Real Estate Weekly: Cassidy Turley moves Wicomico industrial property for $4M

Leases, news and notes from Maryland's commercial real estate industry

Posted: 9:39 pm Thu, December 23, 2010
By Paul Samuel
Daily Record Associate Editor

Cassidy Turley’s Baltimore office announced the sale of Wicomico Industrial Center, a 343,719-square-foot industrial building at 1601 Wicomico St. in Baltimore.

Jonathan Carpenter, Jay Wellschlager and Philip Iglehart of Cassidy Turley’s Capital Markets Group represented the seller, LNR Partners, Inc., in the sale to a private equity partnership consisting of regionally-based Berg Realty, EML Partners and Smith Industries.

The sale price was $4.4 million. Cassidy Turley also handled the receivership, property management and leasing after the original borrower defaulted on the property.

Base cleanup pact OK’d
U.S. Army, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency officials have reached an agreement that provides a legal framework for the cleanup of polluted land at Fort Detrick, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said Dec. 17.

Since 1991, groundwater contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals has been found beneath approximately 400 acres designated as Area B, formerly a waste disposal site at the Frederick County base.

Although cleanup work at Area B was underway before the EPA listed it as a Superfund site in 2008, Cardin said “the agreement recognizes EPA’s role as ultimate arbiter of cleanup standards and provides an enforceable framework” to complete the remediation.

Thayer Lodging subsidiary to manage tallest hotel
Interstate (China) Hotels & Resorts Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of a joint venture between Thayer Lodging Group of Annapolis, a U.S.-based private equity real estate firm, and Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) Company Limited, a major Chinese hotel group, has been appointed by Shanghai Tower Group to manage the Shanghai Tower J-Hotel, the world’s highest luxury hotel.

Due to open in 2014, the Shanghai Tower J-Hotel will be 121 stories high. Its lobby will be on the 101st floor, and its 258 luxury guest rooms will be located on floors 84-110.

Dutch backing SunEdison
SunEdison LLC of Beltsville, a provider of solar energy services, said it has a three-year, $50 million, revolving construction financing arrangement with Rabobank International for the deployment of solar photovoltaic power plants in the U.S.

SunEdison will finance construction of photovoltaic power plants at client host locations. Upon completion, the hosts will buy the solar energy produced at prices at or below retail rates while avoiding upfront costs typically associated with solar deployments.

Rabobank, based in Utrecht, The Netherlands, is a major international banking company with more than $850 billion in total assets and operations across 40 countries.

Raytheon at APG
Raytheon Co. will dedicate its new building at Aberdeen Proving Ground on Jan. 20.

The Waltham, Mass.-based defense contractor is moving some of its operations to the site in Harford County as part of the Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, process that is transforming the county with the arrival of defense-oriented companies, the construction of new business parks and the expansion of existing ones.

Raytheon will be located at the Government and Technology Enterprise, or GATE, a new, 413-acre technology and research park that is being developed by Baltimore-based St. John Properties immediately inside the main entrance to APG.

New architecture practice launched
Jim Mills, a former associate at Rubeling & Associates, an architectural firm in Towson, has opened his own practice, Design Story Architects in Frederick.

He said his new company is based on the idea that early collaboration among owners, architects and contractors is more desirable than the traditional model, where an architect and owner work together at the earliest stage of a project, with the actual contractor being selected last, and frequently through the lowest-bidder process.

An architect for 23 years, Mills has focused on community-based projects, such as religious buildings, private and public schools, adaptive reuse and historic preservation. He said currently he is working on the third phase of renovations of the historic Immaculate Conception Chapel at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg.

Holland Construction hires Plumeri as EVP
Holland Construction, a full-service construction management company with offices throughout the mid-Atlantic and southwest Florida region, named Robert J. Plumeri, a construction executive with more than 35 years in the industry, as its new executive vice president and chief operating officer.

He was formerly president and COO of Richard D. Poole LLC. At Holland, Plumeri will be responsible for day-to-day project management activities; assisting with new business development, estimating and bidding processes; identifying and establishing relationships with new sub-contractors and vendors; and handling customer service responsibilities.

Charron named to Inman 100
David C. Charron, president and CEO of MRIS, has been named to the Inman 100 by Inman News, an influential real estate industry publication.

The Inman annual list recognizes power brokers, thought leaders and visionaries who influence the real estate industry with their words, actions, insight and innovations. Charron, who is included in the Trade Organization and MLS category of the Inman 100, has an extensive background in real estate, information systems and Internet business situations.

