Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Under Armour chief Plank adds distillery to Baltimore’s skyline
BALTIMORE — Rising high above the new Sagamore Spirit distillery in South Baltimore is a white water tower with three maroon diamonds on each side, a nod to the jockey silks of the thoroughbred farm that provides the spring water for the company’s rye whiskey.
The distillery, which opened a few weeks ago, is the latest endeavor of the growing business empire of Kevin Plank, founder and chief executive of the sportswear company Under Armour. His new enterprises — collectively they are called Plank Industries, but nearly all have Sagamore in their names — are reshaping Baltimore’s waterfront and restoring luster to Maryland traditions and landmarks.
At the distillery and elsewhere, Plank, 44, has drawn inspiration from Sagamore Farm, which he purchased in 2007 with the hope of raising horses to compete in Triple Crown races.
In March, Plank’s Sagamore Pendry hotel opened not far away in the Recreation Pier building in the Fells Point neighborhood after a roughly $60 million renovation. That the pier, built in 1914 and vacant since 1999, needed significant structural work mattered little to Plank.
He often gazed at the property from his Under Armour office across the harbor and dreamed about its possibilities.
“He has a bit of a habit when he sees something in Baltimore that could have new life breathed into it, could be restored, he often has an interest in us doing that,” said Tom Geddes, the chief executive of Plank Industries.
Outside the hotel, a fleet of new water taxis owned by Plank and modeled after Chesapeake Bay deadrise fishing boats will soon ferry riders to Port Covington, the industrial South Baltimore waterfront area that is undergoing a $5.5 billion overhaul led by his real estate firm, Sagamore Development.
In September, the Baltimore City Council approved the use of $660 million in bonds to pay for infrastructure around that mixed-use project, which will include a new Under Armour campus. Under an arrangement called tax-increment financing, the bonds will be repaid through future property taxes generated by the development.
Sagamore is also hoping to receive nearly $600 million in state and federal investments for a light-rail extension, modifications to Interstate 95, and other improvements.
Many of the efforts from Plank, a former football player for the University of Maryland who founded Under Armour in 1996, have been greeted with open arms from the community.
But against the backdrop of all this rejuvenation, Under Armour’s stock has fallen about 45 percent since May 2016, as the company struggled in the face of a quickly changing retail industry. Its chief financial officer, Chip Molloy, resigned in February. In April, the company reported its first quarterly loss as a public company.
There is no doubt, though, that Plank has managed to make sweeping changes to the downtown area. And even to those closely involved, it is almost unthinkable that all this development flowed from a horse farm in Glyndon, less than 30 miles to the northwest.
Wanting to jump-start Maryland’s once-flourishing horse racing industry, Plank purchased Sagamore Farm and set out to restore it to its heyday under the racing industry titan Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt.
Plank set a lofty goal for Sagamore — to win a Triple Crown — one that Vanderbilt, who died in 1999, was unable to accomplish, even with Native Dancer, one of the most celebrated horses ever. So far the highlight of Plank’s ownership is Shared Account’s victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2010.
Sagamore’s biggest success may end up being the whiskey business it has spawned.
Approached about putting a vineyard on the farm, Plank, a whiskey drinker, looked into making the spirit instead. It turned out that Sagamore sat atop a limestone shelf and featured a springhouse built in 1909 that held the kind of calcium-rich water that has nourished Kentucky’s famed horses and bourbons for decades.
That he settled on rye was no accident; it was an opportunity to revive another tradition. The mid-Atlantic states, especially Pennsylvania and Maryland, produced the spirit as early as the 1700s. But production slowed during Prohibition and ended during World War II, allowing blended Canadian rye to dominate the market.
Demand for U.S. whiskey has come roaring back in recent years, including for rye, setting up a nice business opportunity. From 2009 to 2016, rye whiskey volumes sold in the U.S. market have grown 780 percent, to 775,000 cases from 88,000, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.
Inside the production center of Sagamore Spirit’s threebuilding complex in Port Covington, another three-diamond-stamped beacon greets passers-by: a 40-foot copper column still with a mirror finish that is believed to be the first of its kind.
Asked why the finish was essential, Brian Treacy, president of Sagamore Spirit, channeled Plank, a childhood friend. “Because it’s all about brand,” he replied.
Production of Sagamore Spirit Rye began in Indiana in 2012, under a longtime master distiller from Seagrams, Larry Ebersold. It was unveiled at last year’s Preakness. On April 10, the crew cooked its first batch in its new home.
The Sagamore Pendry is another extension of the brand. Managed by Montage Hotels and Resorts, it is anchored by Rec Pier Chop House, a restaurant run by Andrew Carmellini, the James Beard Award-winning chef, and includes a whiskey bar serving Sagamore Spirit products.
Across the street, Jason Bass and Aaron Jones have a front-row seat to the buzz enveloping the neighborhood. In 2013, Bass, 37, and Jones, 29, started Treason Toting Co., a maker of tote bags. With financial help from Sagamore Ventures, which develops and supports local entrepreneurs, they were able to open a store in Fells Point in August.
Since the hotel opened, Bass said, friends who ordinarily would have driven to Washington for a night out visit the Pendry instead.
“There’s a lot of grit to what Fells Point offers, which is fantastic, but this hotel provides a level of sophistication and gives people a reason to dress up,” Bass said.
For about a year, the pair have made their bags at City Garage, a former bus depot that Sagamore Ventures turned into an innovation center in Port Covington. City Garage, the distillery and the first Under Armour building of the relocated campus — called Building 37 in a nod to Plank’s uniform number — are the first new inhabitants of Port Covington. Sagamore Development has estimated that the project will create 26,500 permanent jobs and have a $4.3 billion annual economic impact once it is completed.
“There’s not a lot of people in this area who would reach back or make themselves available in support the way that he has and continues to do,” Bass said of Plank.