Westport gets branded

July 14, 2008

Turner Development Group, the force behind several of Baltimore’s biggest development projects, has finally launched a Web site – or at least, the front page of a Web site – for Westport, its multi-billion dollar project in the West Branch of the Patapsco, near the intersection of Interstate 95 and MD-295. And it’s an impressive piece of branding.

Not only is it “kinetic,” “a mix of rhythms,” and full of “buzz” “whir” and people with their “finger on the pulse,” but it establishes a pictographic logo for the community and tags it as “Baltimore’s Green Waterfront.”

Turner is the same company that turned an aging, unused grain elevator in Locust Point into Silo Point — an extravagant condominium tower with units selling for several million dollars apiece, based on their sexy, modern design and 360-degree waterfront views.

So it figures that on the Web site, the central image we get of Westport — which will be built next to a largely working class community in Southwest Baltimore — is of a wan-faced mannequin decked out in a couture dress and fancy accessories, illuminated by spotlights that evoke a fashion show runway. The image is flanked by a rowing shell (a park next to Westport is the home of the Baltimore Rowing Club, an organization that Patrick Turner, the company’s CEO, has very publicly supported) and a generic-looking glass skyscraper, which suggest, respectively, community spirit and commerce. But the message is clear: Westport will be hip, stylish and cutting-edge.

We anxiously await further details, and more symbolic images for the face of Westport.