Morgan Properties and Dune Buy Glen Burnie’s 796-Unit Chesapeake Glen Apartments

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Morgan Properties of King of Prussia, Pa., and Dune Real Estate Partners LP of New York have teamed up to acquire the Chesapeake Glen Apartments community in Glen Burnie, Md., from Equity Residential. The cost of the transaction has not yet been disclosed. HFF represented the seller.

Chesapeake Glen Apartments is a 796-unit garden-style apartment community. It is located at 8035 Greenleaf Terrace, in Anne Arundel County, in close proximity of I-95, I-97 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and the Annapolis Waterfront are just minutes away. The Artery Group constructed Chesapeake Glen in phases, in 1973 and 1977. It underwent two interior renovations from 2006 until 2008 and from 2010 until 2011 by Equity Partners.

The apartment community includes such amenities as a fully renovated resident clubhouse, a state of the art fitness center, a resort-style outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, playgrounds and picnic areas. It offers residents a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with individually-controlled HVAC units, washers and dryers, upgraded kitchens, balconies or patios, high-speed internet and nine spacious floor plans.

The Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative spurred economic growth in the area. It brought almost 22,000 new jobs to Fort Meade and is expected to generate $4 billion in annual economic output.

Mitchell Morgan, founder and CEO of Morgan Properties, said, “Chesapeake Glen is a significant acquisition for our company. We are excited to collaborate with Dune and feel that we have the ability to add value to the asset. It’s a great time to invest in the multifamily sector… the wind is at our back. The fundamentals are stronger than ever brought on by the shift from homeownership towards rental apartments. We feel that Class B is the right place to invest now since we have a captive audience and it generates significant yield.” The two companies plan to execute a repositioning strategy that will address capital needs and complete interior unit renovations to enhance value.

Morgan Properties is one of the largest and fastest-growing multifamily owners in the Maryland-DC Corridor. It oversees a portfolio of 17 apartment communities and 6,400 units in the region.

Photo credits: Morgan Properties

Baltimore Ravens to Invest $35M in Upgrades to the M&T Bank Stadium

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

NFL champions the Baltimore Ravens aren’t taking it easy after defeating the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. The team announced last Thursday it plans to invest $35 million to upgrade M&T Bank Stadium in order to enhance the fan experience.

The project has been in the works for a year now and mainly calls for improvements to video boards, concession stands and all concourses. It will be carried out in two phases, over the next two years.

The first phase will begin in the next week and is expected to be completed by the start of the 2013-2014 preseason. It calls for extensive upgrades to the stadium’s lower concourse and video boards. The second phase of the project will start next year and will focus on the upper concourse. It is scheduled to be complete in time for the 2014-2015 season.

The concourses will be redesigned and will feature a ”Ravenized” theme influenced by the brick and steel look of the stadium’s exterior. The support columns will be wrapped in brick and steel, purple LED lights will be added to each of the pillars, and enhanced directional signage installed throughout each concourse.

All 16 lower concourse concession stands will be upgraded. Work will also be done on specialty areas such as the lower concourse’s Barcardi Bar and Talon Pub. The four retail stores inside the stadium will be slightly increased in size. Renovations to upper concourse concession stands will be made prior to the 2014 NFL season. Beginning in 2014, stadium suites will also be upgraded.

Two high-definition video boards, 8 feet high and 30 feet wide, will be installed at the concourse entrances of gates A and D. The static boards on each side of the RavensVision HD video boards behind each end zone will be replaced with four new LED boards. New LED ribbon boards will also be installed around the entire seating bowl.

The 71,000-seat M&T Bank Stadium is still one of the NFL’s top venues. It is owned by the Maryland Stadium Authority and has been the Ravens’ home for the last 15 years. The team will pay for the upgrades.

Photo credits:  www.baltimoreravens.com

The Howard Hughes Corporation, Kettler and Orchard Development Corporation Break Ground on $100 Million Metropolitan Downtown Columbia

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Shovels broke ground on February 11, as work started on The Metropolitan Downtown Columbia, a $100 million mixed-use project in downtown Columbia’s Warfield neighborhood. Developers and county officials attended the ceremony.

The Metropolitan Downtown Columbia will feature 380 one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury apartments with prices between $1,500 to $2,800, access-controlled garage parking and about 14,000 square feet of ground floor retail.  It includes such amenities as the largest resident clubhouse in Columbia, a fitness center with studio, media and game rooms, a catering kitchen with a dining area, a courtyard with an outdoor screening room, an all-season kitchen with built-in grills and bar, and a pool with submerged seating and cabanas. The project also calls for the construction of a 28,500-square-foot public promenade with a 6,000-square-foot children’s play area.

