Speaking before a standing room-only audience of retail real estate executives at the 2017 ICSC RECon event in Las Vegas Monday morning, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh touched upon a wide variety of pressing issues including the need for more grocery stores in the downtown market, the expected impact of Port Covington, the view of Baltimore from around the country and the minimum wage bill. She joined Jay Noddle, President of Noddle Companies in Omaha, Nebraska for a panel discussion entitled "Attracting the retail store of the future to your community now."

Pugh mentioned several months ago at a business event about her "agenda for attending the convention which included attracting more supermarkets, theaters and sit-down restaurants to the city," a point she reiterated to the audience that numbered nearly 400. "Whole Foods is expanding, but we need more grocery stores for our residents. Mondawmin Mill needs help. It is important to understand the trends that are occurring in the retail industry, examine the demographics that are moving downtown and find ways to attract more retailers to Baltimore," Pugh explained.

"I love to shop and I believe people want more experiences when shopping," she continued. "We need to make it more compelling to visit downtown and shop." Throughout her presentation, shiny images of Port Covington, Inner Harbor East, Mustang Alley's and other real estate projects flashed on large projection screens behind her. "Port Covington will be transformational," she added, while adding depth about the project to RECon participants that attend the show both nationally and internationally. It required two attempts for the Mayor to explain her position on the minimum wage bill, after being interrupted by false fire alarms. "It was very interesting the way the minimum wage bill was couched but, in the end, it would have been very damaging to businesses in Baltimore."

View of The Maryland Party at the Encore Beach Club

Howard Perlow, Commercial Settlement Services and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan

Howard Perlow, Commercial Settlement Services with Andrea and Steve Wynn

The Continental Realty Corporation team at RECon 2017

Larry Lichtenauer, President and Founder of Lawrence Howard & Associates, reports three times each year from ICSC events.