Catonsville-based MIE Properties pressing ahead with Bowie office

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Feb 7, 2005 by Sofia Kosmetatos

About a year ahead of schedule, MIE Properties is developing a four-story, Class A office building in Bowie that it said will be the focal point of a 466-acre mixed-use community.

The Catonsville-based company announced plans for the $22 million project, which will be built without a signed lead tenant, last week. The building would be situated on the highest ground and will be the tallest building at the Maryland Science and Technology Center, located at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 and MD Route 3/301 in Prince George's County.

MIE pushed the development of the building ahead of schedule at the request of county and city officials, said MIE Vice President Gerard Jerry Wit.

The county believes there is a continuing market for multi-story office [buildings], said Kwasi G. Holman, president and chief executive officer of the Prince George's County Economic Development Corp. In monthly meetings, brokers continue to request this type of space, he said.

Maybe left to our own devices we would not have brought the office building to the county so soon, Wit said.

Currently, the park contains more than 200,000 square feet of space in seven flex buildings and one single-story office building.

But the market indicates a healthy demand for office space, Wit said.

According to year-end data from Delta Associates, a commercial real estate research firm, the Bowie submarket is strong relative to the rest of the county. Overall vacancy was at 8.3 percent in the Bowie submarket as compared to 10.6 percent countywide.

While MIE is proceeding on spec, Wit is not concerned. That's all we do, he said.

He is in discussion with a bank for space on the ground floor.

The one building will be just a small portion of the 1 million square feet that MIE builds this year.

Over the past couple of years, MIE has leased about 100,000 square feet per year at the park, which is nothing to sneeze at, Wit said.

The building will feature a two-story atrium and 37,500-square- foot floor plates. MIE Chief Executive Officer and President Edward A. St. John said in a statement more users are demanding the generous layouts. There will be 600 parking spots in a lot adjacent to the building.

Rents will be around $28 per square foot, said Wit, comparable to Class A space in Baltimore.