Thomas new chair of UB real estate board

Daniel Thomas has been named chairman of the Advisory Board for the University of Baltimore, Merrick School of Business Real Estate and Economic Development Program.

Thomas, a leasing executive with St. John Properties, joins Josh Neiman of the Maryland Economic Development Corp., Poli Peters of Richmond American Homes and Cathy Ward, a senior vice president with Corporate Office Properties Trust, on the advisory board.

The UB Real Estate and Economic Development Program is the only one of its kind in the University System of Maryland and was set up to shepherd undergraduate students toward careers in the commercial real estate and economic development industries, with specialty studies that include development professional, appraiser, asset and property manager, leasing agent, commercial lender, land use planner and property investor.

***
A 10-mile stretch in western Maryland between the Catoctin Mountain Park, Cunningham Falls State Park, Frederick Municipal Forest and Gambrill State Park will soon be enhanced by $950,000 in grants from the National Parks Service.

The money will help the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to boost access to 21,000 acres of open space in Frederick County as part of a purchase of 382 acres by the state agency to expand outdoor recreation options there. The state is contributing $1 million toward the project as well.

“This funding will help grow Frederick’s tourism economy and make an investment that will draw in new visitors to our states’ treasures,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies which funds the National Park System.

***

Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and Montgomery County Executive Isiah “Ike” Leggett will attend a forum Tuesday at The George Washington University aimed at the future of urban developments.

The event, called the “Future of Metropolitan Washington: Walkable Urban Places and the Real Estate Market,” begins at 8 a.m. in the Jack Morton Auditorium and aims to address data that shows “how walkable urban places and projects will drive tomorrow’s economy and the built environment,” a release said.

Other participants will include former Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening; Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate and Professor of Public Policy at the University of Southern California; and Deborah Ratner Saltzberg, president of the Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc.

***

This week, NAI KLNB was tapped as broker for the 230,000-square foot mixed-use building at 4505 North Point Blvd. in Baltimore.

The property is located on 18 acres and had been a manufacturing facility, office and warehouse for Signode Corp. The asking sales price is $7.3 million, or $32 per square foot. NAI KLNB agents J. Allan Riorda and Peter Dudley are handling the project.

The building holds 6,000 square feet of office space.

***

TIDBITS: Two Jiffy Lube shops — at 8220 Ocean Gateway in Easton and 236 S. Dupont Highway in Dover, Del. — were recently purchased by a Navy veteran and his wife. Jeff Wright, a first-time franchisee, had worked for the oil change wizards for 18 years as a store manager and later operations manager. He served in the Navy for two decades. … Scheer Partners joined up with vaccine maker Novavax recently to lease out a Gaithersburg office building. Scheer, which concentrates on commercial real estate services for the health science industry in the metro area, will take on subleasing at two-story 9920 Belward Campus Dr., a 51,200-square-foot biomanufacturing R&D and office building. The building is owned by BioMed Realty Trust of San Diego. … The local chapter of CREW, which stands for Commercial Real Estate Women, will hold a forum on Sept. 13 at Pazo Restaurant in Fells Point to discuss the impact of the recent addition of multi-unit residential projects in the Baltimore area. The luncheon event begins at 11:30 a.m. and panelists include Adam Harbin, of the Hanover Co., Michael Goodwin, of Design Collective Inc., and Stephanie Williams of Bozzuto Management. … Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake announced this week it has 78 homes in planning and 35 homes under construction in the Baltimore region. There are 118 families enrolled in the nonprofit’s Homebuyer Academy.