Continued job growth, coupled with a 4.3 percent unemployment rate (down from nearly 9 percent in 2010) in the greater Baltimore metropolitan region are the primary reasons giving real estate development companies the confidence to construct speculative commercial office buildings in select submarkets throughout central Maryland. After delivering more than 1 million square feet of space in Baltimore City, another 1.6 million is presently rising in the downtown skyline. Industries including financial services, medical and healthcare, education, cybersecurity and manufacturing continue to exhibit excellent health, and a location approximately 40 miles from the center of Washington, D.C., remains one of Baltimore’s most valuable assets. Below is a quick scan around the entire metro area: Canton Merritt Properties announced plans earlier this year to construct a 20-story, 200,000-square-foot speculative office building along Boston Street. Previously announced, but yet to begin just several streets away, is Corporate Office Properties Trust’s $1 billion project containing more than 1 million square feet of commercial office and retail space. Since the opening of The Shops at Canton Crossing, a shopping center developed by 28 Walker Associates several years ago, this submarket has experienced a retail renaissance, although the inclusion of new commercial office product is …
ST. CHARLES, MD. — FCP has sold two multifamily properties in St. Charles, roughly 30 miles south of Washington, D.C., for $56 million. Preservation Partners acquired the assets, which include the 136-unit Headen House and the 204-unit Huntington. The communities are part of a larger portfolio that FCP acquired in 2009. Over the past eight years, FCP repositioned and sold portions of the portfolio. All of the units at Headen House and Huntington are affordable under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Section 8 program.
BETHESDA, MD. — Walker & Dunlop has arranged $69.9 million in Fannie Mae financing for the acquisition of three multifamily properties located in the Atlanta and Richmond, Va., metro areas. Andrew Tapley and Alexandra Huffman of Walker & Dunlop arranged the financing on behalf of the borrower, Capital Square 1031. The financed portfolio includes Ivy Commons Apartments in Marietta, Ga., roughly 24 miles northwest of Atlanta; Axis 147 in Chesterfield, Va., roughly 17 miles south of Richmond; and Mayton Transfer Lofts in Petersburg, Va., approximately 24 miles south of Richmond. Both Mayton Transfer Lofts and Ivy Commons qualified for Fannie Mae’s Green Rewards program. Community amenities across the portfolio include business centers, dog parks, fitness centers and swimming pools.
A number of high-profile retail and mixed-use developments throughout the greater Baltimore metropolitan area have been stuck in neutral over the past few years, with issues rang-ing from changes to the local real estate environment, construction issues, leasing challenges related to store closings and consolidations, corporate reevaluations and the constantly shifting tastes and shopping habits of the Baltimore consumer. Successful retail projects must en-joy a string of positive outcomes (as well as luck), including support from retailers, the capital markets and the local community. Below is a rundown of local retail or mixed-use developments that have recently sprung to life, as well as some that still remain on the starting block. Mill Station in Owings Mills Owings Mills Mall opened to sig-nificant fanfare in 1986 and stood face-to-face with a wrecking ball in 2016. Numerous ownership groups, design iterations and new retail projects emerging within close proximity kept pushing its reincarnation back further. Finally, the renderings of the “de-malled” project were unveiled to the public last fall, along with announcement of several leasing successes. This summer, construction remains in full bore leading up to an expected fall opening of Costco, followed by Lowe’s Home Improvement, Home-sense, Burlington and Five Below, …
COLUMBIA, MD. — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged the sale of the 152-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Columbia in downtown Columbia, roughly 19 miles southwest of Baltimore. A joint venture between LTD Hospitality Group and Sefira Capital acquired the asset for an undisclosed price. Ketan Patel and Kevin Kanley of HREC arranged the transaction on behalf of the seller, RLJ Lodging Trust. The hotel features meeting space, a fitness center, heated indoor pool and an onsite restaurant and bar.
