Colliers Pinkard

Baltimore commercial real estate firm Colliers Pinkard said Tuesday it plans to cut its affiliation with Colliers International and will join with seven other firms March 1 to launch a new brand, Cassidy Turley. Colliers Pinkard has joined with Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers, Colliers ABR, BT Commercial in Northern California, BRE Commercial in Southern California, BRE Commercial in Arizona, and Colliers Houston & Co. of New Jersey. The combined companies will form a network that is expected to be one of the nation's largest providers of commercial real estate services, said Mark E. Burkhart, chief executive of Cassidy Turley.

Shoe, clothing and furniture stores sign leases with Eastpoint Mall Eastpoint Mall in Baltimore said Tuesday it has signed leases with DSW Shoe Warehouse and Burlington Coat Factory. The mall, which is owned by Thor Equities, said it also signed a 15-year lease extension with Value City Furniture. DSW, which is scheduled to open in April, signed a 10-year lease for 18,000 square feet of space formerly occupied in part by Steve & Barry, a clothing store. Burlington Coat Factory signed a 10-year lease to open a 70,000-square-foot store in March.

Colliers Pinkard has added six partners to the commercial real estate brokerage and services firm in an effort to add capital and prepare for its future ownership.The addition of six principals -- Philip C. Iglehart, L. Jamie Smith, Michael A. Elardo, L. Bruce Matthai, Gregory C. Pinkard and Stuart S. Rienhoff -- marks the first time in 12 years Pinkard has added to its partnership.Previously, the firm had four principals: Walter D. Pinkard Jr., its president and chief executive, and David Frederick, William Conkling and Dennis P. Malone.

Baltimore commercial real estate firm Colliers Pinkard said Tuesday it plans to cut its affiliation with Colliers International and will join with seven other firms March 1 to launch a new brand, Cassidy Turley. Colliers Pinkard has joined with Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers, Colliers ABR, BT Commercial in Northern California, BRE Commercial in Southern California, BRE Commercial in Arizona, and Colliers Houston & Co. of New Jersey. The combined companies will form a network that is expected to be one of the nation's largest providers of commercial real estate services, said Mark E. Burkhart, chief executive of Cassidy Turley.

The Baltimore real estate firm Colliers Pinkard expanded in a new direction yesterday, announcing that it had hired former Baltimore economic development chief David Gillece as a vice president in the firm's consulting group.Colliers Pinkard said Mr. Gillece will coordinate consulting services for corporate, nonprofit and government clients. While the firm has worked for government and nonprofit clients to some degree, Chief Operating Officer David Frederick said Mr. Gillece's hiring marks an emphasis on such clients.

Commercial real estate firm Colliers Pinkard yesterday announced that Richard F. Blue Jr. will join the firm Monday, leaving behind a 17-year career with rival Casey & Associates Inc.Mr. Blue, who last month was named 1994 commercial Realtor of the year by the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors, will join Pinkard as a partner and executive vice president. He also will manage Pinkard's Baltimore County office."Colliers Pinkard provides a full range of services beyond simply brokerage," Mr. Blue said.

The city's economic development agency yesterday awarded a contract to lease and manage a 20-story office building it owns downtown to Colliers Pinkard, the second time the Baltimore real estate firm has been selected for the job.The Baltimore Development Corp.'s decision to award leasing and management of 7 E. Redwood St. to Pinkard over five other firms came after the city's Board of Estimates, in May, overturned a BDC decision to give Pinkard the assignment on a no-bid basis.Pinkard is expected to receive roughly $500,000 to lease and manage the 157,000-square-foot building, which the city bought as part of a deal to keep Legg Mason Inc.'s headquarters downtown.

Michele L. Whelley, the former chief executive of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, will become a senior vice president of advisory services at Baltimore-based Colliers Pinkard as the commercial real estate firm expands its work in the fast-growing areas of higher education, life sciences and health care. The firm announced yesterday that Whelley, 51, who left the Downtown Partnership last summer to work as a consultant, will join Colliers Pinkard on Monday and work closely with President David Gillece in advising corporations and institutions such as hospitals, universities and biotech firms and developers.

Stick around for three-quarters of a century and you're bound to make a few friends along the way. At 75, Colliers Pinkard has compiled a sizable and impressive list.The Baltimore commercial real estate firm's clients and cronies -- a list that includes BT Alex. Brown Inc., IBM Corp. and Rite Aid Corp. -- also have brought success, and have helped catapult Pinkard to its position as the city's top real estate services firm.But it's more than friendships that keeps Pinkard's star rising, company officials contend.

