11-11-2022 4:03am

HUNT VALLEY COMPANY

Jeff Barto Editor

Under Armour Taps Baltimore County Company To Build Track At New Headquarters

Baltimore County-based Beynon Sports Surfaces Inc. already has an established reputation in its industry, having previously built tracks for New Balance and Nike.

Now, the Hunt Valley, Md., company is laying down a track a little closer to home for one of those sportswear giants’ biggest competitors — Under Armour Inc. Beynon is building what is considered a centerpiece of the new Under Armour headquarters at the Port Covington development site, a track that will be part of a 1,400-seat track and field facility.

Beynon Sports Surfaces president John Beynon visited the construction site in July to talk about the track and how his company got in on one of Baltimore’s most-anticipated construction projects. Beynon said Under Armour had hoped to get the work done by a local company, though it initially was unsure if that was possible.

“They thought they were going to have to go overseas to find a company that can do the work they need done,” Beynon said. “Turns out, we were in their back yard.”

Beynon himself is a Baltimore native and a proud graduate of Towson University. (After graduating, he also surfaced Towson’s track.) Though the company has offices all over the country, Beynon Sports’ headquarters is where it tests and manufactures its materials.

By Beynon’s estimation, just about every domestic college-level athlete has run on at least one of the company’s 7,000 or 8,000 tracks around the world.

In building a track, the uniformity and accuracy of its measurements are critical. Any deviations from the requirements established by World Athletics, the international governing body on all things track and field, would mean that any records set on the track would not be officially recognized.

Beynon emphasized that having a World Athletics-certified track would be a win for both Under Armour and Port Covington.

Though construction on the track began in fall 2021, it only represents one component of Under Armour’s vision for its campus. The Baltimore-based sportswear company unveiled designs for its new-and-improved headquarters back in May.

Port Covington and the Under Armour headquarters have had a tumultuous history throughout the past several years.

The 235-acre project stagnated as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on, although construction continued, and some of the companies that had planned to move there changed their minds. The developer originally tasked with the project, Weller Development Co., departed in May when New York-based MAG Partners and San Francisco-based MacFarlane Partners took over.

MAG CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin has said that her group is “in leasing mode” to fill space in the development, which has not yet signed any tenants.

Meanwhile, the Maryland Stadium Authority announced in July that Port Covington was being considered to house a 10,000-seat stadium as part of soccer academy campus.