The Dallas-based Howard Hughes Corporation is working together on the project with Kettler, of McLean, VA, and Orchard Development Corporation of Ellicott City, MD. The Metropolitan Downtown Columbia is the first development to proceed under the 2010 Downtown Columbia Plan. The plan will bring 5,500 residential units, 4.3 million square feet of office, 1.25 million square feet of retail and up to 640 hotel rooms to downtown Columbia. Also included is the construction of a new multi-model transportation system and the redevelopment of Merriweather Post Pavilion concert venue.

“It is exciting to celebrate this pivotal first step in the revitalization of downtown Columbia,” said John E. DeWolf, senior vice president of development for The Howard Hughes Corporation. “This milestone has been highly anticipated by everyone in the community, especially those who have invested significant time and effort in the planning process.”

The Metropolitan Downtown Columbia is expected to be completed by spring 2014.

Photo credits: www.columbiamd.com

Tower Point at the Highlands Sold for $23.7M to Greenfield Partners

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Connecticut-based Greenfield Partners LLC has acquired Tower Point at the Highlands,  a corporate campus situated on 60 acres in Sparks, Maryland. The seller was Equus Capital Partners Ltd. The property sold for $23.7 million or $124 per square foot.

Tower Point is a 162,646-square-foot campus about 20 miles north of Baltimore. It includes two Class A office buildings located at 920 and 930 Ridgebrook Road. 920 Ridgebrook Road is the largest of the two buildings. It has three stories and 94,071 square feet of space. 930 Ridgebrook Road is a three-story building with 72,406 square feet of space. A third three-story, 81,000 square foot Class A office building, 934 Ridgebrook Road, is planned and will be situated adjacent to 920 Ridgebrook Road. It is fully approved for development and available for lease and build-to-suit and expansion opportunities.

The property is at 96% occupied. It is home to the corporate headquarters of Fundamental Long Term Care Holdings LLC, FILA USA Inc. and MobilexUSA.

Christopher Abramson, Brian Kruger and Nicholas Signor of Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets group represented Equus Capital Partners Ltd. Equus Capital Partners was known as BPG Properties Ltd. until February 4, when it announced its name change.

Cushman & Wakefield also served as the exclusive advisor to Greenfield Partners in arranging a $17 million fixed-rate loan for the property. J.P. Morgan provided the five-year financing. Gideon Gil, Alexander Hernandez, and Sridhar Vankayala of Cushman & Wakefield’s Equity, Debt and Structured Finance team represented the sponsor.

“This is a great purchase at a discount to replacement cost, with solid tenancy and no turnover for the next six years,” said Cristopher Abramson, a Cushman & Wakefield executive director.

Photo credits: www.towerpointatthehighlands.com

Charts courtesy of CBRE.

Jefferson Apartment Group Starts Construction on 304-unit Apartment Community in Baltimore

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

The Jefferson Apartment Group broke ground last week on Jefferson Square at Washington Hill, a mixed-use development that includes luxury residences and retail space. It’s the company’s first major residential project in the Baltimore area.

Jefferson Square at Washington Hill is located just outside the gates of the Johns Hopkins medical campus, between N. Wolfe Street and N. Washington Street on E. Fayette Street. The five-story mixed-use development will bring 304 residential units to the area, as well as 21,000 square feet of retail. The project will also include two private courtyards, a 405-space parking structure constructed to connect each level of the building to parking, and several green building features.

Residents will enjoy a host of amenities including a theater, pub room with gaming tables and resident business/study lounge. Jefferson at Washington Square is also close to some of Baltimore’s prime neighborhoods such as Harbor East, Canton and Fell Point.

A CVS Caremark pharmacy has already signed on to the project, and 10,800 square feet of retail space are reserved for restaurant users and service retail. CBRE Baltimore’s Jeff Bach is in charge of retail leasing for Jefferson at Washington Square.

”We’re excited about this investment and are proud to be a part of the neighborhood and continue the revitalization that is already well under way,” said JAG vice Ppesident and development partner Drew Chapman. “We look forward to introducing the Baltimore market to our luxury, mixed-use product, starting with this well-located development.”

Jefferson at Washington Square will provide much needed high-end housing for the area’s growing population. The project’s developers hope to attract employees from Johns Hopkins which has 55,700 employees and students in the area.

Rendering courtesy of The Jefferson Apartment Group.

St. John Properties will Deliver More Offices to Greater Baltimore

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

St. John Properties is working hard to bring Class ”A” offices to the Greater Baltimore area. In recent weeks, the Baltimore-based commercial real estate company has started work on two projects that will deliver over 360,000 square feet of office space.

