Stymied by skyrocketing costs that have nearly doubled the $375 million estimates for redeveloping Pimlico and Laurel Park race courses, Maryland officials and other interested parties are scrambling to develop an alternative plan that likely would involve shuttering one of the two horse tracks, sources say.
Unlike earlier schemes, where the 229-acre Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County was seen as the prime property for racing, attention is now more sharply focused on Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore — home of the nationally treasured and financially valuable Preakness Stakes — as the surviving track of the two.
Yet the smaller 140-acre Pimlico has forced stakeholders to look elsewhere for a location to build a new training facility and stalls for up to 450 horses, as well as find a buyer of the Laurel Park site for development, sources say. That buyer could be the state through its Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO), which studied the viability of the Laurel Park property last year, though any decisions or details are far from final.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by William F. Zorzi over at Maryland Matters
