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.