Business Park

One of the newest and biggest industrial parks being built in Baltimore is headed for a foreclosure auction Friday, a victim of weak tenant demand amid the recession. Hollander 95 Business Park in Northeast Baltimore broke ground in fall 2007 with plans to generate 462 jobs. Developers Hollander Rock LLC, which bought the 51-acre site from the city for $4 million, had planned to build a warehouse, distribution and manufacturing center over three years. Only the 82,000-square-foot warehouse has been completed, and tenants have moved into half of the building.

Proximity to Interstate-95, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and the Baltimore Beltway was one of the factors in the move by Special Olympics Maryland from its current location in Linthicum to a business park off Washington Boulevard. Merritt Properties announced Sept. 7 that Maryland Special Olympics is moving to 3701 Commerce Drive in Merritt's Beltway Business Community. Relocating to the west side of Baltimore will provide Special Olympics Maryland with easier access to a large part of the state, according to a release from Merritt.

Proximity to Interstate-95, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and the Baltimore Beltway was one of the factors in the move by Special Olympics Maryland from its current location in Linthicum to a business park off Washington Boulevard. Merritt Properties announced Sept. 7 that Maryland Special Olympics is moving to 3701 Commerce Drive in Merritt's Beltway Business Community. Relocating to the west side of Baltimore will provide Special Olympics Maryland with easier access to a large part of the state, according to a release from Merritt.

Pixelligent Technologies LLC will relocate its headquarters and manufacturing facility to Baltimore from College Park with the help of a $200,000 loan from the Baltimore Development Corp. The company, which manufactures nanocrystal additives for the electronics and semiconductor markets, will move into the Holabird Business Park. The Baltimore Board of Estimates approved the five-year loan with a 5 percent interest rate at a meeting Wednesday. Pixelligent said it plans to employ 25 people by the end of the year and 150 by the end of 2015.

A man sitting in his car in Hanover was robbed of his wallet, keys and jewelry Tuesday evening by a robber who drove up next to him and threatened him with a gun.Alfred Weinrauch, 63, of Baltimore, was not injured in the incident, which occurred about 7 p.m. in a business park in the 7400 block of Candlewood Road.After getting the items and an undetermined amount of money, the robber drove away. No description was available.

The business park at Harford Road and North Avenue got a much-needed shot in the arm yesterday when the Baltimore City Planning Commission approved an expansion plan that would add two large office buildings and a fast-food restaurant to the crumbling center.The commission estimated that 250 jobs would be added at the hTC center, which is on the former site of the Sears building.Total Health Care, a health maintenance organization, a Subway sandwich shop and a storage facility are scheduled to move into three of the buildings.

Feeling stung and shut out by the county's economic development efforts on the outskirts of town, Hampstead leaders are considering slapping a moratorium on the planned North Carroll Business Park.The move could complicate the county's plans to develop the parcel, and steer away one of the most interested potential buyers: the U.S. Postal Service.Councilman Stephen Holland, the most enthusiastic supporter of a moratorium, said it would send a message to the county, and serve to warn the post office that the site might not be a wise choice.

A joint venture of the Osprey Investment Co. of Annapolis and Reliable Contracting Co. of Millersville has begun construction of Park 100, an 84-acre, 800,000-square-foot business community on Dorsey Road, just south of Baltimore-Washington International Airport.Based on an estimated construction cost of $40 per square foot, the project represents an investment of $32 million.Jason Jacobson, vice president of Osprey and project manager for Park 100, said the business park has been designed to accommodate large and small companies seeking flexible warehouse, office and industrial space in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

As far back as 1988, David H. deVilliers Jr. believed that the location of the Arundel Corp.'s 145-acre S&G Concrete plant in Edgewood would make a premier business park. Now, the FRP Development Corp. president will get the chance to prove it.Under plans filed with Harford County, the Sparks development firm next month intends to begin constructing manufacturing and distribution space on the site of the former surface mining operation.In all, the plan calls for Lakeside Business Park to contain as much as 1.5 million square feet, not including S&G's operation, by 2001.

