Renovated Baltimore arena not a game-winner, but a nice assist

Anyone who has ever attended an event at Baltimore’s Royal Farms Arena — whether it’s a hip-hop concert, an indoor soccer game or a performance of “Disney on Ice” — knows that as such facilities go, it’s firmly in so-so territory.

The acoustics aren’t bad. The downtown location with convenient parking and transit options not far from the Inner Harbor is good, but it’s a bit small and cramped, lacking in amenities and really, really outdated. In short, it’s no Barclays Center, the multipurpose Brooklyn arena that’s considered among the best such facilities in the world.

Yet, in an interesting twist, it may soon get a helping hand from one of the highest-profile performeAll-Star now playing for the Nets who was born in Washington, D.C. but raised in Maryland.

That would, of course, be Kevin Durant, a top scorer and former league Most Valuable Player, whose role in Baltimore may prove no more than peripheral but is surely a welcome addition. This week, the Baltimore Development Corp. announced that the long-sought renovation of Royal Farms Arena is finally moving forward.

Los Angeles-based Oak View Group, in partnership with Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures, will be sinking more than $150 million into the project, renovating the facility and then leasing and managing it. And given that this was just one of three proposals BDC had on the table, it’s a good sign that outsiders see Baltimore’s future as an entertainment venue.

It should surprise no one that we are anxious for Durant and this reimagined facility to succeed. The downtown is many things, from regional business and finance center to home of top graduate schools and hospitals as well as, increasingly, a place of high-rise condominiums. But it’s also long been about entertainment and socializing. Great restaurants and theaters, fun attractions, the waterfront, the convention center and hotels — these are the downtown’s stock in trade. And things have not been especially good on that front.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to ongoing concerns about the city’s appallingly high murder rate and the decline of Harborplace, there are too many empty storefronts, too little foot traffic and too many employers moving to tonier locations to feel particularly good about the current circumstances.

A remodeled arena won’t turn all that around. How could it? But it can be a piece of the puzzle. Just as there are other hopeful trends, from the renovation of Penn Station in nearby Midtown to the $50 million downtown relocation of state employees from State Center and the revival of Lexington Market, every new investment is welcome.

It’s easy to overstate the central business district’s challenging circumstances, but it’s still home to 117,970 jobs, a number that was growing through 2019. Post-pandemic, the downtown may yet bounce back. An uptick in the convention trade, a winning team at Camden Yards (please, oh, please) and a better outlook for the hospitality industry generally could do wonders.

In the information technology age, city living looks all the more attractive to millennials, who are less attached to driving than earlier generations. And advancing investments in the city’s substandard railroad tunnels will soon better connect Baltimore travelers to the rest of the Northeast.

A more prosperous downtown helps all of Baltimore. That’s pretty obvious, yet it apparently needs to be restated. Not everyone can afford seats in the arena’s planned luxury boxes or a room at the Four Seasons or a table at Charleston, but that does not make those enterprises undeserving of public support. That’s why it’s a bit disappointing to learn this past week that City Hall has recommended against the $10 billion high-speed Maglev train line to Washington, D.C., in part because of a projected $60 one-way fare and because it might disrupt communities in its right-of-way.

Can this city really afford to refuse such enormous private investment? We don’t think so, and it would be nice to think that Mayor Brandon Scott wants the downtown to put points on the board from all directions too.

Not everyone can afford seats in the arena’s planned luxury boxes or a room at the Four Seasons or a table at Charleston, but that does not make those enterprises undeserving of public support.