Developer looks to transform Harford County, Md., site into retail complex.

Byline: Jamie Smith Hopkins

Aug. 15--The rolling, tree-laden land in Harford County, hidden from major roads, is not where a developer would normally want to build a substantial complex of shops, restaurants and movie screens.

But what is in view sealed the deal: Ripken Baseball's minor-league stadium and youth fields, which draw 300,000 people a year to games, camps and the nationally televised Cal Ripken World Series. The facility in Aberdeen will soon produce a 198-room hotel as well.

Nearby, Havre de Grace is getting a similar bounce as developers prepare land around Bulle Rock, a six-year-old golf course that quickly gained a reputation as one of the best public facilities in the nation, for offices and about 2,000 homes. Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to descend on the quaint Susquehanna River town when the LPGA Championship comes to the course next June for the first of five years.

Affordable land and proximity to Interstate 95 has driven economic growth in Harford for a generation, from corporate warehouses to housing. Technology spinoffs from the sprawling Aberdeen Proving Ground have been a more recent boon. But economic development driven by sports is a more recent twist -- or at least a modern variation for a once rural county that drew visitors, even presidents, for duck-hunting or horse-racing.

"We've become a destination -- a sports destination -- in a very short period of time," said Tom Sadowski, Harford's director of economic development.

Cities across the country have long tried to put sports to work for them economically, with mixed results.

Among the…