Real Estate Weekly: Baltimore’s new shelter, Vacant supermarket sold, personnel and leases

Posted: 11:56 am Fri, July 1, 2011
By Daily Record Staff

Newly relocated Jacob House opens in Baltimore County

Baltimore County public officials, business representatives and community leaders were on hand on Saturday for the official opening of the Jacob House, a restored, historic log cabin that represents the unique history of East Towson.

The restored cabin is located adjacent to the Carver Center at 300 Lennox Ave. The Baltimore County Office of Planning worked closely with the North East Towson Improvement Association to manage the building’s restoration and relocation. Financial support came from the Maryland Historical Trust Inc., Metro Housing Inc., Baltimore County and Stanley Black & Decker.

Preservation Associates Inc. was the primary contractor in handling the deconstruction and rebuilding of the cabin. The Jacob House, which dates to about 1840, was badly damaged in a fire in 1999 and was to be torn down, but a 13-foot by 18-foot log cabin portion survived to be deconstructed and rebuilt in its present location. Plans call for the building to be used as a museum, open by appointment, to allow visitors to see what life might have been like for the freed slaves who originally settled in East Towson.

104-unit apartment community in Salisbury sold for $6.8 million

CB Richard Ellis’ Baltimore-Washington Multi-Housing Investment Team arranged the sale of Tide Mill, a 104-unit apartment community at 623 Edgewater Drive in Salisbury.

The buyer, Fairfax Station Enterprises LLC of Fairfax Station, Va., purchased the property for $6.8 million from an entity owned by Douglas Margerum, a principal of Annapolis-based Cove Property Management, and Michael B. Gross, principal of Advantage Properties Inc. Built in 1984, Tide Mill is located on nearly 15 acres of land less than two miles from Salisbury University.

The development features an assortment of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, a fitness center, large pool, business center, playgrounds, full sized sand-filled volleyball court and pet park.

There is space to add 45 more garden-style apartment homes or 36 more townhomes. CBRE’s Bill Roohan, Mike Muldowney, Michael Rudolph, Brian Margerum, Martha Hastings and Trish Bonebrake, joined by Joe Schneider of partner office Schneider, Richardson & Davis LLC, represented the seller in the transaction.

Terreno acquires industrial property in Savage

Terreno Realty Corp., a publicly traded real estate company focused on industrial real estate, said it has acquired a building in Savage for approximately $7.5 million.

In its announcement, Terreno did not identify either the address of the approximately 99,000-square-foot building or disclose the name of the single tenant that fully occupies it. However, real estate sources said the property is a one-story, 98,750-square-foot building at 8730 Bollman Place in Savage, and the tenant is Maines Paper & Food Service Inc., a Conklin, N.Y-based foodservice supplier with nine distribution centers nationwide, according to Hoovers.

That was later confirmed by Cushman & Wakefield of Maryland, which announced that Cristopher Abramson and Nicholas Signor of its Capital Markets team and Michael Elardo and Brian Kruger of C&W’s Industrial Services team arranged the sale of the property.

Burnett gets BDC nod

The Baltimore Development Corp. said Tuesday it has awarded an exclusive negotiating privilege to Wm. T. Burnett & Co./STX LLC of Baltimore for the redevelopment of a 5,250-square-foot property at 1448-1458 Wicomico St. Baltimore-based Burnett makes polyurethane foam and nonwoven materials.

STX, a Burnett subsidiary, manufactures sporting goods and apparel. The companies are headquartered in a Southwest Baltimore industrial park, but also occupy a warehouse building at 1455 W. Hamburg St. immediately abutting the Wicomico Street property. They plan to use the latter site to expand warehouse facilities, according to the BDC.

Homeless shelter opens in Baltimore City

A former transportation building and garage in Baltimore has been transformed into an center for the homeless.

The city-owned, $8 million facility, called the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Housing and Resource Center, will provide temporary housing and services to homeless people. Clients will begin moving into the 275-bed center July 5. The building on the Fallsway formerly housed trolley cars.

It is located in an area where various social service agencies have opened centers to aid low-income people with health care, crisis counseling, and nutrition and employment services.

