PRINCE FREDERICK, MD. — MCB Real Estate and Generation Properties have broken ground on Armory Square, a 110,000-square-foot shopping center located at 429 Solomons Island Road in Prince Frederick, about 44 miles southeast of Washington, D.C. The retail center is situated on a 12.5-acre site in Calvert County that once housed Calvert Middle School. Armory Square’s tenant roster will include Aldi, Michaels, Sneade’s Ace Home Center, Dash-In, First Watch, Jersey Mike’s, Hangry Joe’s, Always Ice Cream, Foster’s Grille and Quickway Hibachi. The target completion date was not disclosed. In addition to Armory Square, MCB and Generation Properties broke ground earlier this month on The Shops at Fairway Village, a $115 million mixed-use development in Waldorf, Md.
Maryland
Meritus Health, Radnor to Develop Medical School Campus in Hagerstown, Maryland, Including 600 Student Housing Beds
by John Nelson
HAGERSTOWN, MD. — A public-private partnership between Meritus Health and Radnor Property Group has begun construction on the Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine campus in Hagerstown. The development is located on an existing Meritus hospital campus and will include six buildings anchored by a village green, which offer residential space and house the new school of medicine. The first phase of the project will include the development of three four-story buildings offering approximately 100 units each. The development is also set to include retail and office space, as well as a library and café. Residential buildings will offer a total of 600 beds of student housing in studio, one- and two-bedroom configurations. A portion of the project, which was designed in collaboration with Design Collective, is scheduled for completion in 2025.
Greenebaum, St. John Properties Break Ground on Final Three Buildings at Maple Lawn in Fulton, Maryland
by John Nelson
FULTON, MD. — A joint venture between Greenebaum Enterprises and St. John Properties has broken ground on the final three commercial buildings at Maple Lawn, a 605-acre mixed-use development in Fulton, a city in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The properties, all of which are being developed on a speculative basis, include two medical office buildings and an inline retail building cumulatively totaling 85,000 square feet. All three buildings are positioned along Maple Lawn’s northern entrance near Maple Lawn Boulevard and Johns Hopkins Road. Upon the expected delivery in late 2025, Maple Lawn will total 1.8 million square feet of Class A offices, industrial facilities, research-and-development space, medical offices, shops and restaurants, as well as 1,300 residences. Maple Lawn is home to a variety of businesses, including Cisco Systems, DataTribe, Johns Hopkins Medicine, KBR, Kennedy Krieger, New Day, Presidio, Raytheon and Window Nation.
By Christine Espenshade of Newmark Baltimore is an often-overlooked gem of a city along the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and New York City. This waterfront town is home to two major sports teams, a world-class symphony and art museums that rival those in the best cities around the world. Baltimore is more often referenced as the location for various crime TV shows rather than being known as home to two of the top medical facilities in the world — Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical System — Johns Hopkins University, and headquarters for famous companies such as Under Armour, T. Rowe Price and McCormick Spices. The multifamily market in Baltimore is also often overlooked by investors in favor of larger cities. However, to spur the development of top-quality rental products, Baltimore City and Baltimore County offer lucrative property tax abatements for new developments. The region continually sees consistent population growth due to the “eds and meds” nature of the economy, and the lower cost of living when compared to D.C. or Philadelphia attracts a well-educated workforce looking to enjoy the live-work-play lifestyle. The popularity of Baltimore for employers and employees is evident when considering the 35,000 …
Continental Realty Corp. Signs Crunch Fitness to 30,973 SF Retail Lease in Hagerstown, Maryland
by John Nelson
HAGERSTOWN, MD. — Continental Realty Corp. (CRC) has signed Crunch Fitness to a 30,973-square-foot retail lease in Hagerstown, a suburb of Washington, D.C. The fitness concept will backfill a former Bed Bath & Beyond space at Centre at Hagerstown, a nearly 300,000-square-foot regional shopping center located at 17850 Garland Groh Blvd. The lease brings the occupancy rate of the shopping center to 97 percent. Melissa Sweeney of CRC, along with Matt Copeland and Michael Patz of KLNB Retail, represented the landlord in the lease deal. Ryan Wilner of KLNB Retail represented the tenant.
