Baltimore is experiencing a "second renaissance" characterized by its redevelopment initiatives in the area's business districts. Current trends are for continued growth in flex R&D in the Baltimore Washington International (BWI) airport area, according to Ed St. John, president of MIE Properties, Inc.

Significant industrial developments include three flex parks by MIE Properties that ring the BWI Airport. Cromwell Business Park, located near Interstate 97 at Aviation Boulevard, is 700,000 square feet; 400,000-square-foot International Trade Center is located on Dorsey Road; and BWI Technology Park at Interstate 295 and Nursery Road totals 650,000 square feet. BWI Technology Park, located on a 100-acre site, will consist of 12 buildings in a campus-like setting upon completion. Each park is doing well, absorbing about 150,000 square feet per year, says St. John.

The airport and the now three-year-old Route 100 have greatly enhanced the area as a business destination in its own right -- not just an area to support BWI. Technology companies such as Ciena and Gould Fiber Optics are locating there.

Major leases that have been closed recently include Iphotonics, a fiber optic company that recently signed a 66,000-square-foot lease at 801 Cromwell Park Dr. in Cromwell Business Park; Comcast Cable, which recently leased 46,000 square feet at 250 Najoles Rd. in the I-97 Business Center; and Fujitsu Network Communication's lease of 46,080 square feet at 2409 Peppermill Dr. in the International Trade Center. Rental rates in the BWI area are $9 to $15 per square foot for shell to full build-out on an industrial gross basis.

Ed St. John is president of MIE Properties, Inc.


©2001 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.