Vacancy

Bolstered by a combination of the steady economy and manufacturers' needs to distribute goods faster, the Baltimore area's industrial real estate market posted solid gains in 1995, according to a report by Colliers Pinkard.The metropolitan area's vacancy rate dipped to 11.9 percent, down 16 percent from a year ago and 40 percent from year-end 1993, as more than 1.8 million square feet of space was absorbed, or removed from the market through leasing activity.The biggest gains occurred in the northern half of the Baltimore-Washington corridor, which lowered its vacancy rate to 6.9 percent, the best performer in the region.

NEIL EDWARD AXEL'S appointment to Howard County's District Court remedies the immediate concern of making sure that an important level of the local judiciary will function at better than half-strength. Mr. Axel, a well-regarded Columbia solo practitioner, is expected to assume his seat within a month, becoming the third judge on a bench with four seats.Before Gov. Parris N. Glendening appointed the new judge last Friday, responsibility for all the county's low-level criminal cases, small civil matters and traffic cases fell to Judges James Vaughan and Louis Becker.

J. Barry Hughes trades in a law practice for a robe and a gavel today when he is sworn in as a judge for the Carroll County Circuit Court. Hughes, 55, is expected to begin hearing cases Tuesday. "I'm ready to go to work," he said this week. Hughes fills the vacancy left by Judge Luke K. Burns Jr., who retired in January. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. appointed Hughes to the court last month after a judicial nominating commission submitted a list of six applicants at the end of March. Hughes has divided his cases among his partners at the law firm of Hollman, Hughes, Maguire, Timchula and Titus in Westminster.

The Baltimore area's warehouse market remained healthy in 1996, allaying concern about the impact of new distribution space scheduled to be completed in the coming year.While the vacancy rate declined a percentage point to 11.2 percent for the year, the amount of space removed through leasing activity was up significantly, according to statistics compiled by commercial real estate firm Casey & Associates Inc.The amount of space absorbed, or removed via leasing, shot up 38.5 percent in 1996 to 1.06 million square feet, Casey's figures noted.

Howard County's three state senators are pressuring the governor's office to rapidly fill one of two open seats on the District Court bench, warning of the potential for a mounting backlog of court cases and some messy politics.As of yesterday, half the District Court's four judgeships were empty -- vacated by the elevation Friday of Judge Lenore R. Gelfman to the Circuit Court and the fall retirement of Judge R. Russell Sadler.There has been some concern in Howard's legal and political communities that to ensure diversity on the bench, Gov. Parris N. Glendening might wait until the nominees for the second vacancy are named by the local judicial nominating commission.

Metropolitan Baltimore's office vacancy rate climbed above 20 percent during the first half of the year, but there are some reasons to hope that the devastated market is close to a bottom, one of the city's leading commercial real estate companies reported yesterday.The region's overall vacancy rate climbed to 20.5 percent from 19.1 percent at the end of last year, according to the report by W. C. Pinkard & Co. That compares with a rate of about 10 percent reported in a similar study at the end of 1985 by Manekin Corp.

The fallout from the recession is apparent in empty storefronts at shopping centers and strip malls throughout the region as retailers shut their doors to cut costs amid a steep slowdown in consumer spending. The closings could have a wide impact on the local economy, hurting developers and retail brokers and leaving consumers with fewer shopping choices. Struggling shopping centers and malls, such as Owings Mills Mall, could face further hardships. Vacancies could hurt other businesses in retail centers that rely on a variety of shopping choices to attract customers.

Metropolitan Baltimore's office vacancy rate jumped to 22.24 percent at the end of 1991 as tenants moved out of more office space than they moved into for the first time in years, according to a study by Baltimore-based W. C. Pinkard & Co.The report mirrors a profoundly pessimistic local commercial development industry. The study's author and other commercial real estate brokers said they don't expect to see another new office tower built in Baltimore until at least 1996 -- and maybe later.

Fourteen months ago, the Manekin Corp. had won the battle but was losing the war with its General Physics Building in Columbia.Although the developer convinced General Physics Corp. to maintain its headquarters in a four-story project completed in 1987, keeping the nuclear and environmental engineering firm came at a price.In exchange for staying put, General Physics sliced its office need more than in half to help avert a corporate meltdown, suddenly leaving its landlord with 47,000 square feet of empty space.

WITH MOST of the Inner Harbor's prestigious office addresses sporting "no vacancy" signs, older downtown office buildings are reporting strong leasing activity.This is a marked change from years past. Some older buildings have recently changed hands, their new owners betting on increased demand for less-expensive space.But possibilities for these spaces are limited. New top-end space is desperately needed if Baltimore wants to attract image-conscious businesses and retain current ones."This year's overall news is good -- downtown is competitive.