Faced with flat results at its Horseshoe Baltimore casino in the wake of new competition from the nearby MGM at National Harbor, Caesars Entertainment is buying up land parcels near the Horseshoe casino in South Baltimore, with the intent or transforming the grim industrial area into an inviting entertainment district centered around the casino, according to a report citing state land records in the Baltimore Sun.
The report says other entertainment venues are being drawn into the effort, such as Hammerjacks, a reprise of a popular Baltimore concert hall and pub, which plans to open in 2019.
Caesars’ acquisitions, according to the report, include the purchase of a warehouse between the stadium and the Baltimore Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium for $4.8 million, an office building across the street for $3.2 million, and options on two city-owned parking lots.
The effort to reinvent the crime-ridden South Baltimore area comes not only to battle competition from MGM, far and away Baltimore’s top casino since it opened in December 2016, but to overcome the city’s image problem. Baltimore recently was named by USA Today as the nation’s most dangerous big city.
