Partnership Envisions 10K New Jobs at Sparrows Point—Eventually

A partnership created by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, in unveiling its vision for the future of the industrial Sparows Point peninsula, says an expansion of the Port of Baltimore could bring more than 10,000 jobs back to the area.

The Sparrows Point Partnership, a business advisory group established by the county after the former RG Steel mill closed in May 2012, announced its proposal at a press conference Friday.

Chaired by Dan Gunderson, executive director of the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development, the partnership includes representatives from the Port of Baltimore and commercial, real estate, manufacturing, logistics and distribution entities in the region.

The committee identified four major area of opportunity for business and jobs growth on the land: port and maritime uses; clean energy; advanced manufacturing and assembly; and distribution, logistics and freight, according to a statement from the county.

Kamenetz said a new shipping terminal at the site "is a very real and very exciting possibility."

Expansion of the port could mean as many as 10,000 new jobs and "hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment in Baltimore County," he said in the statement.

But most of those jobs are at least from 10 years away from reality.

Expansion of Port of Baltimore operations to the Sparrows Point site would happen only after a new dredge containment center was built and filled out, which would take 10 years, according to the statement.

A new marine terminal would then be built on the containment site, creating about 9,000 jobs, officials say.

More immediately, about 1,000 jobs could be created thanks to a former iron ore pier that could more quickly be used for bulk operations like the loading and unloading of automobiles, according to the statement.

Officials said those jobs could be created in the next three years.

The committee, in addressing the environmental condition of the property— the site of heavy industry and steelmaking since the late 1800s—believes that "environmental constraints should not deter industrial redevelopment for the vast majority of Sparrows Point."

"Remediation and redevelopment of about 80 percent of the site—approximately 2,400 acres—should be feasible in the not-too-distant future," the group said in the statement.

The Maryland Department of the Environment has determined that five areas with the most serious contamination, totaling about 600 acres primarily at Coke Point, would require extensive, challenging remediation, according to the statement.

While the partnership has produced its vision for the land, the report remains just that.

The Sparrows Point property is privately owned by Commercial Development Corp., the parent company of Environmental Liability Transfer, which bought the property in the aftermath of the RG Steel bankruptcy proceedings.

The subsequent sale of the mill's cold rolling plant equipment signified an end to steelmaking on the peninsula. That sale helped spur the creation of the partnership, which was charged with identifying alternative uses for the land.

John Macsherry, vice president of Commercial Development and a member of the partnership, issued a statement in which he pledged to work with county and state officials and the community to see "this vision develop into a plan for us to execute."

Commercial development has been in discussions with port authorities about their "their short-term goal of a dredged containment site and their long term plans for a marine terminal," Macsherry said in a separate statement. "We see the Port as an active partner in the repurposing of the site and are looking forward to finalizing a transaction with the Port."

But Commercial Development's role in the revitalization and reutilization of the land remains unclear, since the property is technically for sale.

Cassidy Turley in February won the right to list the 3,100-acre property, and is actively marketing the land, according to a Baltimore Business Journal report.

Macsherry could not immediately be reached for comment.

In any case, any reuse of the land could take several years, officials stress.