Galvanize Real Estate Buys Maryland Industrial Portfolio

June 13, 2025

The properties are located between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Galvanize Real Estate has acquired a five-property industrial portfolio totaling more than 680,000 square feet across Maryland, between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The properties, acquired in a single transaction, are located along the Interstate 95 corridor in Howard County, Md., and near the Interstate 495 Capital Beltway in Prince George’s County, Md.

GRE, a New York-based global asset management firm specializing in the business of decarbonization, did not release the seller nor the price paid for the portfolio. The transaction was managed by Bo Cashman and Jonathan Beard from CBRE National Partners.

The Baltimore-Washington Industrial Portfolio is the fourth investment made by GRE since its founding in October 2022. The firm’s holdings now total more than 1.6 million square feet. GRE is the sustainable real estate investment arm of Galvanize Climate Solutions, which focuses on returns from the transition to sustainable energy. Founded in 2021, Galvanize investments include venture capital and growth equity, public equities and real estate.

Joe Sumberg, managing partner and head of GRE, said the Maryland industrial market is ripe for profitable decarbonization due to its steady demand fundamentals, limited supply and strong portfolio. He added that the five-property portfolio exemplifies the type of high-quality real estate GRE seeks to acquire and improve.

“We see a clear and compelling path to enhancing its operational and financial performance, through strategic science and technology-driven interventions that significantly reduce the portfolio’s emissions while simultaneously increasing its attractiveness to tenants,” Sumberg told Commercial Property Executive.

Reducing carbon emissions in Maryland

As of June 1, properties larger than 35,000 square feet in Maryland will be subject to the Building Energy Performance Standard as part of Maryland’s Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022. BEPS will require larger buildings, such as those in GRE’s newly acquired portfolio, to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

“With the Building Energy Performance Standard, Maryland is setting a new national standard for action and accountability in real estate decarbonization, particularly for the large industrial assets that we specialize in strengthening,” said Nicolette Jaze, head of sustainability at GRE.

“We look forward to implementing a wide range of sustainability measures and clean energy assets that will reduce the direct emissions of each asset in the portfolio, while supporting the local grid and advancing the state’s net zero goals,” she told CPE.

The five Maryland facilities

GRE plans to make value-add improvements to the properties to reduce on-site carbon emissions by up to 118 to 138 percent of the portfolio’s baseline. The firm will use electrification, energy reduction initiatives and on-site energy generation at the three properties that don’t already have solar installed. This could amount to approximately 34,802 metric tons of CO2e avoided over 30 years or nearly 4,670 home’s energy use for one year.

Three of the properties are located in Landover, Md., the remaining two are in Elkridge, Md., and Annapolis Junction, Md. The largest of the assets is 6500 Sheriff Road, a 275,890-square-foot warehouse built in 2009 in Landover. The other properties are located at:

8335-8373 Ardwick Ardmore Road, Landover, 101,380 square feet, built in 1975;
8375-8413 Ardwick Ardmore Road, Landover, 103,952 square feet, built in 1975;
6940 San Tomas Road, Elkridge, 143,924 square feet, built in 1974, renovated in 1995;
9045 Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, 57,635 square feet, built in 1989.

Building a portfolio

GRE’s third acquisition was made in November 2024, when it purchased a 608,000-square-foot industrial property along the I-95 corridor in East Windsor Township in central N.J. from AXA Real Estate. The asset is a manufacturing facility leased to National Tree Co. One of GRE’s sustainable modifications called for using the rooftop space for onsite renewable power for the tenant and to generate revenue through the local community solar program.

GRE made two other acquisitions in 2024. The first transaction was the April purchase of an 84,000-square-foot industrial asset at 6610 Amberton Drive in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Both tenants of the fully leased assets have stated sustainability goals and an interest in pursuing solutions which reduce their costs and carbon footprints.

The firm acquired a 245,000-square-foot industrial property at One Gateway Blvd. in Southern New Jersey in June 2024. Located along the 1-95/I-295 corridor, the asset is positioned near the Port of Philadelphia and halfway between Washington, D.C., and New York City.