MRIS, which stands for Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., is a large, Rockville-based multiple listing service covering Northern Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

First Potomac Realty Trust unveils acquisitions
First Potomac Realty Trust of Bethesda, a real estate investment trust focused on office and industrial properties in the Greater Washington area, announced its involvement in two major real estate transactions.

One is First Potomac’s acquisition of Atlantic Corporate Park in Sterling, Va., for which it paid $22.55 million, using its line of credit and available cash. The seller was DEXUS Property Group. Atlantic Corporate Park consists of two, four-story Class A LEED Gold Certified office buildings, totaling 219,980 square feet.

The buildings were delivered in 2008 and are currently vacant. In its announcement, an FPO official said “we are confident we can lease up the property over the next 2-3 years.”

First Potomac also announced that it provided a $25 million loan  to the owners of the Atlantic Building at 950 F Street NW in Washington. The property is a 286,678-square-foot, LEED-certified, trophy office building located in the heart of the city’s East End submarket.

The 10-story building was completed in 2006 by Douglas Development Corp. in a project that combined new construction with the historic renovation of neighboring Ford’s Theater, which also operates an annex on the building’s retail level. The building is currently 94 percent leased. The property is subject to a $150 million first mortgage loan.

The First Potomac loan is secured by a portion of the owners’ interest in the property and has an interest rate of 12.5 percent through April 2017.  The loan is pre-payable in full on or after Dec. 21, 2013.

Archstone starts construction in Gaithersburg
Archstone, an Englewood, Colo.-based company that builds and owns apartment communities in the U.S. and Europe, announced that it has begun construction on a 389-unit, transit-oriented apartment development in Gaithersburg.

Located just south of the intersection of North Summit and East Diamond Avenue, in Gaithersburg’s historic downtown, the 6-acre site sits directly across from the Gaithersburg MARC Rail Station, a commuter rail stop that will provide future residents with direct access to downtown Washington, D.C.

The project, to be called Archstone Olde Towne, will be funded primarily through an $89.9 million FHA-insured, Section 221(d)4 loan through CWCapital.

This Week in Leases

Merritt Properties LLC announced the following recent lease deals:

• Life Builders Church leased 9,752 square feet of space at 4820 Seton Drive in Baltimore’s Seton Business Park for use as a place of worship. The overall property consists of a one-story, 52,500-square-foot, flex-type building. Pat Franklin, Whit Levering and Lou Boeri of Merritt Properties represented the landlord in lease negotiations. Alan Orman of Cassidy Turley represented the tenant.

• Equinox Corp., a defense contractor, leased 2,611 square feet of office space at 729 E. Pratt St. in Baltimore City. The building is located at the corner of President and Pratt streets, close to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The historic building dates to the late 1800s and originally housed the Scarlett Seed Co. It was renovated for office and retail space at a cost of approximately $2 million. Pat Franklin, Whit Levering and Lou Boeri of Merritt Properties represented the landlord. Stuart Thomas of Transwestern negotiated on behalf of the tenant.

• Admiral Inc., doing business as Admiral Cleaners Restoration, a restoration company, leased 7.050 square feet of office and warehouse space at the Annapolis Business Center, 1981 Moreland Parkway in Annapolis. Pat Franklin, Whit Levering and Lou Boeri of Merritt Properties represented the landlord. Gary Little of Mueller Commercial Realty represented the tenant.

• MD Sat Pros LLC, a digital satellite TV installation company, leased 2,550 square feet of warehouse/office space at 150 Blades Lane in Glen Burnie. Merritt Properties, the landlord, was represented by the team of Jamie Campbell, Ridgely Bowman, Vince Bagli and Steve Shaw.

• DM360, a marketing/PR firm, leased 1,553 square feet of office space at 8850 Stanford Blvd. in the Columbia Corporate Park in Columbia. The space is contained within a 94,580-square-foot, multi-story office building. Jamie Campbell, Ridgely Bowman, Vince Bagli and Steve Shaw of Merritt Properties represented the landlord.

• Core Foundry LLC, an IT consultant, leased 795 square feet of office space at 8830 Stanford Blvd. in the Columbia Corporate Park. The building overall contains 136,540 square feet of space. Jamie Campbell, Ridgely Bowman, Vince Bagli and Steve Shaw of Merritt Properties represented the landlord in the lease negotiations.

Cushman Wakefield announced that Qdoba Mexican Grill leased 3,000 square feet at 3500 Boston Street in the Brewers Hill/Canton area. The space in the historic Broom Factory building has been recently renovated, with Chesapeake Contracting Co. Inc. handling the work for the restaurant. Kyle Durkee of Cushman & Wakefield handled the transaction and exclusively represents Qdoba throughout the region.