Location: South of Route 32 and east of Dorsey Run Road in Annapolis Junction Developer: Konterra Description: The 200-acre development will provide more than 2 million square feet of industrially zoned, upscale business space. The park, which sits across Route 32 from the National Business Park, will accommodate between 10 and 15 buildings. Status: The developer is installing sewer infrastructure as part of the permitting process, and expects to break ground this year. The project is to be completed over 10 years.

A foreclosure sale of the Hollander 95 Business Park in Northeast Baltimore was canceled this week, after partners in the venture filed for bankruptcy protection and stopped the proceedings, according to auctioneer Paul Cooper of Alex Cooper Auctioneers. Hollander Rock LLC, which bought the 51-acre site for $4 million from the city, had planned to build a warehouse, distribution and manufacturing center. Only the 82,000-square-foot warehouse has been completed, and tenants have moved into half of the building.

One of the newest and biggest industrial parks being built in Baltimore is headed for a foreclosure auction Friday, a victim of weak tenant demand amid the recession. Hollander 95 Business Park in Northeast Baltimore broke ground in fall 2007 with plans to generate 462 jobs. Developers Hollander Rock LLC, which bought the 51-acre site from the city for $4 million, had planned to build a warehouse, distribution and manufacturing center over three years. Only the 82,000-square-foot warehouse has been completed, and tenants have moved into half of the building.

The financially troubled developer of a huge business park being built at Aberdeen Proving Ground to serve base restructuring has backed out of the project and handed it off to Baltimore-based St. John Properties. Under plans approved by the Army, Rockville-based Opus East assigned development rights to St. John, which announced the agreement Tuesday and said it plans to start work on three or four research and office buildings. The 400-acre project, Government and Technology Enterprise, or GATE, is being developed as a 2 million- to 3 million-square-foot research and development park in partnership with the Army to handle growth from BRAC - military base restructuring.

PSC to set review of Constellation sale The Maryland Public Service Commission said yesterday it will issue an order shortly that will outline a schedule for the review of the $4.7 million sale of Constellation Energy Group to Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. A proposed schedule submitted by the agency's staff calls for testimony to be filed by early January and the decision to be made by April 15.

The first shops and restaurants will be opening by April at Baltimore Crossroads @95 in Baltimore County, a 1,000-acre, mixed-use business park that is expected to eventually employ more than 10,000 workers. St. John Properties, an office developer at the business park near White Marsh, has begun work on the first phase of a planned 140,000-square-foot retail development, said Gerard J. Wit, a St. John vice president. St. John Properties has completed seven buildings at the park, including three office buildings and four flex-office buildings.

Howard County is offering up to 4,000 free flu inoculations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at a temporary clinic at Columbia's Gateway Business Park. The shots are available to anyone, not just county residents, said Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the county's health officer. No Flu-Mist spray will be used. The county plans to field 230 employees and volunteers, including police, firefighters and health officials in what will double as an emergency-preparedness exercise. Anyone who misses the free shots but still wants to be immunized at other scheduled county clinics must pay $25, Beilenson said.

The Visiting Nurse Association of Baltimore will move its base of operations next month from downtown to the city-owned Seton Business Park.The 96-year-old non-profit health-care organization, which provides home health care for people so they don't have to be in a hospital, this month leased 27,000 square feet inside the former Jiffy Lube Corp. headquarters at 6000 Metro Drive in the business park.From July 10 to July 15, the organization will be moving about 150 employees from three locations: 525 St. Paul Place, 4367 Hollins Ferry Road and 1730 Merritt Blvd.

The National Security Agency has rented a 12-story office building that towers over its sprawling complex at Fort Meade and has remained nearly empty for more than two years, real estate industry and county sources say.The KMS Group Inc. announced yesterday that the building, which came to symbolize the area's depressed commercial leasing market, had been rented to a "major Department of Defense activity" but would not elaborate.The office tower, prominently located in the National Business Park near Route 32 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, is the largest office building in the county.

Howard County health officials are offering up to 4,000 free flu inoculations next month at a drive-through clinic designed to reach twice as many people as a similar exercise last year. The shots, which will be given from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 4 at Columbia's Gateway Business Park, are available to anyone, not just county residents, said Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the county's health officer. No Flu-Mist spray will be used, said Beilenson, who announced the program yesterday. The county plans to field 230 employees and volunteers, including police, firefighters and health officials in what will double as an emergency-preparedness exercise.