For years, others have considered Baltimore a second-tier market on the Interstate 95 Corridor, lacking the excitement that cities like Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., offer. Not so any more. Baltimore has evolved into a top-tier housing market that is nationally recognized by the investment community. No longer a collection of relics from the “rust belt” banking town that it was decades ago, Baltimore is now a mosaic of adaptive reuses and a hot-bed for tech jobs. The Charm City is an incubator for creativity and entrepreneurship that sprouts from the world-renowned medical and educational institutions such as Johns Hop-kins and the University of Maryland Baltimore. As a result, net absorption for new multifamily units in 2017 surpassed city records and continues to grow at unprecedented rates. There are many factors that contribute to strong levels of demand in a market, such as job growth, affordability and developers creating attractive space targeting all demographics. Baltimore’s evolving job market continues its rapid expansion, driven primarily by “eds and meds.” The sector experienced 19 percent growth over the 10-year average and expand-ed 2.5 percent in 2017. Residents specifically target areas where they can live, work and play, and with an expanding job market, …
JESSUP, MD. — HFF has arranged a $56.3 million loan for the refinancing of Baltimore Washington Logistics Center, a two-building industrial complex in Jessup, located roughly halfway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Daniel McIntyre, Fred Wittmann and Greg LaBine of HFF arranged the loan through Citizens Bank on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between AEW Capital Management LP and Manekin LLC. Building I at the complex is located at 7600 Assateague Drive and totals 853,503 square feet. The asset was vacant at the time of sale. Building II, located at 7540 Assateague Drive, is a 160,255-square-foot refrigerated warehouse/distribution building that is fully leased to G Cefaly & Bro, a seafood and produce food service distributor.
ABERDEEN AND PERRYMAN, MD. — MRP Industrial has signed leases with three tenants in northern Maryland totaling more than 1.5 million square feet. Two of the leases were signed at Eastgate 95, a 250-acre logistics park located along Woodley Road in Aberdeen. Kuehne + Nagel, a logistics provider, signed a full-building lease for 656,880 square feet of warehousing and distribution space at the center. The facility will be operational in September and will create approximately 225 jobs. Kuehne + Nagel provides seafreight, airfreight, contract logistics and overland transportation solutions across sectors including retail, automotive and aerospace, among others. On the adjacent 67-acre site at Eastgate 95, MRP will construct a 600,000-square-foot building for The Container Store, a retail chain devoted solely to storage and organizational products. The new facility will serve as the retailer’s East Coast distribution hub. The third tenant, PrimeSource, a building materials distributor, signed a 250,000-square-foot lease for a new building to be constructed at 505 Advantage Ave. in Perryman. MRP is underway on construction of the facility, which will be ready for move-in by early next year. The building will include three acres of outside storage and provide loading on two sides. Bill Pellington and D. Reid …
GLEN BURNIE, MD. — Chesapeake Real Estate Group LLC (CREG) and EverWest Real Estate Investors LLC have signed a 500,400-square-foot lease with Best Buy at Brandon Woods III, a 259-acre industrial park in Glen Burnie, roughly 11 miles south of Baltimore. Matt Laraway and Scott Skogmo of CREG represented the company internally in the lease transaction, and Michael Royce of Avison Young represented Best Buy. CREG acquired the site from Exelon Corp. last year, and through a partnership with EverWest, will build up to 1 million square feet of industrial space. CREG and EverWest broke ground on the speculative facility at 7550 Perryman St. last year. Best Buy is scheduled to move into the new warehouse in March 2019, utilizing the space to distribute large products to stores throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. The building will also serve as a hub for the home delivery and installation of major appliances and large TVs, and a portion of the space will contain Best Buy service and repair technicians for consumer electronics and appliances. Best Buy plans to consolidate three existing locations throughout the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to occupy the new building. In addition to the facility for Best Buy, CREG and …
SILVER SPRING, MD. — Washington Property Co. (WPC) has topped out construction on Solaire 8250 Georgia Avenue, a 338-unit apartment community in Silver Spring. The community is located two blocks from the Silver Spring Metro station and roughly six miles north of Washington, D.C. The 20-story building will offer a mix of studio to two-bedroom units averaging 760 square feet. The building will also include three levels of below-ground parking and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Individual units at Solaire 8520 will include quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, wood flooring and private balconies. Community amenities will include a rooftop swimming pool, cyber café, grilling areas, fitness center, private courtyard and a game room. Lendlease is the general contractor for the project, and Baltimore-based Design Collective is the architect. Streetsense is handling the leasing assignment for the retail portion of the project. Slated to open in spring 2019, Solaire 8520 is WPC’s fourth Solaire-branded apartment community and its second in Silver Spring’s Ripley District, a former light industrial area-turned transit-oriented neighborhood. At full build-out, the Ripley District will include 2 million square feet of mixed-use development and house up to 3,000 people.