MIE Properties controls 10 biz parks along I-97

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 14, 2002 by Ezra Fieser

In tightening its grip in North Anne Arundel County with construction of a new business park, MIE Properties Inc. is also inching closer to reaching a larger goal.

Seeing success at its other parks in the BWI airport area, MIE plans to develop 18 acres near the intersection of Interstate 97 and Quarterfield Road into a five-building park. The campus, consisting of two medical office buildings and three Class A office buildings, will deliver 180,000 square feet of space to the market.

The company's 10th Anne Arundel County business park is part of the larger goal of becoming a dominant presence along the I-97 corridor.

"Our long-term plan is to develop parks at every interchange off I- 97," Edward A. St. John, MIE president and CEO, said. MIE is close to reaching that goal.

"There aren't a whole lot of interchanges left, we might have about two more possible developments," Gerard J. "Jerry" Wit, MIE vice president of marketing, said.

The Quarterfield Center, for which construction will begin at the end of June, will be MIE's fifth I-97 park. The land is co-owned by Louis J. Grasmick Lumber Company Inc.

The other four parks represent 1.45 million square feet of space. They are Cromwell Business Park (I-97 and Aviation Boulevard); I-97 Business Park (I-97 and Benfield Boulevard); Annapolis Corporate Center (I-97 and Rt. 50); and the Glen Burnie Business Center (I-97 and Rt. 648).

The I-97 Business Park and Annapolis Corporate Center are 100 percent leased. Glen Burnie has less than 8 percent of its space vacant. Data for Cromwell was not available

"MIE has been one of the most aggressive investors in our economy, north, south, east and west," William A. Badger Jr., president and CEO of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp., said. "Mr. St. John has a track record. He knows what he's doing, and if he sees opportunities."

Unlike neighboring Howard County, in which developable land is becoming a scarcity, opportunities still exist in Anne Arundel County.

"We have the luxury in the north and west county of having land available for development," Badger said. "We've subscribed to smart growth policies and have planned for and are developing land within close proximity to major infrastructure."

While opportunities may exist in the county, it has not been immune to the upsurge in vacancies that occurred over the past year around the region.

The North Anne Arundel County area has a 12 percent vacancy rate for office space, of which there is 9 million square feet, according to market research supplied by NAI KLNB Inc. With sublease space, the number climbs to 14 percent.

But Quarterfield Center's success may be tied more closely to growth at BWI Airport and the North Arundel Hospital, and its proximity to Rt. 100.

Two of the park's five buildings will be dedicated to medical offices. They were both built with seven parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of building space, which is required for medical offices, MIE's Wit said.

Nearby North Arundel Hospital is aggressively expanding, including a cancer treatment facility, according to Badger.

"They have a physical expansion going on right now that's going to allow them to service not only the north county, but the whole region," he said.

Meanwhile, the state is contributing $2 billion to the infrastructure at BWI, Badger said.

'The airport area has been a great office market ... even with the slowdown in the real estate industry, there is still not a whole lot of big blocks of space available there," he said. "All kinds of companies have migrated to that area."

And as airlines continue to grow in service, more companies are likely to open offices near the airport, Wit said.

Quarterfield gives MIE roughly 2.5 million square feet in the BWI submarket, placing it second to Corporate Office Properties Trust in assets there.

"Every time an airline offers new service to another city, companies that are headquartered [in the destination city] will want to open a new office [here] ... [so] their employees can be back home by the afternoon," Wit said.

Maryland Route 100 has also been key to companies looking to locate around BWI. The road, which stretches from Columbia in Howard County to East Anne Arundel County, provides access to I-95 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway (Route 295).

"People from a wide area can get here in 30 minutes," Wit said.