Posted Oct 7, 2014, 12:14 AM
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NYC/NJ/Miami-Dade
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Riverview Estates Fairway (PA)
Posts: 45,783
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The federal government is looking for a huge office lease in downtown Baltimore
Quote:
The federal government is in the hunt for between 100,000 and 130,000 square feet of office space in Baltimore's central business district.
The government needs the space starting between 2017 and 2018, according to a solicitation from the General Services Administration. It did not specify which federal agency would be leasing the space.
The GSA requirements include 50 parking spaces reserved for the exclusive use of the government and a small amount of storage space. The lease term would be between 10 and 20 years. Responses are due to the GSA by Oct. 3. You can view the solicitation here.
The solicitation could aid downtown property owners struggling with high vacancy north of Lombard Street, though the federal government is likely to have few options to choose from. There are only two buildings that have that large a block of space downtown: 2 Hopkins Plaza, formerly the PNC building, and the former Bank of America operations center at 225 N. Calvert St.
Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. President Kirby Fowler said that the government-owned 1.1 million-square-foot vacant Metro West is probably not an option because the government is looking for a single-user or buyer. A requirement barring buildings inside the 500-year flood zone also might rule out many buildings along Pratt Street, Fowler said.
Aside from 2 Hopkins Plaza and 225 N. Calvert St., the only other option might be a newly constructed building. That raises the possibility of David S. Brown Enterprises Ltd.'s planned office and residential tower at 325 W. Baltimore St., Fowler said.
"Howard Brown should be pursuing this," Fowler said, referencing the chairman of David S. Brown. "He does not have a tenant for that building, it could accommodate the needs and has the virtue of being just two blocks away from other federal offices. On top of it all, it's a block away from Metro and light rail."
Brown has said the office space in that building could eventually be leased by the University of Maryland, Baltimore — the building is near the university's campus — but he doesn't have a lease in place. Pre-development site work is nearly completed and it could get under construction later this fall, Brown has said, which would put it in the government's time frame.
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Sep 19, 2014
http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore....html?page=all
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