Lincoln Property Co. Brings 443K SF Industrial Development To One Of Maryland’s Newest Economic Hubs

As development continues throughout the Washington, D.C., metro area, surrounding areas like Frederick, Maryland, have quickly followed suit. Since 2010, D.C.’s population has grown by 14.6%, and Frederick’s has grown by nearly 24%.

Ranked as one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, Frederick has become an emerging hub for the life sciences and manufacturing industries. The city is now home to more than 600 businesses across all sectors. One business that is seizing the opportunity in this industrial market is Lincoln Property Co., a global real estate firm. 

“Nationally, Lincoln Property Co. is a strong believer in the industrial market,” said Brent Prossner, senior vice president and managing director at Lincoln Property Co. “The past few years have been the hottest the industrial market has ever been. Although recently, we’re seeing this market correct itself from exceptionally strong to a good market with the economy in Frederick still booming.” 

With that, Lincoln Property Co. decided to bring a new industrial development to the city that has the ability to house manufacturing, life sciences and distribution tenants.

Bisnow spoke with Prossner to learn more about Lincoln West at Jefferson Station — the company’s new industrial development — and what it means for the greater Frederick community and economy. 

Bisnow: Can you tell us a bit more about Lincoln West at Jefferson Station?

Prossner: Lincoln West at Jefferson Station is a brand new, Class-A industrial/high bay flex space located at the intersection of routes 70 and 340. 

This four-building development will be built in two phases, totaling 443K SF. The largest building will be 216K SF, and our smallest will be 22,800 SF. Most industrial spaces this size only have a 30-foot ceiling clearance, but ours range from 24 to 32 feet. The extra 2 feet we’ve added in Phase 1 will give us a competitive edge for distribution tenants trying to maximize their racking.  

Phase 1 of the development delivered in November of this year and is zoned as mixed-use commercial with an ORI overlay. This means we have the ability to not only have a manufacturing or life sciences tenant, but also a distribution or third-party logistics tenant. To prepare for the varying needs of our tenants, we’ve constructed the buildings with extra conduit to pull additional power. The completion of this phase included the construction of our largest building. 

Phase 2 entails the construction of our last three buildings. Our smallest building in this phase is 22,800 SF. Our second building is nearly 29,500 SF and the third is much larger at 175K SF. For the largest of the three buildings, we have the ability to break this building up into four tenant spaces. We’re pouring the slab now and this project will be completed in May of 2023.

Bisnow: Why did Lincoln Property Co. decide to bring this development to Frederick?

Prossner: Lincoln Property is a strong believer in the Frederick market, whether it’s in life sciences, biomanufacturing, light manufacturing or distribution. We’ve seen success at similar competitive projects in the Frederick area and have had success with our own developments in neighboring markets. This made it an easy decision for us to make the leap into the Frederick industrial and life sciences market.

Additionally, the Frederick County Economic Development team has been great to work with as a resource and acts as an advocate for our project. This further cemented our decision to develop Lincoln West at Jefferson Station.

Bisnow: How does Lincoln West at Jefferson Station compare to other industrial developments in the area?

Prossner: Several things stand out right away, with the first being our location. Located within two minutes of multiple highways puts you en route to either Baltimore, Washington, D.C., or Hagerstown, Maryland, in no time. 

Also adjacent to Lincoln West at Jefferson Station is the new Jefferson Place development, a mixed-use community. In the future, we will have walkable amenities like multifamily housing, retail, restaurants, office space and more. The project also has a high parking ratio that is not typically seen for such industrial projects. As it sits now, we have a 2.7/1,000 spaces-per-SF parking ratio, however, if a tenant needs more parking, we have an overflow lot we can stripe and park that pushes it close to 3/1,000 SF. 

What really sets Lincoln West apart is what we’ve included into the infrastructure of the project for the future needs of the tenants. 

In Phase 1, we added a 7-inch foundation, compared to the typical 6-inch slab, so we can handle heavy equipment without reinforcement. Additionally, we laid extra conduit within all of the buildings. Currently, we have the capacity for 3,000 amps. However, if a tenant needs 4,000 or 5,000 amps, we have the ability to quickly pull extra wire thanks to the additional conduits in place. 

Instead of asphalt aprons, we laid concrete for the truck courts. Concrete lasts much longer with any kind of truck traffic. Additionally, we created 60 trailer drops for a distribution tenant that can also be easily converted to outside storage.

Bisnow: What is Lincoln Property’s view on the current state of the industrial real estate market?  

Prossner: Lincoln Property Co. has confidence in the national industrial markets, although we think the possibility of a recession may slow rates and some spec development nationwide. Instead of double-digit growth year-over-year, which we have been experiencing, it may tumble to single-digit growth. 

Specifically in Frederick, we feel confident about where we stand because of the diversity of the tenant pool. Frederick is one of the fastest-growing cities in Maryland and the younger generations are attracted to it because of its proximity to major cities, vibrant business scene and its affordability.

The city is an anchor for the life sciences community, and because of this, we are certainly receiving calls from those groups. Further, as the BWI industrial corridor sits at 3% vacancy, and the neighboring industrial submarkets rest at 2% to 3.5% vacant and have rental rates pushing into the low to midteens. Due to this need for more space, we are also receiving calls from industrial and distribution tenants. 

Frederick can be a lower-cost alternative to many other cities in the region and companies are realizing they have employees commuting from and living in Frederick. With the wide range of groups starting to look at Frederick as a home for their business, we feel confident in our decision to develop there.

This article was produced in collaboration between Lincoln Property Co. and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.