The owner, Millennium Development Group of Frederick, led by developer Thomas Poss, is doing site work, grading, landscaping and stormwater management. It plans to start construction this October with two of five planned 80,000-sf buildings and a 100,000-sf speculative data center, he says. It expects to invest $40 million in engineering, roads, sewer and fiber-optic cable over the life of the project, which could create 3.2 million sf of new commercial space.
MIE Properties has started work on two of six planned buildings on land it bought in Riverside that is site-plan-approved for about 500,000 sf of construction. It plans to proceed on a speculative basis.
"The risk is we've positioned zoning towards attracting tech companies. A substantial amount of investment will be to build a fiber loop," Poss says.
But officials don't believe their fringe location will hurt them. If anything, it will help, Duncan says. "We have been told by information technology and biotech companies that it reminds them of Northern Virginia before all of the accelerated growth," Duncan notes. "We have easy access to government, lower taxes by a little, easy permits and rents that are over 30% cheaper than Montgomery County." Fiber-optic companies are also laying cable in the area.
Fringe areas like Prince William County, VA and Frederick County are the next hot development spots, partly because they lack organized slow-growth advocates now active in Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Virginia.
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