Chesapeake Plywood Buys Warehouse in Baltimore’s Orangeville Industrial Area for $3M

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

3400 E. Biddle Street

A warehouse in Baltimore City’s Orangeville Industrial Area recently changed hands. Chesapeake Plywood paid $3 million to purchase the property at 3400 E. Biddle Street from Miller Investments. Alan Coppola of NAI KLNB represented the buyer, while Justin Mohler of CBRE represented the seller.

Chesapeake Plywood is a large supplier of hardwood plywood. The company was founded in 2001, by John Emdem. It currently occupies approximately 50,000 square feet of space at 1700 Ridgely Street, but this location is unable to accommodate the company’s plans to expand.

The warehouse at 3400 E. Biddle Street offers about 157,000 square feet of space. It will be the new home of Chesapeake Plywood and Chesapeake Custom Milling Services, a second entity, which produces specialty-cut wood products. And Chesapeake Plywood also plans to reactivate two dormant companies and operate them within the project. The two companies are Chesapeake Warehousing, which offers public warehouse space, and Chesapeake Wood Express Trucking, a logistics company.

In a news release, John Emden said, ”it is more efficient and smarter to re-establish these two companies, rather than look for other entities to lease the surplus space.” Together, the four companies will have more than 35 employees at 3400 E. Biddle Street.

“Our operations have acquired large machinery over the past several years, and we have stored this equipment on the adjacent parking lot at our former location,” John Emden, president of Chesapeake Plywood, explained. “Rapid expansion necessitated the need to find an enlarged space to accommodate this growth and fuel the continued momentum of our companies.”

Chesapeake Plywood said it will immediately start work on a $1 million renovation of the new property. Plans call for a remake of the office space, replacing the ceilings, installing new doors and ramps, performing concrete work and even constructing a new cafeteria and fitness room.

This property “3400 E. Biddle Street represented the perfect solution for Chesapeake Plywood on multiple levels,” NAI KLNB’s Alan Coppola added. “The new location is within close proximity to the Port of Baltimore, which lowers expenses and expedites delivery. Purchasing the building places the company in an equity position, rather than paying monthly rent. And, the added space enables them to re-establish two former companies that previously operated.”

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