It's only been two years since Under Armour's Kevin Plank announced plans to turn an abandoned bus depot in Baltimore's Port Covington neighborhood into an entrepreneurial hub, yet City Garage, as it's called, is quickly becoming the hub of Baltimore's innovation scene.
The space, operated by Plank's real estate arm, officially opened its 133,000 sq. ft. space for startups in fall 2015. Tenants include Sagamore Spirit (Plank's whiskey distillery), Tapologie (a glass-blown product maker) and Workbench (an edtech startup).
Each of the spaces where you find offices, in the area called "Main Street," served a different function in the former bus depot. A bus would pull into the appropriate room if it needed a new paint job, new set of tires and other maintenance. Now, they're renovated into customizable office spaces open to companies City Garage selected for residency based on their mission and communities.
Until recently, the middle of the corridor used to be an events space. They hosted a Hillary Clinton rally, events for Baltimore's mayor, a New Year's Eve party and more. But Sagamore Ventures, the early-stage investment arm of Plank Industries which runs the space, realized that might not be the most sustainable model — those working in the office spaces would walk out to head to the restroom and find themselves in a rally. So they transitioned that middle space into a co-working space, operated by Betamore, a Baltimore-based startup incubator that also offers a few tech courses.
City Garage includes three-main operations, or campuses. In the main corridor, you have City Garage — the co-working space (Betamore) and office suite corridor (Main Street).
In another part, you have The Foundry, a Baltimore makerspace designed to operate like a gym membership. Members pay a monthly fee and in exchange can use whatever tool they're licensed to use.
And in the back, there's Under Armour's Lighthouse, the company's manufacturing and design center. The idea behind LightHouse is to create a new model for manufacturing that's more localized by partnering with different companies to test and design new technologies to make the process more efficient.
Outside there's the West Covington park, near the Patapsco River, with easy access to the walking trail for those looking for a mid-afternoon break.
Images courtesy of City Garage
