Square Feet

The Johns Hopkins University, the city's largest private employer, confirmed yesterday that it is negotiating two deals for more office space in the city. Johns Hopkins intends to move about 220 people from its East Baltimore medical campus to Bond Street Wharf in Fells Point and to 100 N. Charles St. in Charles Center downtown. The new space would total about 50,000 square feet. The people, mostly administrative workers, would move out of East Baltimore by April, making room for Hopkins' researchers and medical staff.

Glenside Farms Ryan Homes has a furnished model open and 20 home sites available at Glenside Farms, a community of single-family homes in Baltimore County. The Perry Hall community offers six models, with homesites situated on one-fifth-acre lots. The homes are on public water and sewer systems and come with gas heat and cooking. Standard features include ceramic-tiled bathroom floors, hardwood foyer and crown molding in the living room and dining room. Base prices range from $249,900 to $292,900 for 2,000 square feet to 2,800 square feet.

Maryland Landmark New Homes Group has opened a model at Hickory Overlook in Harford County. The community, which offers public water and sewer and gas heat, features a jogging trail and open spaces. The model, the Jordon Grae, starts at $234,900 for 2,554 square feet. The first floor consists of a foyer, powder room, laundry room, 13-by-15-foot living room, a dining room that is 10 by 13 feet, a 16-by-14-foot kitchen with breakfast area, 17-by-16-foot sunken family room and two-car garage.

SECOND SECTIONAshton Valley1. Section Two has opened at Ashton Valley in Catonsville where Ashley Custom Homes is building 50 Colonial and bilevel homes with gas heat and cooking. Fifteen homes have been sold in the Baltimore County community since the model opened in April.A 12-by-12-foot living room and 10-by-11-foot dining room flank the two-story foyer in the Chatham, a Colonial with a base price of $174,900 for 1,850 square feet of living space. The Ashton Valley is a bilevel with 1,215 square feet and a beginning price of $156,900.

Faced with aging buildings and the impending departure of a major tenant, the new owner of the Meadows Business Park intends to invest roughly $3 million over the next three years to upgrade the Woodlawn complex's image and raise its occupancy.Emmes Realty Co.'s plans for the 22-building business park include coverting some of the office and industrial space to retail usage in an effort to capitalize on market trends and on a $126 million government office complex set to open nearby. The company also hopes to sell five buildings in the complex after the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration completes its departure in the fall.

KMS Group Inc. of Columbia has said the Army Corps of Engineers will lease a 12-story, 250,000-square-foot office building at One National Business Park, taking off the market a building that had been vacant for two years.The corps signed the lease Friday, said Larry Lichtenauer, KMS spokesman. Terms were not disclosed.Spokesmen for the corps and the General Services Administration, which handles most of the federal government's real estate affairs, did not return phone calls yesterday. The National Business Park has about 400,000 square feet of space built and expects to grow to 3 million square feet.

County gained businesses, jobs in fiscal 1996New business, expansions and relocations tracked by the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp. in fiscal 1996 occupied 3,640,00 square feet, compared with 1,566,400 square feet occupied in the previous fiscal year.More than 7,700 county-based employees were gained, compared with 2,220 in fiscal 1995.New employers include Aerotek, Churchill Distributors, Fila USA and the Fritz Co.MCI, Northwest Airlines, Browning-Ferris Industries and TeleSpectrum Worldwide expanded operations in the county.

Names in the newsNew York Life Insurance Co. has appointed James G. Oppenlander managing partner of the Baltimore general office and Annapolis sales office. He will oversee sales of life insurance, annuities, mutual funds and other financial products marketed through New York Life and its financial service affiliates including NYLIFE Securities Inc.Constellation Real Estate Inc. has completed a 90,000-square-foot, three-story office building in its National Business Park in Anne Arundel County, bringing total space in the business community to 500,000 square feet.

As reported March 23, 1980, in The Howard County Sun: Sears, Roebuck and Co. announced that it would build a new store at Columbia Mall. The store will be on two levels, covering 137,000 square feet, and will include an automotive center and garden shop. Construction will begin by mid-May, and completion is scheduled for August or September, 1981. The Rouse Company will soon begin construction of 280,00 square feet of new store space at the mall. This space also will be ready to use by August, 1981, and will allow addition of 60 to 70 new shops to the 105 businesses already located in the mall.

25 Years Ago (week of March 3-9, 1968):* Groundbreaking took place for construction of the second phase of the Roper Corporation's Eastern Products Division in Columbia. The new construction would add 300,000 square feet to the 120,000 square feet already completed. The plant would ** manufacture drapery hardware, ceiling suspension systems, venetian blind stock, and garden-type utility buildings. (The Roper complex now sits vacant.)* It was announced this week that the Ellicott Theatre on Main Street in Ellicott City would be reopening under new management.