Oriole Park at Camden Yards moved one step closer to a $400 million renovation Tuesday, approving an architect and construction firm for a ballpark facelift, though is still a long road before the 32-year-old venue will receive improvements. The Orioles also were granted permission to explore land around the park in a separate decision regarding a potential ground lease.
The Maryland Stadium Authority, which owns Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, selected Populous, an international firm formerly known as HOK, which originally designed Oriole Park, as the architect of the renovations, which will include upgrades to both the fan experience and infrastructure. Gilbane, which is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, and WarrenBuilds, based in Upper Marlboro, will provide construction services in a joint venture.
In a separate action at a monthly board meeting Tuesday, the stadium authority also approved a motion to permit the Orioles to analyze land surrounding the ballpark. The Orioles have exclusive rights until 2027 to develop public land adjacent Oriole Park, as outlined in the team’s lease with the state. Tuesday’s motion allows them to “examine, inspect and perform tests” on certain parcels of Camden Yards property, including the B&O Warehouse and Camden Station, “to evaluate the condition of the property for the purposes of negotiating the ground lease,” authority Executive Director Michael Frenz told the board.
David Rubenstein, who leads the group that bought the Orioles this year, has said he will “100%” enter into a ground lease with the team. Doing so would increase the end date of the Orioles’ lease from 2038 to 2053.
The Orioles and the state signed a memorandum of understanding in September that included a ground lease, but the exact terms of that memorandum were not included in the final lease, signed in December.
Authority board member Joe Bryce called Tuesday a “good day” for the city and state “and a great day for the Orioles.”
“I appreciate the continued work of the staff that goes into preparing these documents,” Bryce said. “It brought back some bad memories, but it was actually good to see that all the things we talked about during the negotiations on scope of the development agreement and access issues and all those things were considered in the documents here that we have now.”
As the Orioles, who declined to comment regarding the ground lease, study the land for possible development, they’ll simultaneously be working with the stadium authority on improvements inside the stadium.
The team’s lease extension lists dozens of potential stadium upgrades, including an underground parking garage, a hospitality area in center field created by removing seats and an expanded Kids’ Zone.
It also notes a few high-priority changes. Some are structurally essential and not fan-facing (like replacing or upgrading the chiller plant), while others would be more apparent to spectators (jumbotron and sound system renovations).
Phil Hutson, the stadium authority Vice President of Capital Projects and Planning at the Camden Yards Sports Complex, also noted in Tuesday’s meeting that the video board and chiller plant were more “immediate projects.” That doesn’t mean they will be ready by opening day 2025, however. Hutson said it would be “too soon” for any substantial renovations by then.
The timeline — and whether or not some improvements could be in place by opening day 2026 — remain undetermined.
This summer, the Orioles sent fans a survey gathering opinions on potential additions, like a museum, to the ballpark, as well as changes to seating. Fans were asked their thoughts on more patio seating, for example, as well as boxes closer to the field — and how much they would be willing to pay for them.
“Fan and community feedback will be strongly considered as we evaluate what changes to bring to Oriole Park,” an Orioles spokesperson said in a statement.
The publicly funded improvements stem from a 2022 law passed by the Maryland General Assembly and then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, which allowed the stadium authority to borrow $1.2 billion for improvements to M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park — $600 million for each. To access that full amount, however, each team was required to sign a lease that would last as long as it took to pay off the bonds used to finance the renovations.
The Ravens, whose lease lasts until 2037, have been able to access roughly $450 million of that $600 million for a three-year renovation project, including about $200 million that the stadium authority borrowed from JPMorgan Chase.
The first round of upgrades will be apparent when the Ravens host a soccer match between FC Barcelona and AC Milan on Aug. 6. Some of the improvements will be visible to the average fan, like a new beer hall attached to the stadium, while others will be exclusive: For example, new suites overlooking midfield, which each hold 20-30 people, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to reserve per season.
If the Ravens were to seek additional public money for their projects, the team would need to extend their lease; they have two five-year extensions built into their agreement.
The Orioles’ original lease with the state was scheduled to expire last December and the club, led by control person John Angelos, and the state, led by Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, agreed to an extension just weeks before the deadline. The team was sold a month later by the Angelos family to the Rubenstein-headed group, but the sale had no impact on the terms of the lease.
The current agreement guarantees the Orioles remain at Oriole Park until 2038 and, given that length, roughly $400 million of the potential $600 million could be used to improve the ballpark. The lease could be extended until 2053 or beyond if the team and the state agree to a ground lease.
Financing the improvements has not yet been set up and approved by the stadium authority board, nor the Board of Public Works, the state’s spending board. But the stadium authority will use $1.4 million from an already-existing “improvements fund,” outlined in the Orioles’ initial lease, to pay the architects and construction firms for preliminary services. The stadium authority will seek to later replenish that fund with the larger pot of money from the state.
The stadium authority is now authorized to pay Populous $1 million of a $15 million contract for design services. (Baltimore-based firm The Adams Design Group will also assist Populous with the project.)
And the authority is authorized to pay Gilbane and WarrenBuilds $400,000 of a $1.1 million contract for pre-construction services.
Next, the firms, the authority and the Orioles will nail down what, precisely, will be done with the ballpark.
The Orioles, in the midst of another season as one of the best teams in baseball, have seen a recent increase in attendance. Camden Yards is averaging 27,336 fans per game compared with 23,911 during last year’s division-winning campaign and 16,146 in 2019 when the Orioles finished as one of the worst teams in baseball.
