How did a single developer come to control the fate of Harborplace?

P. David Bramble doesn’t want to mess this up. The developer and West Baltimore native controls the city’s most intriguing piece of real estate: Harborplace. The Inner Harbor’s dilapidated pavilions with green roofs are the result of a controversial bargain struck nearly five decades ago. Under a plan approved by voters, the city ceded public land to a private developer. In return, Baltimore got a dazzling festival marketplace on a waterfront promenade a block away from the central business district.