Metro arrives, landmark leases, centers sell

Listen to this article

Metro Crossing, the first of two luxury apartment buildings to open in the Metro Centre at Owings Mills, was shown off by developer Howard Brown Thursday.

Brown was joined by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and 4th District Councilman Ken Oliver on the top floor of the five-story building, and together they cut a red ribbon officially opening the project.

“This is obviously a landmark year for Metro Centre,” Kamenetz said, referring to earlier grand openings this year of the new Baltimore County Public Library branch and a Community College of Baltimore County campus there. “It’s been a vision of smart development 15 years in the making.”

When fully built out, Metro Centre will include retail and Class A office space as well as restaurants and parking garages.

“Metro Centre at Owings Mills was designed to function as the true town center for the local community,” Brown said, in a statement. “Increasingly, the general public craves areas that attract diverse audiences, provides creative social experiences and encourages interaction and lingering.”

The development is centered on the Metro, which originates on the property, giving it a transit-oriented designation. Kamenetz said data from CCBC shows that 30 percent of the college’s students arrive at the new campus via rail. Classes began there in July.

Together, the two apartment buildings planned for the development will hold 232 one- and two-bedroom residences, a fitness center, a multi-media lounge and a rooftop gathering spot with a classy reflecting pool.

Ground-floor retail is also being leased at this time, Brown said. The first restaurant set to open in the near future will be the Artful Gourmet Bistro.

Oliver, who chaired the county’s planning board when Metro Center was first conceived as a new development, said he was pleased to see the project finally coming to fruition.

“I’ve been working on it … since 12 years ago,” Oliver said. “Here, you have a walkable community. A livable community.”

–

Officials at Cushman & Wakefield of Maryland Inc. said this week they had leased 38,715 square feet of office space to three companies at 400 E. Pratt St., one of the city’s landmark buildings near the waterfront.

The companies are digital marketing firm R2integrated, data and analytics company Havas Discovery and biotech specialist Cerecor Inc.

R2integrated will locate to 15,467 square feet on the 11th floor, while Havas Discovery renewed its lease of 17,248 square feet on the 10th. Cerecor, currently developing neuroscience drugs, will relocate to the 6th floor from its current digs at 2400 Boston St. in Canton. It will be leasing 6,213 square feet.

The 400 East Pratt building is currently in the midst of a major renovation that includes a 24,000-square-foot, two-story addition that will extend the length of the building by about 35 feet. The addition is the work of architect Peter Fillat.

With the new leases, the building is 95 percent occupied.

–

This week, MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services’ Investment Sales team said it had sold the Perry Hall strip retail center known as Main Street at Joppa.

The development, at 3613 E. Joppa Road, is a 21,400-square-foot development anchored by The All American Steakhouse and Sports Theater. It is 100 percent leased.

“This sale demonstrates the strength of the Baltimore County retail market. Its pricing indicates that the economics of new development, even speculative development, are once again attractive,” MacKenzie VP Donald K. Schline said in a news release announcing the sale.

–

Miramar Plaza Shopping Center in Middle River was recently sold to Aasan Investment LLC.

Brokers at the Washington-based real estate firm Greysteel helped to ink the deal for seller Vanguard Equities.

“Bread-and-butter centers like Miramar planted in dense infill locations are drawing strong competition from investors,” said Greysteel Managing Director Gil Neuman, in a statement. “They offer high occupancy, built-in growth and diversification of risk through multiple smaller tenants at replaceable low rents that were ‘marked to market’ from inflated pre-recession days with now nowhere to go but up.”

The plaza is 92 percent leased and serves about 72,000 residents who live and work within a three-mile radius and more than 200,000 within a five-mile radius. It is located near the Miramar Landing residential development, which has 740 townhouses and single-family residences, and a senior community with a total of 100 units.

TIDBITS: RoofTop Hot recently opened in the now-trendy Highlandtown neighborhood. The locally grown specialty organic food shop at 339 S. Conkling St. features veggies, meats and cheeses … ACT Inc., an education and career assessment company, recently leased 8,223 square feet of office space at 225 Schilling Circle in Hunt Valley … Real estate investment veteran Sandra T. Hunt has joined Rockville-based Scheer Partners as senior vice president of investment sales … Mullan Contracting recently topped off a 13,000-square-foot Walgreen’s in Cockeysville at Warren and York roads in Cockeysville. The two-story store is going up at a location that used to hold a full-service gas station … Westside pride was glowing this week at the groundbreaking for the new University of Maryland School of Medicine Research Building on the sprawling medical campus downtown … College students at Loyola University Maryland, the Johns Hopkins University and Notre Dame of Maryland University are expected to be calling for pizza at the new Domino’s that recently opened at 4101 Falls Road. The shop has a “new retail store design” that is being called The Pizza Theater, which includes a new form of verbal tipping — a chalkboard that lets customers “express their creativity or to leave feedback for the store team members.” … This week, the website NerdWallet selected suburban Towson and Catonsville as part of a Top 10 list in Maryland for young families to put down roots. NerdWallet used academic data from public schools, home affordability and income growth over the past decade to help make its list.