Proposed Ripley’s Believe It or Not at Baltimore Harborplace.

When Baltimore’s Inner Harbor was redeveloped in the late 1970s and early 80s it was called an “urban miracle.” At the time, inner cities around the country were declining everywhere, and nobody expected a run down place like Baltimore to succeed. But it did, with a winning combination of cultural activities, shopping, and dining that made the Inner Harbor one of Maryland’s greatest tourist destinations.

Since 1980 the centerpiece of the Inner Harbor has been the Harborplace Mall, a pair of two-story shopping pavilions that frame the waterfront.

But the problem with malls is that after about 30 years they start to get pretty dated. At 32, Harborplace is surviving thanks to its central location, but it’s no longer pulling in the most desirable tenants. High-paying stores that once might have located in Harborplace are now going elsewhere, such as Lockwood Place and the Power Plant.

As a result, Harborplace is turning to less conventional tenants. If the mall can’t be a shopping mecca, maybe it can be a kitschy entertainment hub. Thus the proposal to make a Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum the mall’s newest anchor.

The proposal makes sense in the short term. Ripley’s kitschy museum in Ocean City is a landmark, and has been reasonably popular. It’s something that will continue to appeal to tourists in a way that a discount retailer would not.

But in the longer term, Ripley’s won’t save Harborplace from its real problems. Tourism and malls are both fickle businesses, and Harborplace offers little that newer competitors can’t do better. Eventually Ripley’s will move on as well. What then?

Odds are Harborplace has a couple of decades left, but eventually it’s going to make sense to start thinking about a replacement. And when that day comes, the answer probably won’t be to just build a newer mall.