Central Maryland's Industrial Footprint As Seen Through Two Companies' Deal Flow

A Chesapeake Real Estate Group holding.

BELCAMP, MD—Central Maryland’s industrial profile is in growth mode with a robust development pipeline on one end and tenant activity on the other. Reports from two separate companies in the area capture both sides of this particular coin. This week Philadelphia-based Exeter Property Group signed a tenant to its Riverside Distribution Center t 151 Bata Blvd., in Belcamp, MD. The tenant, Natural Animal Nutrition, is taking 120,000 square feet and is relocating its headquarters to the industrial facility – nearly doubling its size. Michael Walsh of Cushman & Wakefield, represented the tenant in the transaction, while Steven Stein represented Exeter Property Group in-house. The second report of activity in this area comes from the Baltimore-based Chesapeake Real Estate Group. Last year it either completed or commenced construction of more than 1.6 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space in the Central Maryland area, and leased more than 700,000 square feet of space. Transactions included: •     initiating construction of a new 117,000 square foot manufacturing and warehouse facility for Thompson Creek Window Company in Penn 95 Commerce Center in the Upper Marlboro section of  Prince George’s County, Maryland. •     signing Brook Furniture Rental to a 66,000 square foot lease in a new building at Penn 95 Commerce Center •      acquiring the former Sun Products Corporation manufacturing facility in Baltimore City for $20.5 million and unveiling plans to demolish the existing structure and develop two new buildings totaling approximately 550,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution product. The company also plans to redevelop an existing 500,000 square foot distribution building. •     completing a build to suit lease with American Tire Distributors for 138,240 square feet at Baltimore Crossroads@95. •     largely completing Perryman Logistics Center, a 571,000 square foot speculative warehouse/distribution in the Aberdeen section of Harford County. “Examined from every metric, 2015 was the most successful and productive year in the eleven year history of the company,” said James Lighthizer, Managing Partner of Chesapeake Real Estate Group, in  a prepared statement.