The Maryland Stadium Authority just released a study of potential renovations at Pimlico Race Course, the most significant questions about the home of the Preakness _including the optimal way to redevelop it and how to pay for the project _ remain to be answered, the authority's chairman said Monday.
"This was an important step, but there was some disappointment with the limitations," chairman Thomas E. Kelso said at a breakfast with members of the Greater Baltimore Committee. He's eager to move forward with a more comprehensive second phase of the study.
Meanwhile, the top Maryland official for the Stronach Group, which owns Pimlico, reiterated that the company is unlikely to pay for the majority of a potential redevelopment.
"It will not happen without public funding," said Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer for the racing division of the Stronach Group. "We stand behind the city if they have the will to do it."
The first phase of the stadium authority study, released Friday, said it would cost between $250 million and $320 million to renovate Pimlico into a suitable long-term home for the Preakness.
But the report was deliberately limited in scope, laying out a scenario for improving the current facility without addressing the details or cost of a possible complete rebuild. The report also stopped short of assessing the potential revenue benefits _ to the track, the city and the state _ of renovating the facility as opposed to rebuilding it entirely. It included little contemplation of how a Pimlico redevelopment would be funded, perhaps the largest question looming over discussions of how to move forward.
A second phase would likely take on such issues. Kelso acknowledged that phase two would probably cost more than the $105,000 originally projected. For it to proceed, the parties that paid $175,000 for phase one _ the Maryland Racing Commission, the Baltimore Development Corporation and the Stronach Group _ would need to agree on the specific goals of the next part of the study and on a revised budget.
Kelso said that as of now, the stakeholders seemingly want to move forward. He said that if the second phase begins soon, it could be complete by the end of 2017 and set up Pimlico's future as a major topic for the 2018 General Assembly session.
Officials from the Stronach Group, which owns Pimlico and Laurel Park, have long said their internal analysis suggests a complete rebuild would be necessary to maximize revenues at the Preakness. They're especially concerned about the current facility's inability to support additional luxury suites.
The first phase of the study "falls a little short of what the city deserves," Ritvo said, suggesting a mere renovation of Pimlico might be insufficient.
Ritvo told GBC members that Stronach Group founder Frank Stronach has gladly invested in making racing financially healthy around the country. But he added it would make little sense for the company to pay for expensive renovations at both Pimlico and Laurel Park, which has become the clear center of the company's Maryland racing operation.
Even if the state funds a major redevelopment at Pimlico, the Stronach Group would likely hold races there just two months a year and would keep its year-round operation headquartered at Laurel. It's also conceivable that if Pimlico isn't renovated, the Stronach Group could push to move the Preakness to Laurel.
"It's not about a money grab for Mr. Stronach," Ritvo said. "It's about stability."
The Preakness is the biggest key to that stability, he said, and the race is not currently meeting its economic potential. Ritvo often notes that the Preakness brings in about 1/9 as much revenue as the Kentucky Derby. And though that gap will never close entirely, he'd like the race to be about half as lucrative as the first jewel of the Triple Crown.
"The big question is what do we need to spend to get to half their revenue?" Kelso said. "And how do we make that work?"
Del. Sandy I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat whose district includes Pimlico, compared the potential loss of the Preakness to the city losing the Colts in 1984. "If the Preakness leaves, the Cleveland Browns aren't coming to Baltimore seven years later," he said. In other words, there would be no replacement for the event, which drew a record 135,256 people last May.
Though Rosenberg reiterated he hasn't heard from a single political colleague who wants to see the race leave, he acknowledged that sentiment would not automatically translate to a large-scale investment in Pimlico.
"Making an appropriation is tougher than simply saying you don't want it to leave," he said.
