In the nearly 45 years since they opened, Baltimore’s Harborplace pavilions have provided the backdrop for a wide range of shops, restaurants and attractions, from one-of-a-kind merchants such as Arthur Watson’s Embraceable Zoo to franchises such as the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum and H ooters.But this week Baltimore’s famous waterfront marketplace gained a tenant it’s never had before – a teen and youth center.  And not just any teen center but one specifically geared toward dirt bike enthusiasts.Nearly 100 people gathered inside Harborplace’s Light Street Pavilion on Tuesday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of the B-360 Teen and Youth Center. It’s the first brick and mortar location for an eight-year-old nonprofit that was created to offer “a safe space for STEM education and dirt bike mechanics.” It’s the fulfillment of a dream for B-360 founder and CEO Brittany Young, who started the organization in 2017 to create “new paths to careers and opportunities one wheelie at a time.” It will offer classes, workshops, teaching opportunities and job placement to students interested in pursuing careers involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics.B-360 CEO Brittany Young (left) stands with Baltimore City Council member Zachary Blanchard. Photo by Ed Gunts.“This is my love letter to you all,” Young said at the event. “It’s not about Brittany Young. It’s not even about B-360. It’s about the Black kids of Baltimore.”MCB Real Estate, the owner of Harborplace, unveiled plans in 2023 to tear down the two pavilions at Pratt and Light streets to make way for a $500 million development containing apartments, offices, shops, restaurants and park space. While it finalizes its plans and lines up financing for the replacement project, MCB has been leasing space in the existing pavilions to short-term tenants willing to move out when the company is ready to begin construction.Containing about 3,800 square feet of space, B-360’s new home is on the first level of the Light Street Pavilion, on the north side of the building, across the aisle from the stall where The Fudgery operated from 1985 to 2018. The most recent tenant was McCormick Spices. The original tenant was Prime Potato. Now it will serve as B-360’s corporate office and student center.Because dirt bikes aren’t permitted on city streets in Baltimore, no dirt bikes will be allowed at Harborplace and no dirt bike activities, including mechanical work, will be taking place at B-360’s teen and youth center.Leland Shelton, Director of Government Relations for MCB, said this is the first time Harborplace has provided space for a teen and youth center. He said MCB held a series of community engagement sessions when it was formulating its long-term plans for Harborplace and heard from many people that there is a need for more activities for young people at the Inner Harbor. Providing a home for B-360’s teen and youth center, he said, is one way MCB is responding to that. Leasing space to B-360 was “an easy decision because it embodies the very principles guiding our redevelopment of this iconic space,” Shelton said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “One of the guiding principles of our redevelopment was to build equity. This is the first time, I believe, that a youth-focused organization has had space at Harborplace. That matters, because it sends a message that all of Baltimore, especially our young people, belong here.”B-360 is also uniquely homegrown and local by nature, as opposed to a tenant that isn’t from or about Baltimore, Shelton said.As developers, “we’re going to make sure that we make this space local,” he said. “Yes, the Inner Harbor is a wonderful attraction for this region. But most important, what makes this place special is that it’s Baltimore. Somewhere a long time ago we sort of lost that principle, that in order to revitalize this space, in order to make this space the beautiful and wonderful place we all know it can be, we have to remember that people are coming here [because it’s Baltimore.] That means centering local voices, local stories and local leadership. B-360 is the perfect expression of that.”A crowd tours the new B-360 Teen and Youth Center at Harborplace. Photo by Ed Gunts.Mayor Brandon Scott and the Scott administration fully support B-360 and its mission, said Assistant Deputy Mayor Noell Lugay.“I tell people all the time that you might not agree with every single thing that Mayor Scott has to say or what he does, but one thing that you can never deny about Mayor Brandon M. Scott is that he absolutely loves and prioritizes the youth and young people in Baltimore City,” she said.Young, the CEO, said she knows that some people have been concerned that the center will bring dirt bikes to the heart of the city, when riding them on city streets is illegal in Baltimore. But she said that was never the plan.While the Light Street location will be a place for classes and workshops for young people interested in dirt bikes, Young said, it won’t be a place to ride them. B-360 is raising money for a different project for that – a first-of-its-kind dirt bike campus, elsewhere in the city. Called the #Ride4Change campus, it will provide a space for people of all ages to ride safely, become lifelong learners and gain transferrable skills that will lead to jobs in engineering and other career paths. According to its website, B-360’s work “shifts street riders out of traffic into programming, safe spaces and opportunities around their love of dirt bikes and skills.” It works with “all stakeholders, including students, riders, communities, policy makers/government officials and law enforcement to create equitable solutions and voices that work for all.”On Tuesday, after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, visitors got to tour the teen and youth center – “designed by youth, for youth.” What visitors saw is a large open space with tables, chairs, kid-sized desks and a sofa – for teaching in a variety of configurations. There’s a large cooking station in the center, left over from a previous tenant. On one wall are photos showing what the Light Street Pavilion looked like in the 1980s, with Tony Hawkins as the general manager. One photo shows the large crowd that came to Harborplace on Opening Day – July 2, 1980.As part of the ribbon cutting ceremony, two representatives of the Baltimore Ravens presented B-360 with a check for $10,000 to support its mission. Young said the center is on target to start its programs by the end of March or early April and that it continues to raise funds for its work.More information about B-360 is available at www.b360baltimore.org. More information about the #Ride4Change campaign is available at www.Ride4Change.org. ...read more read less