BETHESDA, MD. — HFF has arranged $66.3 million in joint venture financing for the acquisition of Atrium at Rock Spring Park, a three-story, 237,000-square-foot office building in Bethesda. Located at 6555 Rock Spring Park Drive, the office asset was 86 percent leased to seven tenants at the time of sale, including The National Institute of Health and SAIC. Dek Potts, Stephen Conley, Jim Meisel, Andrew Weir and Matthew Nicholson of HFF arranged the equity venture between affiliates of Meritage Properties and an unnamed institutional equity investor.
Maryland
COLUMBIA, MD. — Finmarc Management Inc. has acquired a four-building flex portfolio comprising 135,000 square feet in Columbia for $15.8 million. Finmarc purchased the portfolio, which was near full occupancy at the time of sale, from First Potomac Realty Trust. Built in 1980, the all-brick, single-story flex portfolio is located at 9150 and 9180 Rumsey Road, near I-95 and Maryland Routes 100 and 29. Mark Glagola and Joe Friedman of Transwestern represented the seller in the transaction.
GAITHERSBURG, MD. — HFF has arranged the $29.4 million sale of three office buildings located at 25, 35 and 45 W. Watkins Mill Road in Gaithersburg, a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C. The three office/lab buildings span 139,938 square feet and were cumulatively 95 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as MedImmune and Amplimmune, which are both wholly owned subsidiaries of AstraZeneca. Jim Meisel, Dek Potts, Andrew Weir, Stephen Conley and Matthew Nicholson of HFF represented the seller, an affiliate of Equus Capital Partners Ltd., in the transaction. In addition, HFF arranged $19.2 million in acquisition financing on behalf of the buyer, Tritower Financial Group. Cary Abod led HFF’s debt placement team to arrange the 10-year, fixed-rate loan through an unnamed life insurance company.
BALTIMORE — Enterprise Homes has begun construction on Mulberry at Park Apartments, a new $22.3 million apartment community located within the Bromo Tower Arts & Entertainment district in downtown Baltimore. The property will feature 34 one-bedroom, 27 two-bedroom and seven three-bedroom residences. Rents will range from $773 to $1,155 monthly. Upon completion, the apartment community will feature a cyber café, study room, fitness center and an outdoor terrace. Marks, Thomas Architects designed the community to meet Enterprise Green Communities Criteria and LEED Silver standards. The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Bank of America, representatives from HUD, city and state officials and local economic development corporations. The project was financed with $15.8 million in construction financing, tax credit equity and permanent financing from Bank of America, as well as $1.5 million from the State of Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and $870,000 from Baltimore City.
ROCKVILLE, MD. — Finmarc Management Inc. has purchased Travilah Square Shopping Center, a 61,496-square-foot property located at the intersection of Darnestown and Travilah roads in Rockville. Finmarc purchased the property from Walgreens for $22.4 million. Travilah Square comprises five buildings and includes a freestanding Burger King and 16,000 square feet of commercial office space, which is currently vacant. Built in 1988, the shopping center is in close proximity to the University of Maryland Shady Grove campus. Including this purchase, Finmarc and its partners have acquired or disposed of more than $400 million worth of properties.
St. John Properties Begins Construction on Retail Space at Office Park in Baltimore County
by John Nelson
MILFORD MILL, MD. — St. John Properties Inc. has started construction on 9,500 square feet of additional retail space within Windsor Office Park in Milford Mill, a city in Baltimore County. The speculative inline space is located at 2835 N. Rolling Road, adjacent to an existing Wawa gas station. The retail space will address the need for restaurants and shopping that can be accessed during lunch hours by the existing business community in the area. St. John Properties expects to have the space available for occupancy in late 2015.
FORT WASHINGTON, MD. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has provided an $18.5 million acquisition loan for Henson Creek Manor, a 210-unit affordable housing community in Fort Washington. Caleb Marten of KeyBank arranged the Freddie Mac loan on behalf of the undisclosed buyer. The apartment community was constructed in two phases between 1994 and 1998. The older part of the development is limited to residents with 50 percent of the average median income and the second portion is limited to residents with 60 percent of area median incomes.
COLUMBIA, MD. — CBRE has arranged a lease on behalf of Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management for 122,044 square feet at Gateway Commerce Center in Columbia, a suburb of Baltimore. The property is situated near I-95, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Columbia Town Center. National Retail Systems Inc., which includes Keystone Freight Corp. and National Retail Transportation Inc., will utilize the property at 8700 Robert Fulton Drive to provide logistics support for T.J. Maxx. Built in 1971 and remodeled in 1997, Gateway Commerce Center spans more than 48.7 acres with a total of 700,945 square feet and features dock and drive-in loading, an ESFR sprinkler system and 28- to 50-foot clear heights. John Wilhide and Ed Harris of CBRE represented the landlord in the lease transaction.
BETHESDA, MD. — HFF has brokered the $63.5 million sale of Bethesda Office Center, a 174,449-square-foot, Class A office building located at 4520 East-West Highway in downtown Bethesda. The office property is located at the intersection of East-West Highway and Waverly Street, one block from the Bethesda Metrorail Station. Jim Meisel, Dek Potts, Andrew Weir, Stephen Conley, Matthew Nicholson and Robert Jenkins of HFF represented the seller, AEW Capital Management LLC, in the transaction. HFF also arranged acquisition financing on behalf of the undisclosed buyer. Cary Abod and Robert Carey of HFF arranged the fixed-rate loan through JP Morgan Chase Bank, NA.
JESSUP, MD. — A joint venture between Columbia, Md.-based Manekin LLC and Boston-based AEW Capital Management has purchased the 60-acre Baltimore Washington Logistics Center. The 730,000-square-foot property is located at 7600 Assateague Drive in Jessup, roughly halfway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The Baltimore Business Journal reports that the joint venture, named MCA Assateague JV LLC, purchased the facility for $45.3 million from Madison-SP Assateague LLC, a joint venture between New York Life Real Estate Investors and Mosaic Realty Partners. The facility was formerly occupied by Giant Food and was used as the grocer’s main dry-goods warehouse until 2013. In addition to expanding the existing building by 120,000 square feet, the new ownership plans to speculatively develop an additional 160,000-square-foot industrial building on the site. Once the expansion is complete, the site will still be able to accommodate at least 400 trailer parking spaces, which is one of the largest counts in the region. Manekin LLC’s Owen Rouse and John Graham put the deal together as investment advisors and also represented the ownership group in the acquisition, while Cris Abramson and Brian Kruger with Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller. The new ownership has selected Michael Elardo, Jared Ross and …