Mirroring sentiments expressed at the year-end ICSC conference in New York City, with the national vacancy rate hovering around 5 percent and new concepts anxious to take a foothold in the area, there continues to be tremendous optimism for the retail sector in the greater Baltimore metropolitan region. Although ground-up development projects remain rare locally, several high-profile adaptive projects are in the works that are placing smiles on brokers’ faces because they have something to lease. Value-oriented retailers, together with quick-service restaurant (QSR) concepts, are showing the most activity. Adaptive reuse The redevelopment of the iconic Harborplace festival marketplace (more on that later) is grabbing all the headlines in Charm City, but the adaptive reuse of Baltimore’s Penn Station — the epitome of a transit-oriented development and the renovation of a historic industrial building at Riverside in South Baltimore — are happening now. Beatty Development Group and Cross Street Partners are partnering with Amtrak to transform the train station originally developed in 1911 into a mixed-use project combining 1 million square feet of commercial office, retail and residential space. Destination retail and restaurants are a central core of the program. Urban Pastoral and The Wilhide Family are transforming the 135-year-old …
BOWIE, MD. — NAI Michael Cos. will develop South Lake Marketplace, a 600,000-square-foot mixed-use project within the $1.3 billion South Lake development underway in Bowie, a city in suburban Maryland that is roughly equidistant from Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Karington LLC, an affiliate of NAI Michael Cos., owns South Lake, which also features residential units being developed by Chesapeake Realty Partners. South Lake Marketplace will feature a grocery anchor, as well as other retail, restaurant, sports entertainment and hospitality concepts. The development will be situated adjacent to Liberty Sports Park, which features 10 professional sports fields and attracts 344,000 tournament attendees annually, according to NAI Michael Cos. The ceremonial groundbreaking for South Lake Marketplace is expected to take place in May or June.
St. John Properties Signs Clinical Research Firm to 116,000 SF Lease Expansion in Frederick, Maryland
by John Nelson
FREDERICK, MD. — St. John Properties has signed a lease extension and expansion with Precision for Medicine at Riverside Tech Park, a 70-acre business and research and development (R&D) property in Frederick. Precision for Medicine, a clinical research organization, has occupied space at the park since 2006. Precision for Medicine currently occupies 75,000 square feet at 8425 Precision Way. With the new agreement, the tenant will occupy an additional 41,040 square feet at 8440 Broadband Drive, a new 52,080-square-foot flex R&D building at the development, utilizing the building for office and laboratory space. St. John Properties recently completed construction at Riverside Tech Park, which comprises more than 750,000 square feet across 14 buildings. The development is located adjacent to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is within a mile of the Frederick Municipal Airport.
OXON HILL, MD. — JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality group has brokered the sale of Hampton Inn & Suites National Harbor/Alexandria Area, a 154-room hotel located at 250 Waterfront St. in Oxon Hill. The sales price was not disclosed, but Washington Business Journal reports the asset traded for $47 million. Situated along the Potomac River about 11.5 miles south of Washington, D.C., the 11-story hotel is located across the street from The Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. The hotel features a business center, fitness center, complimentary breakfast, indoor pool and meeting space. Ketan Patel, Phil White and Vasilis Halakos of JLL represented the seller and procured the buyer. Both parties requested anonymity.
JLL Secures $22M Refinancing for Arundel Plaza Shopping Center in Glen Burnie, Maryland
by John Nelson
GLEN BURNIE, MD. — JLL has secured a $22 million loan for the refinancing of Arundel Plaza, a 282,039-square-foot shopping center located at 6620 Governor Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, a southern suburb of Baltimore. Michael Klein, Jon Mikula, Evan Parker and John Cumming of JLL arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan through a life company lender on behalf of the Singapore-based borrower, United Hampshire U.S. REIT. Arundel Plaza was fully leased at the time of financing to tenants including Lowe’s Home Improvement, Giant Food, Jersey Mike’s, FedEx, Hook & Reel, Panda Express and Chipotle Mexican Grill. The six-building property was built in 1967 and renovated in 2017.