Construction to begin at new Social Security Administration complex in Reisterstown

Construction is expected to begin at a $150 million Social Security Administration complex after a ceremonial groundbreaking set for Jan. 26 at 10:30 a.m.

More than 1,600 federal employees are expected to work at the site, at 6100 Wabash Ave., once it opens. The transit-oriented building will be built on state-owned property directly across from the Reisterstown Plaza Metro Station.

JBG Companies of Chevy Chase was selected in 2010 to design and develop the project. The new complex will replace the aged SSA Metro West facility at 300 N. Greene St. that opened on the city’s Westside more than 30 years ago. Federal officials have said they plan to sell the building once the employees transfer to the new location.

Clark Construction of Bethesda will be the general contractor.

The new complex will encompass more than 11 acres and result in 538,000 square feet of office space and 1,076 parking spaces.

Expected to help in the groundbreaking are Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, SSA Commissioner Michael J. Astrue and Baltimore City Councilwoman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector.

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St. John Properties Inc. has broken ground on a fourth building at the successful Liberty Exchange complex west of Eldersburg near Randallstown. The building will be part of a planned 215,000-square-foot mixed-use space on Liberty Road near the intersection of Routes 32 and 26 in Carroll County that when complete will total 10 buildings.

St. John’s newest addition will be a single-story, 25,000-square-foot structure, near the company’s other existing spaces: a 16,645 square-foot-retail space, a 25,000-square-foot office building and a 61,000-square-foot research and development-flex space project.

Liberty Exchange is St. John’s first project in Carroll County. Retail and commercial tenants are starting to lease, St. John officials say. Last year, Orthopedic Associates of Central Maryland, opened a practice there in 12,240 square feet of space.

“Leasing activity within Liberty Exchange is proceeding ahead of our expected pace and timeframe, so we made the decision to construct a new office building to remain in front of demand in the marketplace,” stated Jerry Wit, St. John senior vice president for marketing. “The office, retail and research and development product types have all been embraced at the business community, which confirms our analysis of the waiting demand that existed in the Carroll County region. Our research shows an extremely strong pipeline of retail users eager to tap into the market, as well as other businesses and companies in an expansion or relocation mode.”

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Love city life?

Plan on attending any or all in an upcoming series of hour-long forums on homeownership issues, repair and renovation sponsored by Live Baltimore.

The free sessions begin at 6 p.m. at the N. Charles Street headquarters. Topics are: City taxes (Feb. 1), city homebuying incentives (Feb. 8); working with a contractor to renovate a home (Feb. 22) and DIY home repairs (Feb. 28).

For more information, contact Live Baltimore.

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This week, Baltimore County officials celebrated the opening of a new fire station in Middle River.

The station will serve Martin State Airport and the surrounding area and is located at Warfield Air National Guard Base, where 1,500 Air National Guard members are stationed in the 175th Wing.

The $7 million station was funded with federal and local funds.

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Two bank-owned subdivisions in Randallstown have been sold to new investors by the Annapolis-based Hogan Cos.

The Marriott-Kirk and Hunsinger Estates subdivisions recently closed. Jake Ermer, a vice president at Hogan, helped to broker the deal, and the closing were Ermer’s second and third sale of bank-owned subdivisions on the west side of Baltimore County. A previous sale was the Greenfield subdivision being built out by Ryan Homes.

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This week, Cushman & Wakefield announced two lease renewals totaling 34,724 square feet on behalf of STV in the Social Security area of Baltimore County.

STV is based in New York and is an engineering, architectural, planning, construction management and environmental company that employs 1,700.  STV re-upped its leases for a 27,000-square-foot building at 7125 Ambassador Rd. and a 50,600-square-foot, two-story office building within Rutherford Business Center in Woodlawn. STV also renewed for 7,724 square feet at 8019 Corporate Drive, a 33,270-square-foot, one-story building within the White Marsh Business Community, a master-planned community in White Marsh.

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TIDBITS:  Second hand roses: Goodwill Industries will soon open a new retail store in Phoenix in the Manor Shopping Center … Merritt Properties announced a new tenant at 7585 Washington Boulevard in Elkridge. Sub-Floor Solutions, a concrete flooring company, recently leased 2,700 square feet in suite 108 of Ridgeway One. . . Tech Edge USA Inc. recently leased 2,825 square feet at bwtech@UMBC for its IT work. Merritt Properties also brokered that deal … Former Bozzuto Group exec Artie L. Harris has been promoted to vice president of real estate and neighborhood development at Montgomery Housing Partnership, a large affordable housing nonprofit in Montgomery County … Continental Realty Corp. recently hired Steve Sobul Jr. as its senior operations accountant. Sobul was formerly senior accountant for Connections Education LLC.

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FOODIE WATCH:  A new multi-use restaurant and live entertainment spot is being planned for Cherry Hill called the Angels Event Center. The opening was first reported this week in Bmore Media. The center will offer dinner and live shows and is expected to open next month … Happy birthday to the Station North Arts Café Gallery, which celebrated this week with balloons outside the front doors in the 1800 block of N. Charles Street … Chick-fil-A is planning to open a store near the University of Baltimore soon, midtown sources say.