South Duvall & Scheer Partners to Deliver More Spec-suites and Build-to-Suit Space in Maryland
It’s been a big few years in the Biohealth Capital Region, especially big for commercial real estate developer South Duvall. After the success of buildings like 704 Quince Orchard, a 77,000-square-foot office building converted to lab space, South Duvall has continued to bring new buildings to market with both spec suites and build-to-suit space available for tenants of all sizes. The City Garage Science and Technology Park was the latest of these projects to hit the market.
“Speed to market has been the tagline for the last year or so,” said Aaron Gambini, Senior Vice President at Scheer Partners, who brokered the transaction for the City Garage building. “So it’s sort of creating move-in ready options for the market. It seems to be the way to go to start getting activity. And it’s really the next building that delivers that is the next building to lease.”
Below are a few more projects from South Duvall and Scheer Partners which are poised to be delivered in 2022 and 2023. Visit their website to learn more about South Duvall or contact Scheer Partners to learn about any of their listings in the Biohealth Capital Region.
City Garage: Baltimore
Last fall, Scheer Partners brokered a deal with South Duvall and Sagamore Ventures to transform City Garage, located in Baltimore’s Port Covington district, with the intention of converting it to a life science space. Once the current anchor tenant, Under Armour, moves out of the building, South Duvall will have an additional 60,000 square feet to lease.
Despite the building not yet being finished, Scheer has seen an outpouring of interest from potential tenants. The company has already signed a 10,000-square-foot lease with a medical device company.
”As it sits today, if every tenant that we’re working with moves forward, we won’t be able to do all those deals,” said Gambini. “So we see that as a really good thing and the velocity in the Baltimore market is great.”
The building is an opportunity for companies coming out of Johns Hopkins and other Baltimore institutions to stay within the region instead of heading to the I-270 corridor or moving out of Maryland entirely.
To get the building ready for life science tenants, South Duvall is making base building modifications including a backup generator and increased electrical capacity.
City Garage is also a part of the Port Covington district, set to bring 14 million square feet of mixed-use space to Baltimore.
“To be the first sort of biotech installation on Port Covington, it’s pretty exciting,” Gambini said.
935 Prose Street: North Bethesda
Scheer Partners is working with Federal Realty, the real estate developer that designed Pike & Rose, to bring a life science building to the development at 935 Prose. The project is set to bring 260,000 square feet of life science space to Pike & Rose in the form of spec suites and build-to-suit space for large-scale tenants.
Scheer Partners is still seeing a lead tenant for the project, which would probably take about 50,000 square feet in the building, said Nathan Crowe, Senior Vice President at Scheer Partners.
935 Prose sets itself apart from other buildings on the market with its amenities, including easy metro access via the North Bethesda red line stop, walkability, and proximity to retail and restaurant spaces. The building is also set to have several outdoor spaces and shared community space.
1450 Research Boulevard: Rockville
South Duvall and Scheer Partners are renovating the 45,000-square-foot building at 1450 Research Boulevard in the Twin Oaks Office Park in Rockville. When the current tenant moves out of the building, Scheer will convert it into a life sciences space with shared amenities including autoclaves, glass washers, and ice makers. But it will also have amenities that are more unique for the life sciences space, such as an outdoor lounge and meeting space enabled with Wi-Fi, open to all tenants.
“This building is very similar in concept to what we previously did at 704 Quince Orchard,” said Gambini. “So, it’s going to have a host of shared building amenities.”
The first floor of the three-story building is set to hold three small, move-in spec suites to accommodate some of the smaller users in the life sciences market. Meanwhile, Scheer will reserve the second and third floors for build-to-suit spaces for larger tenants. Scheer plans to deliver the building by the end of 2022.
2277 Research Boulevard: Rockville
Historically an office building, 2277 Research Boulevard is owned by Brandywine. After a large government contractor who no longer needs office space moves out of the building, Brandywine will convert the 130,000-square-foot building to life science space. Similar to its neighbor at 1450 Research Boulevard, 2277 will consist of move-in-ready spec suites and build-to-suit space.
“This is unique in that in our market, there really aren’t any life science buildings above four stories,” Gambini said.
When completed, the building will have spec suites on the sixth and seventh floors, which also contain balconies. The building is set to deliver in Quarter 1 of 2023.
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Erika Riley is a journalist who covers topics including business, real estate, and economics. She is based in Frederick, Maryland.
