City Officials Confident In New Plan To Keep Preakness At Pimlico
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Efforts in the Maryland General Assembly to keep the Preakness at Pimlico nowhere in this year's legislative session, but the City of Baltimore may have better luck this time with a proposal that's been called a win-win.
A new deal is on the table to keep the Preakness in Baltimore, but the legislature still has to approve the plan and necessary funding for it.
It falls in part in the lap of Baltimore Delegate Maggie McIntosh who is Chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
"I think this is probably one of the best attempts, closest we've come for figuring out longterm help for both Laurel and Pimlico," McIntosh said.
In the new plan, the owners of Pimlico would donate the property to the City and leases it back for the Preakness.
Pimlico gets a new clubhouse, new track, athletic fields and property for sale to private developers. Laurel gets a new clubhouse, new track, stalls and training facilities.
With new streamlined designs, the price tag is $365 million for both, as opposed to the first plan that was more than $425 for Pimlico alone.
Given the new proposal that has been called a win-win, McIntosh is still prepared for a tough sell.
Negotiator Alan Rifkin said, "We don't have a crystal ball. There's no way we can predict the outcome."
