Lehman Makes Room for Mixed-Use Development in Baltimore Area

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Chris Doerr, DTZ

A Lehman Brothers affiliate has sold a 1.15-acre redevelopment site in College Park, Md., to Gelman Enterprises, of Washington, D.C., it was announced Monday by DTZ, which represented the seller. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The parcel, at 8430 Baltimore Ave. and known as Northgate, is currently occupied by a vacant restaurant, DTZ managing director Chris Doerr told Commercial Property Executive. He and DTZ executive managing director Jayne Shister represented the seller in the transaction.

The property has had a checkered recent history, Doerr explained. Nearly 10 years ago, it was owned by Monument Realty, which planned to build a 204-unit multi-family development there. But the economy tanked in 2008, the project was never built, Lehman eventually took over the property and then the parcel was tied up in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy.

The buyer already owns the site immediately north of this one, which also is about an acre in size and is occupied by a Burger King, Michael Miller, a vice president at The Gelman Cos., told CPE. He was not at liberty to discuss Gelman’s plans for the parcels, but did say that the company might combine the two and that “The ultimate goal is a redevelopment.”

The site is only about 100 yards from the front entrance to the University of Maryland at College Park, Doerr told CPE. “There was strong demand for a mixed-use project in College Park within walking distance to the University of Maryland,” he said in a release.

The location is zoned M-U-I/DDOZ and is part of the Route 1 Corridor Sector Plan, according to DTZ. Approved in 2002, the Route 1 Corridor Sector Plan changed zoning laws to encourage, among other things, “a diverse mix of land uses in compact and vertical mixed-use development forms in appropriate locations along the corridor.”