For the first time since Walter D. Pinkard Jr. took over the family real estate firm in 1982, he is officially sharing top management duties. Pinkard chose David M. Gillece, an executive vice president, to be president of Collier Pinkard effective today. Pinkard, 52, will remain chief executive officer and chairman and will continue to give direction to the firm, which has had a hand in many of the region's largest and most prestigious companies' moves. He will take on Gillece as a partner in running the 250-person firm, which operates three local offices and two in North Carolina.

The streak has ended. For the first time in three years, the construction of office buildings in metropolitan Baltimore far outpaced the amount of space tenants signed up to lease. Just 43 percent of 1.8 million square feet of new office space completed in the Baltimore region last year was leased, according to a study by Colliers Pinkard, a commercial brokerage. The study shows an end to an unprecedented run in which the office market had been both building and absorbing more than 2 million square feet of space per year.

Micros Systems Inc.'s headquarters building in Columbia sold yesterday for $62.1 million, or $256 per square foot, reflecting intense demand for newer, well-leased office properties in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Wells Real Estate Funds of Atlanta said it bought the 247,624-square-foot, Class A suburban office building on Columbia Gateway Drive from the seller, believed to be a union pension fund. The seller was advised by Great Point Investors of Boston.

Construction and leasing of office space in the Baltimore metro area topped more than 2 million square feet for the third year in a row, Colliers Pinkard said in its year-end report, making the past three years the best period ever for the area's office market. At the same time, the vacancy rate in the metro area, including the commercial hubs of downtown Baltimore and Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties, decreased slightly to 14.2 percent from 14.9 percent in 2005, Colliers Pinkard said.

State officials have narrowed the field of potential buyers of Baltimore's World Trade Center, the slim, pentagonal tower that has marked the Inner Harbor for three decades. The state Department of Transportation put the 30-story office tower on the market in December. Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said yesterday that the state has given a select group of bidders a new deadline by which to submit firm offers. Flanagan did not disclose that deadline. "We've had a very good response from a very large number of bidders, but what we've decided to do at this point is narrow the field down to a smaller group of interested parties who have given us preliminary proposals that are all very close together in price," Flanagan said.

Two city-owned parcels of prime downtown Baltimore real estate were sold for more than $2 million below their appraised market values, according to recently released documents. The properties bookend a block of Washington Boulevard, with one across the street from Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the other next to the proposed site of a publicly financed convention center hotel. The Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development agency that is proposing the hotel, brokered both deals and had the support of Mayor Martin O'Malley and the city's spending board despite appraisals at higher figures.

Michele L. Whelley, the former chief executive of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, will become a senior vice president of advisory services at Baltimore-based Colliers Pinkard as the commercial real estate firm expands its work in the fast-growing areas of higher education, life sciences and health care. The firm announced yesterday that Whelley, 51, who left the Downtown Partnership last summer to work as a consultant, will join Colliers Pinkard on Monday and work closely with President David Gillece in advising corporations and institutions such as hospitals, universities and biotech firms and developers.

The vacancy rate for the Baltimore area's office buildings barely budged in the first half of this year, as a weakening downtown market offset moderate improvement in the suburbs, a leading commercial real estate firm reports in a new survey.The Colliers Pinkard report also anticipates that modest local economic growth, further corporate downsizing by the likes of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland and further mergers in banking will keep the vacancy rate at about 15 percent for the balance of the year.

New Positions Merritt appoints Hood as marketing director Merritt Athletic Clubs appointed Donyel Hood as director of marketing for the Baltimore-based chain of physical fitness centers. She is responsible for developing corporate marketing efforts for the firm's 10 locations. The Towson University graduate lives in Baltimore and formerly was director of marketing and public relations for Community Health Charities. Manugistics Group names West a vice president Manugistics Group Inc. named Janie West vice president of mid-markets for the provider of supply chain management solutions.

Commercial real estate new leasing activity in Maryland of at least 3,000 square feet: Tenant Landlord Location Square footage Agent(s) Hearn Kirkwood Phillips Seafood 7715 Assateague Drive, Jessup 15,000 W. McCullough, CP, for the tenant; G. Lee, LO, for the landlord. Neighborcare Merritt Properties 8765-67 Mylander Lane, Towson 11,700 D. Dannenfelser, KLNB, for the tenant; P. Franklin, MP, for the landlord. M&I Seafood Manufacturing Inc. Merritt Properties 8831-33 Kelso Drive, Baltimore 6,600 L. Boeri, MP, for both parties.