COLUMBIA, MD. — The Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC) has unveiled plans to invest $325 million to densify Downtown Columbia, the REIT’s 391-acre mixed-use development within the master-planned community of Columbia. Founded by James Rouse in 1967, Columbia is situated within the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. corridor in Maryland and is one of the first master-planned communities in the United States.
The first new HHC project within Downtown Columbia’s Lakefront District is a four-story, 86,000-square-foot medical office building representing about $45.8 million in investment. Studio Red Architects is designing the property to achieve LEED Platinum and Fitwel certifications.
Orthopaedic Associates of Central Maryland (OACM), a division of The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics, will move its Columbia office into the new building upon completion in 2024, occupying approximately 20 percent of the asset. The property will be situated near a Whole Foods Market and Lake Kittamaqundi.
Several health and wellness tenants signed on at Downtown Columbia to capitalize on the halo effect from the nearby Howard County General Hospital, which is part of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Other tenants at the Lakefront District include The Pearl spa, medtech firm NuVasive, MedStar Health’s headquarters, Healthcare Management Solutions, Welldoc, Sharecare, Consortium Health Plans, Vaya Pharma, Medisolv and Resolution Health, among others.
“Howard Hughes’ vision for a progressive health and wellness district integrated into the core of a thriving city made it an easy choice to relocate to Downtown Columbia’s new Lakefront District and be part of a new medical office building like no other in the area,” says Steve Maddock, CEO of OACM.
Future development envisioned for the north end of the Lakefront District includes three new residential buildings offering a total of 675 units, plus supporting street-level retail space, pedestrian and cycling connections, and green spaces.
Also coming soon to Downtown Columbia’s Lakefront District is The Collective, a dining and entertainment concept set to open this year. This venue will pair with the existing Offshore restaurant and Encore music venue. Also opening at the development this year is a venture called The 3rd, an incubator supporting women-of-color entrepreneurs.
When completed, the Lakefront District will include up to 2 million square feet of new development, according to Howard Hughes Corp. The Texas-based company is redeveloping the area in accordance with the Downtown Columbia Plan, which specifically calls for “bringing community life and activity back to the water’s edge.”
Columbia spans 14,000 acres and comprises 10 separate villages, including Howard Hughes Corp.’s Downtown Columbia project. Within Downtown Columbia, Howard Hughes Corp. has defined the property into three separate neighborhoods: Lakefront District, Merriweather District and Central District. Together these neighborhoods span 14 million square feet of residences, offices, hotels, shops, restaurants and cultural and public spaces, including public parks and trails.
Other master-planned developments by Howard Hughes Corp. include The Woodlands, The Woodland Hills and Bridgeland in metro Houston; Summerlin in Las Vegas; Ward Village in Honolulu; and Douglas Ranch in Phoenix. The company’s stock price closed on Monday, Feb. 7 at $95.72 per share, up slightly from $94.46 a year ago.
Rouse’s strict master plan for Columbia was in response to suburban sprawl that several American cities encountered in the 1950s and 60s, according to an obituary story by The New York Times the day after Rouse’s death in 1996. Rouse founded The Rouse Co. in 1939, which specialized in the development and operation of shopping centers, malls and master-planned communities. The firm was credited as pioneering “festival marketplaces” in urban settings such as Faneuil Hall in Boston and Waterside in Norfolk. Rouse Co. was also known as bringing the first food courts into enclosed malls, starting with the food court at Paramus Park in New Jersey that debuted in 1974.
Howard Hughes Corp. was founded as a subsidiary of Rouse Co. in 1996. Former mall giant General Growth Properties Inc. purchased Rouse Co. in 2004 for $12.6 billion.
— John Nelson