"There is an incredible amount of activity going on in and around Baltimore," Christopher Buccini, one of the founding partners of the Wilmington, DE-based BPG Group, tells GlobeSt.com. "As a result we decided we needed someone on the ground."

The firm will be hiring 10 people initially to staff the office, he says, from senior management to property management and facilities. The Baltimore office will continue to focus on the asset group in which BPG is most active in Maryland now--hotel development--but also ratchet up investment in office and residential. The company divvies up its portfolio roughly as 40% hotel, 40% office and 20% residential and retail.

BPG will be housing its new staff in its most recent acquisition in the city: One North Charles St. Located Downtown, the 25-story, 290,619-sf building is a historic landmark that has had a history of long distance owners. BPG acquired the building from the Maryland-based companies Corinthian Realty Partners of Bethesda and Nellis Corp. of Rockville, for an undisclosed sum.