Seven companies — several of which have taken on heavy roles in Baltimore redevelopment — are angling for a chance to build a new arena in the city.

Groups including 1st Mariner Bank Chairman and CEO Edwin Hale Sr., developer Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse LLC, the Turner Development Group and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis are among the suitors announced Tuesday by the Baltimore Development Corp.

City officials and business leaders agree that the 45-year-old 1st Marina Arena needs to be replaced, but its replacement could take different forms in different locations. In a study released in May, officials called a new arena essential to keeping Baltimore competitive as a destination.

The BDC would not release the proposals issued by the development groups, and several groups declined to discuss their plans but the proposals are expected to cover a wide area of Baltimore.

One proposal, from Arena Development Group LLC, would place a new, $212 million arena on downtown’s West Side next to Lexington Market. Other developers’ potential locations could include Westport and Southeast Baltimore.

Accent Development Co., one of the partners in the Arena group, has another project on the West Side and was selected last week as a potential developer for the Mayfair Theater and sites around it.

Principal Sean MacCarthy, said the company likes the possibilities in Baltimore’s plan for the neighborhood. City officials are seeking a public-private partnership, and MacCarthy said if public funds play into the project, downtown will see the most benefit from the project.

“We want to keep it in downtown. We are a firm believer in [keeping] this project in Central Baltimore,” MacCarthy said. “You want to put this in an area where the city will get the most residual economic development from the project.”

Baltimore developer Patrick Turner and his Turner Development Group want to put an arena in Westport, where he said it would be easily accessible to transportation, and right next to his company’s 5.5 million square foot Westport Waterfront mixed-use project.

He said the project — estimated between $160 million and $170 million — could also tie in with the light rail and could ease event-related congestion because it is south of Interstate 95, while the city’s other sports venues are north of the highway.

“We think putting it in Westport, next to our project, makes sense,” Turner said.

A partnership between Cormony Development LLC, Harrison Development LLC and Team 52 Development LLC involves Lewis. The same developers won the opportunity to build Gateway South, a sports and office complex in Westport. Samuel Polakoff, Cormony’s managing director, said a new arena would become part of that project.

“We think it’s the best site for Baltimore for a new arena for all the reasons that we were initially attracted to the site,” he said, citing transportation links as an advantage. The project would cost around $200 million, Polakoff said.

Hale, whose company Hale Properties LLC, would partner on the arena project with Owings Mills-based Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corp., could not be reached for comment. Hale, who also owns the Baltimore Blast soccer team that plays at the existing arena, has said he would like to see the project built near Canton.

Struever Bros. has built several high-profile projects in the city and would partner on the arena with Capital Venture Group LLC. Neither company responded to phone inquiries. Other groups to express interest in the project were White Rhino Development LLC and a partnership among Pinnacle Properties & Development LLC, Garfield Traub Development LLC and AEG. Neither group could be reached for comment.

“We’re very pleased with the responses that we got,” said Kimberly A. Clark, executive vice president of the BDC. She said an advisory group will vet the potential projects and begin moving forward in coming months. No set amount of public assistance is available, she said.

J. Kirby Fowler, president of The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc., will sit on the advisory panel. He said he’ll look at the potential for a project’s overall economic effect, among other criteria outlined by the BDC. He said there is “absolutely” a need for a new arena.

“It’s most important for the arena to be in Baltimore City, and be accessible to transportation, as well as in walking distance of transportation and other attractions,” he said.

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