Developer MIE Properties to move headquarters within Baltimore County

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Aug 2, 2004 by Chet Dembeck

After 16 years of being headquartered in Catonsville, the commercial real estate company MIE Properties Inc. is moving. But not far.

MIE will start construction on a 71,315-square-foot, two-story building in nearby Woodlawn within a matter of weeks, said Gerard Wit, MIE's vice president of marketing. MIE expects to complete its new headquarters and move its 108 employees within 12 months.

MIE will occupy about 45,800 square feet of the new facility, which will be a neighbor to the soon-to-be opened FBI Maryland Field Office in the Windsor Corporate Park, and lease the remaining 25,500 square feet. The company's current space is 16,000 square feet.

Because of our steady growth, our present location is bursting at the seams, Wit said.

Several companies have already expressed interest in leasing MIE's Catonsville office once it is vacant, Wit said, declining to disclose their identities.

The fact that MIE has decided to expand and remain in Baltimore County is significant, he said. We're committed to making the county our home.

MIE's new location is ideal because of its proximity to the Baltimore Beltway and Interstate 95, said Fronda Cohen, a spokeswoman for the county's Department of Economic Development. It's no more than 40 minutes from Capitol Hill.

Cohen attributes MIE's growth to the fact that biotech and high- tech firms, as well as light manufacturers, need affordable space that can be constructed and expanded in a timely fashion. MIE owns and manages such commercial spaces.

MIE's model offers diversity and flexibility to these companies, she said.

Having MIE headquartered in the county is a strong selling point for the agency when it tries to attract companies to the county, Cohen said. These are the kinds of businesses that are the foundations of the business community.

MIE's flex products, In addition to being embraced by manufacturers and biotech companies, are also gaining popularity among smaller retailers.

Earlier this year, MIE completed and leased an 8,125-square-foot retail center built specifically to serve the tenants of its 82-acre Windsor Corporate Park.

The first questions tenants ask when they consider leasing is, where do they park and where do they eat? Wit said.

The center offers food, drinks and sweets from such well-known franchises as Subway and Baskin & Robbins/Dunkin' Donuts. Its tenants are local businesses such as Alexander's Barbershop & Salon, Dogwood Liquors and Betty Brite Cleaners. Aside from making the industrial park more attractive to prospective leasers, such retail centers generate substantial revenue for MIE, while providing a captive customer base for the participating retailers.

These businesses are serving more than 1,000 employees from the park's major tenants, which include the Social Security Administration, General Services Administration, Pitney Bowes and Omnisource.

MIE began developing the Windsor business park in 1998. It now includes nine buildings that are 95 percent leased.

But more eateries and other services will be needed as occupancy rates increase and the FBI opens its new, four-story, 165,000-square- foot field office by early 2005.