The Maryland Port Administration will spend $2.46 million to purchase 4.72 acres next to its South Locust Point cruise terminal and turn the property into a 530-space parking lot.
Gov. Martin O?Malley and the Board of Public Works approved the contract Wednesday for the MPA to purchase the land from Transoceanic Cable Ship Co.
The additional parking spaces are needed to handle the Port of Baltimore?s growing cruise business. Carnival Cruise Lines, the world?s largest cruise line, announced three weeks ago it will start the first year-round cruise service leaving from the Port of Baltimore to Caribbean destinations beginning in September 2009.
“The additional parking will be welcomed as we continue to demonstrate why our cruise terminal is so customer friendly and easy to access,” O?Malley said in a statement.
The MPA currently provides 524 on-site parking spaces. It?s expected that the new parking spaces will be available by summer 2009.