St. John Properties, Inc. has announced it’s working with Greenebaum Enterprises on the construction of a four-story, 138,000 square foot Class “A” office building at 8135 Maple Lawn Boulevard. The facility is located within Maple Lawn, a 600-acre mixed-use business community located in Howard County, Maryland. Development of this project includes 388,000 square feet of existing office space, as well as the development rights for more than 800,000 additional square feet of office space.

8135 Maple Lawn Boulevard is expected to be finished in November 2013. Designed to achieve LEED certification, the building will feature a brick and glass exterior, high-energy HVAC units, energy-efficient motion sensor light fixtures, double-pane insulated glass, white TPO roofing membrane, dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals, and low-VOC paint and adhesives. A state-of-the-art system that minimizes the effect on local waterways will be used to manage storm water runoff.

”Continued strong leasing momentum at Maple Lawn has provided us with the confidence to move forward with this new speculative office building,” stated Jerry Wit, senior vice president, marketing for St. John Properties.

St. John Properties also announced on January 23 that it started construction on Annapolis Commons, a 28-acre mixed-use business community in Annapolis. The project will deliver two single-story and three two-story Class “A” speculative buildings with a total of 227,000 square feet of space. Annapolis Commons is located directly off Harry S. Truman Parkway near the intersection of Riva Road, and immediately south of MD Route 50 in Anne Arundel County.

“Our research shows an emerging demand for Class ‘A’ office space within the Annapolis marketplace,” said Wit.

The first phase of the project consists of a two-story 63,000 square foot office building and a single-story 32,000 square foot office building, and it is expected to be finished in the first quarter 2014. All five Annapolis Commons buildings are designed to achieve LEED certification and have the same green features as the building St. John Properties is constructing in Maple Lawn.

Charts courtesy of CBRE.

Industrial Properties Sell in the Baltimore Area

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Baltimore’s industrial market has started 2013 strong, with three proprieties recently sold for a total of around $35 million. According to a report released in January by CBRE for last year’s fourth quarter, industrial sales in the Baltimore market in 2012 are on a path to exceed sales from the previous year by 20 percent.

1021 Swan Creek Drive, a Class A industrial property leased by Nissan North America, has been sold for $13.5 million. Hartz Mountain Industries has purchased the property in Baltimore’s Curtis Bay neighborhood from Swan Creek 5R LLC, a subsidiary of the Belt’s Corp. CBRE arranged the sale.

The building is located in the Marley Neck Industrial Park, just minutes from the Port of Baltimore. Both downtown Washington and downtown Baltimore are within easy reach. The 154,400-square-foot warehouse has 29 loading docks.

CBRE First Vice President Jonathan H. Beard and CBRE Senior Vice President Robert T. “Bo” Cashman represented The Belt’s Corporation in the transaction. CBRE Senior Vice President John Wilhide also assisted the sale.

9060 Junction Drive, a 144,571-square-foot distribution warehouse in Annapolis Junction, MD was sold to Boston-based TA Associates Realty for $8.25 million. Emory Properties was the seller. The warehouse 48 percent  leased.

TA Associates Realty also acquired a 205,000 square foot industrial warehouse in Jessup, MD. It paid $13.7 million for the fully leased property at 8125 Stayton Drive to Stayton Associates.

Jonathan M. Carpenter and James S. Wellschlager of Cassidy Turley’s Capital Markets Group represented both Emory Properties and Stayton Associates in the transactions mentioned above.

The Baltimore metro area remains attractive for industrial users and investors due to its low unemployment, close proximity to Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, and ease of access to the Port of Baltimore. CBRE reports that although the overall vacancy rate in the area increased from 10.3 to 11.1 percent, largely due to move-outs by bulk users, the outlook still remains optimistic because of new leases and expansions by larger warehouse users like Recall Total Information Management, AFP, Sleepy’s and Proctor & Gamble.

Charts courtesy of CBRE.

Owings Mills Corporate Center I & II Aquired by BECO Management

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Rockville, MD-based BECO Management, Inc. has announced the acquisition of Owings Mills Corporate Center I & II, two properties in Owings Mills, MD that total more than 330,000 square feet of office space. The commercial real estate management company plans to invest significant capital in infrastructure, cosmetic and amenity improvements and it unveiled its 100-day action plan on January 8.

Owings Mills Corporate Center I was built in 1987 while Owings Mills Corporate Center II was built a year later. The campus is home to a variety of corporate tenants such as Aon Corporation, BB&T, the Law Offices of Sheela Murthy, and CareFirst of Maryland. It is adjacent to the Owings Mills Mall and within walking distance of the Owings Mills Metro Station. I-95, I-695 and I-795 are also close by and downtown Baltimore is just 25 minutes away.

