Greater Baltimore’s Industrial Real Estate Market in High Gear

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

It has been a busy year for industrial sales and leasing in Greater Baltimore. Tenants took more than 600,000 square feet of flex or industrial space in the second quarter, bringing the region’s vacancy rate down to about 10 percent while industrial sales deals spiked by nearly 36 percent.

After purchasing 4835 Hollins Ferry Road for $39 million earlier this year, American Realty Capital has paid $12.6 million for an Anne Arundel County industrial building. The 40,000-square-foot facility at 7549 Harmans Road was fully leased to Verizon and was acquired from the Washington D.C.-based Stephen A. Goldberg Co.  CB Richard Ellis’ Jonathan Beard and Robert T. “Bo” Cashman have both represented Stephen A. Goldberg in the sale.

Verizon has recently signed a new 10-year lease at the Harmans building. This long term lease and the lack of space for new industrial construction in the Baltimore – Washington D.C. area have made the property very attractive to the New York-based investors.

Greater Baltimore’s industrial real estate market has caught the eyes of some national investors. Among them, a newly formed joint venture between Chicago’s Brennan Investment Group and TriGate Capital of Dallas which is looking to buy industrial properties all over the country.

The joint venture is led by Michael W. Brennan, former CEO of Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust Inc., and is interested in Greater Baltimore. According to Brennan, an offer has already been made for a large industrial property in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area, but he refused to give any names. The duo is looking at other properties as well.

Greater Baltimore’s industrial market is seeing a lot of action at the moment and things don’t seem to be slowing down. Recently, Prologis Inc. has put a 20-building portfolio up for sale. The portfolio consists of industrial office parks including the Columbia Business Center, Gateway Crossing 95 and the Oakridge Business Center, nearly 590,000 square feet.  Its sale could go down as one of the largest deals in Greater Baltimore.