CAMBRIDGE, Md. - The iconic smoke stacks that soar high above "The Packing House" are staying put.
The Packing House is nearly unrecognizable as it nears completion.
The site's community manager Jodie Hardesty says the focus will be on entrepreneurs and startups.
"I think it's important that we are preserving a building that has been sitting here 1920 and isn't being demolished and homogenized in a way that we've seen across America," Hardesty said.
Cambridge's Director of Economic Development Carol Richardson says most of the funding for The Packing House was secured through state grants.
Richardson says the city hopes this space will compliment the city's other big economic development undertakings in Downtown and along the waterfront.
"So it's not competing it's actually a compliment to it. And the waterfront will be a destination for leisure and enjoyment and activities. This will be a combination of public use as well as business use so it is definitely a compliment," Richardson said.
Hardesty says in the future, she hopes The Packing House will adapt with the times and the needs of the community.
"It really is sort of a shared space where you can see what's happening from one end to the other and so I see in 5 years, it just becoming just this very dynamic, sort of community facility," Hardesty said.
The building will open in phases as different sections are completed. The first tenant is scheduled to move in on April 1.