“The Owings Mills Corporate Center campus is the perfect addition to our portfolio—like our other buildings, they’re well-constructed, provide an ideal development platform and are centrally located in a growth-rich location,” said Jeffrey Cohen, BECO Management’s co-founder and CEO, in a press statement. Two real estate companies, Colliers International and Cassidy Turley, have recently released market reports for the fourth quarter of 2012, showing that the Baltimore office market continues to improve. BECO Management has a portfolio of 71 buildings comprising more than 5.5 million square feet of office, flex and warehouse space throughout the greater Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area and Charlotte, North Carolina.

BECO has assembled a first-rate team to implement the Owings Mills improvement plan. “Our team is hard at work transitioning the properties, improving the level of service, property maintenance and amenities to BECO standards, and building a perfect work environment for current and future tenants,” according to Cohen.

“If there is one landlord who can return these buildings to their former market prominence, it is BECO. They are renowned for developing longstanding relationships with tenants as well as delivering the highest service levels and best-in-class amenities in the industry,” said Gary Applestein, managing director and principal, Baltimore Region, Colliers International.

Charts courtesy of Cassidy Turley.

Photo credits: Cushman & Wakefield.

Picerne Military Housing to Build $72M Housing Complex at Fort Meade

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Picerne Military Housing, a division of the Corvias Group, a privately owned real estate firm, has closed on a $72 million public-private partnership deal with the U.S. Army to build more than 1,400 garden-style apartments for junior enlisted single service members at Fort Meade, in Maryland. According to Picerne, this is the U.S. Army’s first-ever privately developed, on-post apartment community for unaccompanied junior enlisted soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen.

The development is named Reece Crossings. This modern apartment community will be comprised of 432 one- and two-bedroom units with 816 beds. The project will offer 1,126 square foot one-bedroom plus den and 1,186 square foot two-bedroom apartments with large kitchens, a breakfast bar and full-size appliances, spacious living rooms, a laundry room with washer and dryer and free cable, high-speed Internet and utilities.

Each apartment will be pre-furnished with a sofa, media cabinet and coffee table, as well as a queen-sized bed, desk and night stand in each bedroom. Private master suites will also be available to all service members living in the apartment community. They include individual bathrooms, walk-in closets, personal climate controls, and private climate-controlled secure storage for military gear.

The 14-building apartment community will feature such amenities as weight lifting and fitness rooms, a state-of-the-art clubroom with multiple flat-screen TVs, sports ticker and video gaming, a cyber café with charging stations and Internet access, basketball and sand volleyball courts. A 6,233-square-foot community club house with a resort-style lap pool and outdoor grilling and picnic pavilions will be available to help reduce isolation and boost morale.

Reece Crossings has been designed in accordance with U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver, Low-Impact Development (LID) and Energy Star guidelines. It will include advanced storm water management techniques and will use recycled, low-maintenance, regional materials in the construction process, to reduce transportation costs and carbon emissions from delivery vehicles.

Ground will be broken this month. The first apartment building and clubhouse are expected to be completed by December 2013.

Photo credits: Picerne Military Housing

ProMed Pays $22 Million for Part of Baltimore Building

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

ProMed Properties LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gazit-Globe, recently purchased four floors of the Johnston Professional Building in North Baltimore. The New York-based company paid $21.75 million to buy a leasehold interest for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the eight-story building.

Located at 3333 N. Calvert Street, the four floors sit atop MedStar Health’s Union Memorial Hospital, which occupies the lower levels of the building. MedStar Union Memorial is also the largest tenant, occupying almost 51 percent of the total square footage. ProMed, a leading owner and asset manager of medical office and research buildings, purchased 79,360 square feet of medical office space in the Johnston Professional Building. With this acquisition, the building will now be 100 percent occupied. The rest of the space is occupied by a diverse mix of medical practices.

The building is located just one block east of the Homewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University, in an area where the university is investing continuously in development projects for the use of the university as well as retail and multifamily housing. Within a five mile radius of the property, there is a population of almost 610,000, with an average household income of $63,500. It exceeds the national average.

”This acquisition offers ProMed the opportunity to partner with MedStar Health, one of the strongest healthcare systems in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Furthermore, it aligns with ProMed’s investment strategy of selectively acquiring properties, near and integral to top-related medical universities and hospitals, in markets with high barriers to entry. This new acquisition is a great addition to our Northeastern portfolio, which includes properties in major MSAs such as New York, Washington DC, Boston and Philadelphia.”

ProMed financed the acquisition with a new, 10-year, $14.0 million loan at a fixed 3.95 percent interest rate as well as cash on hand.

Photo credits: Google Maps