Manekin

Donald and Brigitte Manekin first met Charlie Barber as he lay curled up on an outdoor bench at Greenspring Station. Toothless and gaunt, Charlie shivered in the winter night as he talked to them. Brigitte worried for his health. Later that evening, she returned with a pillow and blanket -- and slipped him her phone number in case of an emergency. The anonymous call came days later: "Charlie wants to come live with you." Within hours, the homeless man was at the door of the wealthy but unassuming heirs to a Baltimore real estate empire.

Manekin Corp. is expected to announce a merger this morning with a San Francisco-based real estate investment trust, ending local control of a company that was a key ingredient in Baltimore's renaissance four decades ago.Manekin's plan to link with AMB Property Corp. -- a complex deal valued at $150 million -- is the most significant alliance in a series of transactions between private local real estate firms and Wall Street-financed property owners."We like to partner with local experts and that's how we view Manekin," Christine G. Schadlich, an AMB vice president of investor relations, said yesterday.

The Manekin Corp. is expected this morning to announce plans for a $30 million industrial project in Howard County, the largest new development of its kind in the Baltimore area in roughly a decade.Manekin's plans for the 223-acre Troy Hill business park in Elkridge come as demand for new distribution centers has surged, available space is at a premium and rental rates have been rising."Based on absorption figures of space taken off the market in the past two years, current vacancy levels and our wisdom of the market, we've concluded that there's room for at least 400,000 square feet of new space," said J. Richard Latini, a Colliers Pinkard vice president and manager of the commercial real estate services firm's industrial group.

Columbia-based Manekin Corp. has agreed to purchase Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie, the first enclosed mall on the East Coast, and plans to convert it into a strip center with a grocery store anchor."

Partial demolition of Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie is tentatively set to begin next month, with groundbreaking for renovations in the summer, a Manekin Corp. spokesman said yesterday.Cole Schnorf, senior vice president and regional development director of the Columbia-based company, said Manekin officially acquired the mall Dec. 30 and is waiting for the county to approve a permit before starting demolition."We would have liked to have been a little further along," Schnorf said. "Originally, we thought we were going to close in November."

Manekin LLC wins awards for pair of projects Manekin LLC has received an Award of Excellence at the 2004 NAIOP Awards, sponsored by the Maryland Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. The company won an award for Best Flex Project for Columbia Gateway 67, a two-building, 108,850-square-foot project combining office and storage space that Manekin built along Robert Fulton Drive in Columbia. The project was purchased recently by Corporate Office Properties Trust.

POLICE LOG* Glenwood: 3000 block of Route 97: A fax machine, cordless telephone and clock were taken from a Manekin Corp. construction trailer after its door was pried open Tuesday or Wednesday.

When Richard Alter gets stressed out, he reaches for junk food.Lately, the chief executive of Manekin Corp. has been reaching more and more for the three-pound bag of M&Ms he keeps in one of his file cabinets and the oversized box of Utz pretzels in another. In fact, he's gained 10 pounds since January."The industry is facing conditions worse than anything since the Great Depression and Richard is munching his way through," says Robert Manekin, a senior vice president for the essentially family-owned business.

The Johns Hopkins University has scrapped plans to open a Bibelot bookstore in renovated, university-owned apartments across from its Homewood campus because of strong objections from the operator of the on-campus bookstore.The university's decision has led Manekin Corp.to pull out of a deal to handle leasing of newly created retail space at Homewood Apartments in the 3000 block of N. Charles St.The Manekin company had intended to take over and manage the 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space in the first half of this year.

Columbia real estate firm Manekin names two to new positions Danielle Krantz has been named leasing and sales associate in the brokerage division of Columbia-based Manekin LLC. She represents tenants and landlords in leasing and sales of office and flex space in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. A Hamilton College graduate, she lived in Manhattan and handled marketing campaigns for Jean Paul Gaultier Fragrances. Liz Martin has been named information manager in the company's brokerage department, responsible for industry and company research, database management and marketing.