OWINGS MILLS, MD. — Baltimore-based CSG Partners LLC has purchased Owings Mills Business Center and Owings Mills Corporate Center, a four-building office/flex portfolio spanning 180,000 square feet in Owings Mills. CSG Partners purchased the single-story properties from First Potomac Realty Trust for $13 million. The buildings are 50 percent leased on average. Jonathan Carpenter, Nicole Keelty and Graham Savage of Cassidy Turley represented the seller. CSG Partners was self-represented in the transaction. CSG Partners will rebrand Owings Mills Business Center as Cronhill Corporate Centers I and II, and Owings Mills Corporate Center will become Cronridge Corporate Centers I and II. CSG Partners has selected Colliers International to market and lease Cronridge Business Center and Cronhill Corporate Center.
Maryland
ROCKVILLE, MD. — Scheer Partners has arranged a full-building, 33,800-square-foot lease at 9708 Medical Center Center Drive in the Center for Life Science | Shady Grove campus in Rockville. GlycoMimetics signed the lease with the building’s owner and operator, BioMed Realty Trust Inc. The property recently underwent extensive renovations, including the addition of a fitness center, shared conferencing facilities, covered walkway, upgraded landscaping, campus lighting, exterior finishes and campus signage. Henry Bernstein and Nathan Crowe of Scheer Partners represented BioMed Realty Trust in the lease transaction.
ABERDEEN, MD. — Baltimore-based Chesapeake Real Estate Group LLC and its financial partner, San Antonio-based USAA Real Estate Co., have acquired a 48.4-acre tract of land in Aberdeen for the development of Perryman Logistics Center. The 571,000-square-foot project will be located at 610 Chelsea Road. Chesapeake and USAA expect to deliver the distribution center in the summer of 2015. Bill Pellington, Toby Mink and Jon Casella of CBRE represented the buyers in the land transaction. Chesapeake and USAA have also retained the CBRE team to market and lease the property, which is being developed on a speculative basis. The seller was FO Mitchell Bro. Once complete, the property will feature 36-foot clear heights, 175 rear-loading docks, two drive-in docks, a 130-foot truck court and an adjacent 500-space parking lot.
UPPER MARLBORO, MD. — Dougherty Funding LLC has provided a $16.5 million construction bridge loan for the Commons at Largo, a multifamily development in Upper Marlboro. When complete, Commons at Largo will include approximately 1,600 Class A multifamily units, parking structures and ground-level retail space. Dougherty Funding provided the loan to Commons at Largo LP. Dougherty serves as the lead lender, disbursing agent and servicer for the loan.
True Food Kitchen Leases Space on Ground Floor of Upscale Bethesda Apartment Building
by John Nelson
BETHESDA, MD. — Washington Property Co. has signed True Food Kitchen to occupy street-level space at Solaire Bethesda, an upscale apartment building located at the corner of Wisconsin and Woodmont avenues in Bethesda. Solaire Bethesda broke ground this summer and is expected to open in 2016. The 6,400-square-foot restaurant will be True Food Kitchen’s second property in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Lee Engle of Streetsense and Joshua Gurland of WPC represented WPC in the lease transaction. Tom Papadopoulos of Papadopoulos Properties represented Phoenix-based Fox Restaurant Concepts in the transaction.
CALIFORNIA, MD. — Finmarc Management has purchased Wildewood Shopping Center, a 292,000-square-foot regional shopping center located in California in St. Mary’s County, for $28.4 million. The shopping center was 95 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Bed Bath & Beyond, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Outback Steakhouse, JC Penney and Belk. Sandra Hunt of Scheer Partners represented the seller, SJS Wildewood LP based in New Jersey, in the transaction.
JESSUP AND SAVAGE, MD. — CBRE has brokered the $27 million sale of three industrial facilities totaling 429,100 square feet in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor. The portfolio of properties is located at 8263-8265 Patuxent Range Road in Jessup and 8700 Larkin Road in Savage. An affiliate of Industrial Property Trust Inc. purchased the three assets from Colony Realty Partners. Bo Cashman, Jonathan Beard and Mike Roden of CBRE’s Baltimore office brokered the transaction.
BALTIMORE CITY, MD. — The Greysteel Co.’s Mid-Atlantic retail investment sales team has brokered the $12.3 million sale of Belair Edison Crossing, a grocery-anchored shopping center located at 2401 Belair Road in Baltimore City. The 204,000-square-foot asset was fully leased at the time of the sale to tenants such as Food Depot, Dollar General, Forman Mills, Maxway, B. Green Cash and Carry and the Social Security Administration. Gil Neuman of Greysteel led the team that represented the seller, 2401 Belair LLC, and procured the buyer, Belair Edison Investors LLC.
HANOVER, MD. — MCR Development LLC has completed renovations on two hotels in Hanover, a suburb of Baltimore. The assets are the 130-room Hampton Inn & Suites Arundel Mills/Baltimore at 7027 Arundel Mills Circle and the 131-room Residence Inn Arundel Mills/BWI Airport at 7035 Arundel Mills Circle. The renovations include upgrades to the lobby areas and the guestrooms.
The center cores of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are located approximately 40 miles apart, and talk has renewed about the possibility of connecting the two metropolises by a Maglev rail system. The Baltimore/Washington region is generally considered the fourth largest in the country, boasting nearly 9 million people in the common area. But, when it comes time to rate the demographics, quality of life and overall attributes between the two, Baltimore assumes its secondary status in most comparisons, especially among some professionals in the retail real estate industry. Yet, given the recent successes of retail ventures that have opened in Baltimore City within the past year, prospects for future developments that promise to reinvigorate oft-neglected sections of the city and planned expansions of other mixed-use projects, Baltimore is currently enjoying a “charmed” life. The iconic advertising campaign for National Bohemian beer, which referred to Maryland as “The Land of Pleasant Living,” seems like an appropriate descriptor these days. The project that still has Baltimoreans buzzing is The Shops at Canton Crossing, the 330,000-square-foot retail shopping center situated within the city’s east side that opened last fall, and could easily serve as a national model for successful brownsfield development. Abandoned warehouse …