McCormick & Schmick debuts new patio

Chain seafood restaurant McCormick & Schmick opened a newly remodeled 4,700-square-foot patio at its Pier 5 location at the Inner Harbor.

The patio, which seats 275, features an assortment of contemporary rattan furniture and custom banquette seating, new plantings and landscape design, new outdoor umbrellas, additional soft lighting and an all-new sound system, including top-of-the-line speakers for ambient music.

The patio is open for lunch, dinner, happy hours and special occasions, according to restaurant management.

Vacant supermarket sold

Land & Commercial Inc., an Upper Marlboro-based commercial/industrial brokerage, said a private investment group paid $900,000 for a foreclosed former Giant Food supermarket in Oxon Hill.

The buyer plans to open an international supermarket on the site, according to LCI’s Carrie Shearer, who represented the buyer in the transaction. Leo Bruso, also of LCI, represented the seller. The 24,398-square-foot building sits on approximately 7.3 acres of land at 4508 Wheeler Road in Prince George’s County.

It has been empty for a decade and is extremely deteriorated, due to extended litigation that delayed a sale, Shearer said.

Marriott revs up spinoff

Marriott International Inc. of Bethesda, the largest publicly traded U.S. hotel chain, plans to spin off its vacation club subsidiary into a separate publicly traded company by the end of the year, according to documents filed with regulators on Tuesday.

Once it is spun off, the business unit will be named Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp., Marriott said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Marriott also said it expects to release its second-quarter financial results on July 13.

Urgo’s Montreal deal

Urgo Hotels L.P. of Bethesda, a developer, owner and operator of upscale hotels, and a group of private investors paid $39 million to acquire the majority interest of a joint venture partnership that owns an unusual two-hotel complex at the Montreal International Airport.

Under terms of the transaction, Urgo gained a controlling interest in the complex, as well as a long-term management contract. The hotels – a 160-room Courtyard by Marriott and an adjoining 169-suite Residence Inn by Marriott – have separate entrances and lobbies, but share certain services and public spaces.

PERSONNEL

Continental Title Group, a full-service commercial and residential title company and a division of The Strata Group of Baltimore, announced the promotion of Elizabeth L. “Liz” Jones to vice president of business development. She was formerly settlement attorney for the Baltimore region for Continental Title. In her new role, Jones will develop and execute strategies designed to attract new business opportunities to the company, as well as assist with transactional work involving the commercial and residential real estate industries. She will work from the company’s offices at McHenry Row in Baltimore City. Jones has more than eight years of industry experience and has also worked as a principal and attorney for MarketPlace Title LLC; an attorney for Polovoy & Turner and Gorman & Williams; a settlement attorney for Vision Settlements LLC; and a branch manager and settlement attorney for Fountainhead Title Group. Continental Title Group, an affiliate of Real Estate Title & Escrow, is licensed to conduct business in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Crystal Frey has been named vice president of human resources by Continental Realty Corp., of Baltimore. Frey had worked for Marcor Environmental for over 20 years, including the past 16 as head of its human resources department. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Salisbury University and an MBA from the University of Baltimore. Frey holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources designation from the Society for Human Resource Management and is a Certified Compensation Professional.

Erinn Dowling Torres has been appointed an associate at Broad Street Realty, of Bethesda. Before joining the commercial real estate services firm, Torres worked in the public institutions group at Jones Lang LaSalle as regional manager, focusing on commercial leasing for the General Services Administration. Before that, she was a project manager for the real estate planning and development department at George Washington University, where she managed development project planning proposed under the school’s 20-year Foggy Bottom Campus Plan.

LEASES

Merritt Properties LLC of Woodlawn reported the following recently signed lease:

U.S.A. Television & Appliance Recycling, a discount appliance and repair company, leased 2,700 square feet of office and warehouse space at 26 Alco Place in the Lansdowne Industrial Park. The Merritt Properties team of Jamie Campbell, Liz Tarran-Jones, Vince Bagli and Steve Shaw negotiated the lease on behalf of the landlord.