(To read more on the industrial market, click here.)
BALTIMORE-St. John Properties Inc., which owns and has developed nearly 12 million sf of flex, warehouse, office and retail space, expects to announce plans for a one-million-sf flex and office development in Frederick County situated on 100 acres of land, according to a spokesperson. "Flex is doing well for us because of the proximity to the NSA [National Security Agency] and defense related and income BRAC movements," he tells GlobeSt.com.
St. John has upped its development of flex properties as quickly as possible, in response to the growing demand for such space, he adds. Other anecdotal reports here suggest that commercial enterprises as well as US government agencies are in pursuit of flex space. Liberty Property Trust, for example, just signed the first tenant for its new flex-use development in Elkridge.
Other forward-looking development plans for St. John Properties include the construction of second building adjacent to Melford Plaza I in Bowie. "We intend to begin construction when the first building is 50% leased," the spokesperson says. Currently the building is between 25% to 35% leased. The company expects it to be 50% leased within six months.
One of the latest tenants to commit to the building is Lennar, a national homebuilding company headquartered in Miami, which just signed a lease for 38,876 sf. Lennar, which is relocating from the Silver Spring area, is expected to move its 110 associates to the four-story, 150,000-sf class A office building by November, according to St. John. In total, four leases have been signed, by United Radiology, Plan B Technologies and two medical users, according to the spokesperson, totaling some 51,783 sf of leased space. Rental rates are $28.50 per sf for full service, he adds.
The building is located in Maryland Science and Technology Center@ Melford, a 3.2-million-sf, mixed-use development, in which more than 750,000 sf of commercial office space is planned. Besides a second four-story office building, St. John is also making plans to build a mid-rise hotel project within the business park.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
