Approximately three years ago, developer Patrick Turner, Turner Development Group, looked at the abandoned warehouses and obsolete factories along the Westport waterfront and saw an amazing opportunity.  Turner Development acquired the property and started making the idea a reality.  Now, Turner Development is in the remarkable position of transforming one of the last large parcels of waterfront remaining to be developed in Baltimore City.  Located on the spectacular Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, a body of water five times the size of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the 42 acre site will become a mixed-use development that will blend natural surroundings with retail, dining, nightlife, and a live-work culture to create a new destination neighborhood. The future Middle Branch Harbor is envisioned as a green counterpart to the hard-scape and intensive development of the Inner Harbor.

Drawing of proposed Westport Waterfront Development.

Due to the decades of industrial use, the waterfront has long been a contaminated brownfield site, but now it is being fully remediated through the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Voluntary Cleanup Program.  The Westport Waterfront Development design will protect and enhance natural resources, resulting in the placement of over five acres of land in a permanent habitat conservation, the rebuilding and restoring of wetlands, and the creation of new habitat protection areas.

In addition to his commitment to steward the natural environment of the Westport Waterfront, Patrick Turner is also offering an unprecedented level of support for the surrounding community by creating Westport Community Partnerships.

Right now in Westport – at this time, in this place – is a rare opportunity for the neighbors of Westport to take part in the transformation of the waterfront and the revitalization of their neighborhood in a way that could readily become a national model for urban development.  With the Westport Waterfront Development’s sustainable, mass transit-oriented urban design, the remarkable recapture of wetlands and habitat conservation, the innovative and effective community revitalization program, and the exciting participation of other nonprofit organizations, city agencies and other partners, there is a synergy now in Westport that virtually defines the word.

Click here for more information about the Westport Waterfront development project.