MD's MIE Properties: Route 43 buildings should be ready by January

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Mar 22, 2005 by James Mosher

Catonsville-based developer MIE Properties Inc. is working on a deal that would enable it to have four buildings ready for occupancy when the much-anticipated Route 43 extension fully opens in January.

MIE is in talks with the road's builder, Worcester, Pa.-based American Infrastructure Inc., about getting access to begin construction on its buildings in July, said Gerard J. Wit, MIE's vice president of marketing.

American Infrastructure would like to use dirt from the property MIE will be building on to help complete the extension. If a deal is struck, MIE would break ground in July. The first section of Route 43 is scheduled for completion in November, Wit said.

The agreement would give MIE a jump at the prized future home of the Baltimore Crossroads@95 office and industrial park.

Dubbed The Road to Opportunity by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. following a visit earlier this month, the Route 43 extension is 3.8 miles long and will connect White Marsh to the Middle River Business District, the MARC Station and Martin State Airport. Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., after touring the site with the governor, called it one of the hottest properties in the country.

MIE's arrangement with American Infrastructure is due to be finalized within the next month, Wit said. The four buildings would contain a total of 150,000 square feet of research-and-development/ flex/office space. Each would stand one story with offices in front and docks in the rear. MIE is targeting service and technology firms as tenants, Wit said.

American Infrastructure didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

The early building would not immediately increase MIE's earnings, Wit said. It would be more of a psychological impact, he said. People would be driving through the first day the road is fully open and say 'Look, there's already business happening.'

The Route 43 project is MIE's largest ever and will cost the company $125 million, Wit said. It will give MIE a foothold in eastern Baltimore County as it vies with Nottingham Properties Inc., a Towson-based development company. MIE has 40 developments statewide.

We had nothing on the east side, Wit said. When we looked at that area we said we want to go in but we want an 'A' site. The [Route 43] property is definitely an 'A' site.

Crossroads@95 is to be built on a 1,000-acre parcel known as the A.V. Williams property. It will have capacity of about 5.5 million square feet, made up of R&D/flex/office, manufacturing/industrial and some retail space.

MIE was named exclusive developer of the 2.2 million-square-foot R&D/flex/office portion by Bethesda-based Somerset Construction Co., master developer of the site. First Industrial Properties Trust Inc., based in Hanover, Pa., is the manufacturing/industrial developer. First Industrial is a unit of Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust Inc., the nation's largest industrial real estate company.

A.V. Williams purchased the land beginning in the 1930s. The trust bearing his name picked Somerset Construction to be master developer. The development will bring in up to 15,500 new jobs and up to $460 million in private investment. It is expected to produce about $5.3 million a year in property tax revenue and $3.4 million from income taxes.

The $68 million road project, paid for mostly by the state Department of Transportation, will ultimately be a four-lane highway from Pulaski Highway (U.S. 40) in White Marsh to Eastern Boulevard in Middle River. Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan toured the site with Ehrlich and Smith March 7 and was pleased, spokesman Jack Cahalan said.

It's on schedule, on budget and it's proceeding well, he said.

American Infrastructure was given an incentive by Somerset Construction to get part of Route 43 open in November, MIE's Wit said. An American Infrastructure representative wasn't available to comment.

We're pretty confident they'll meet the goal, Wit said.