The Baltimore County Boom
There are billions of dollars of construction underway in Baltimore County. Is there a pattern to it all? And who's going to leap in next? To find out, join us at The Future of Baltimore County at the Radisson North Baltimore on Tuesday, July 14, starting at 8:30am.
The county is seeing strong demand for food retailers, including grocery stores like Whole Foods, and restaurants like Smashburger, says H&R Retail (which reps both companies) principal Geoffrey Mackler. Whole Foods is the anchor at Towson Row, a $350M mixed-use project by Caves Valley Partners. The downtown Towson project will include a 200k SF office tower, 300 luxury apartments, student housing, 100k SF of restaurant and retail, and a business hotel when it opens by 2019. H&R Retail is handling the retail leasing at Towson Row.
Smashburger is slated for Foundry Row, the $140M redevelopment of the former Solo Cup factory in Owings Mills. Anchored by Wegman’s, Foundry Row tenants will include LA Fitness, DSW, Old Navy, Ulta and Foundry Row Wine & Spirits when it opens in 2016. Developer Greenberg Gibbons also recently announced its first office tenant, LifeBridge Health, which will take 29k SF.
Geoff, pictured speaking at The Associated’s annual Real Estate Industry Group event, says he is bullish on Baltimore County: “There continues to be development and expansion from White Marsh to Owings Mills to Landsdowne.”
On the industrial side, Baltimore County last month announced new property and income tax credits—the Chesapeake Enterprise Zone—available to businesses investing in a portion of Eastern Baltimore County, says Baltimore County director of workforce and economic development Will Anderson. That includes the Sparrows Point peninsula, the site of a former steel mill that Redwood Capital Investments and Hilco Real Estate are turning into a transportation, logistics and manufacturing hub.
Demolition at the site will be completed in another year, says Sparrows Point Terminal LLC VP Aaron Tomarchio. Sparrows Point Terminal (the JV between Redwood and Hilco) has hired JLL to lease the 1M SF of industrial space at the 3,100-acre site and Parsons Brinckerhoff to oversee the redevelopment master plan. Parsons and JLL are conducting a market analysis to determine the best tenants. A study on how to proceed with the environmental cleanup is also underway.
In Northeast Baltimore County, Chesapeake Real Estate Group has signed on two tenants at Crossroads @95, a warehouse, distribution and office facility built on spec in White Marsh, says Chesapeake managing partner James Lighthizer (pictured at a groundbreaking with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan). One building (of a total three) is fully leased to American Tire Distributors, which is moving from Halethorpe and into the 140k SF space this fall. Carpet Consultants is taking up 20k SF.
You can hear these speakers and more talk about Baltimore County’s construction boom, enterprise zones and economy. Join us for The Future of Baltimore County at the Radisson North Baltimore July 14, at 8:30 am. Sign up here.
