to help things out…
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Nope. The horsemen are very active on FB about saving the facility, but of course, have no viable solutions as to where the money will come from. Baltimore has so many problems, it would be hard to reason having the state spending over $400 million on a race track.
