When former Maryland Sen. Benjamin Cardin was growing up, he recalled this week, “squash to me was a vegetable.” Then he learned about Baltimore SquashWise (baltimoresquashwise.org), the non-profit that opens doors for young people by exposing them to the sport of squash, and he gained a new perspective. “You are bringing young people together,” he told the organization’s leaders. “You learn so much from sports…We need to reach out to young people today with constructive activities and you’re doing that right here in downtown Baltimore at this location. This is a big deal, what you’ve done here.” Cardin is one of more than 100 people who gathered on Monday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of SquashWise’s new home, The SquashWise Center, created inside the former Greyhound bus station at 601 N. Howard St. After a $14.5 million renovation, the former bus terminal has been reborn as a multi-purpose community center that will house SquashWise’s after-school tutoring and sports programs, including local matches and tournaments. Designed by PI.KL Studio, it contains six squash courts, classrooms, a student lounge, changing rooms and offices for the SquashWise staff. A Grand Opening Community Day event will be held on Feb. 28 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place in the bus station’s former waiting room, with its vintage terrazzo floors and one of the original Greyhound racing dog emblems overhead. Squash is generally considered to be an elitist sport, introduced to rich kids at private schools and colleges. A bus station is the most egalitarian sort of place, a building where anyone can go. To some, it’s a place of last resort, for travelers who can’t afford trains and planes. The Howard Street building was Greyhound’s Baltimore bus terminal from 1941 to 1987, one of more than 60 around the country that architect William Strudwick Arrasmith designed in the Streamline Moderne style in the 1930s and 1940s. After Greyhound moved out, developer Elinor Bacon converted it to offices. The Maryland Center for History and Culture, then known as the Maryland Historical Society, bought it in 1999 to be an extension of its Mount Vernon campus and sold it to SquashWise in 2021. The subtly subversive nature of SquashWise’s site selection is hard to miss. For those who didn’t get it, a history wall has been created by historian Keon Rosado and Wide Angle Media to provide information about the building’s past and the travelers it served. Maryland Lt. Gov. Arunah Miller shared an upbeat take on the building’s transformation during her remarks. “This former Greyhound bus terminal was once a place that people passed through – a point of departure, a place that sent Baltimoreans on their way,” she said. “Today, it’s become something entirely different. It’s a destination — a place that draws young people in, with room to grow, room to learn and room to belong. Because when we invest in young people, we change the trajectory of entire communities. Through sport, young people…learn discipline, teamwork and resilience. But here’s the thing: those lessons don’t just stay on the court. They travel. They show up in the classroom, in college, in careers.” Cardin thanked SquashWise Executive Director Abby Markoe and SquashWise’s board and supporters for investing in the Greyhound building and the Howard Street corridor. “This a beautiful place and it brings back a lot of good memories,” he said. “I was asked, Did I ever take a bus out of the Greyhound terminal? I’m sure I did…There was a lot of activity here. I think we even did a little bit of campaigning here once in a while because this was a good spot to run into people, and now it continues to be a great spot for the growth of Baltimore…What you’ve done is preserve a piece of history.” ...read more read less