"We see a number of exciting new office and retail projects starting downtown," said John Blumer, KLNB chief operating officer. "By establishing a presence in Baltimore City with several veteran real estate professionals, we can leverage our resources in Towson and Columbia to react to those opportunities." This is not the first time KLNB has formally expanded outside of the confines of its traditional suburban Baltimore market. In 1998, the firm opened an office in McLean, to tap the Washington CBD and surrounding suburbs.

Timothy Hearn will be the partner in charge of the new location, and the initial team will include Kevin J. Haus, who will focus on office leasing and sales, and Peter I. Dudley, who will focus on industrial leasing and sales. Even the office space KLNB has selected represents a new foray into the downtown market, as one of the firm's initial projects will be to lease more than 16,000 sf of space at the Can Co., a mixed-use project developed by Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, based in Canton, MD. The firm said it expects to work on additional projects with this developer.