Hot housing market just part of Harford County's growth; Aberdeen,

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Aug 16, 2005 by Jen DeGregorio

With homes selling for as much as $700,000, Havre De Grace's latest housing development near the Bulle Rock Golf Course is the latest sign that Harford County is changing from a rural bedroom community to a destination for businesses and high-income residents.

About 90 families have moved into the Residences at Bulle Rock, a 2,000-unit mixed-use development by Clark Turner Cos., H&S Properties and Manekin LLC, and 293 units have already been sold. Although the entire development will not be completed until 2011, developers are selling about one house per day.

We're selling at over $100,000 more [per unit] than we projected, said Clark Turner of Clark Turner Cos.

Condominiums in The Residences are selling for about $300,000; townhouses are selling for between $300,000 and $400,000; and single- family homes are selling for between $400,000 and $700,000.

Those numbers are higher than the average price for a home in the county, which stands at about $287,000, according to July statistics from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. Up 19 percent since July of last year, Harford County home prices will likely continue to rise if The Residences at Bulle Rock are any sign.

Developers have been feeding the anticipated demand for housing expected to come when 2,176 military jobs move to Aberdeen Proving Ground as a result of recommendations from the military Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

More than 4,200 residential units are expected to come on line in Harford in the next three to five years, including The Residences at Bulle Rock, said Thomas L. Fidler, senior vice president and principal of MacKenzie Commercial Services.

That residential growth - which is predicted to bring Harford's population to about 268,000 by 2015, up from 233,000 last year - has also boosted retail and commercial growth in the county.

This is the first time where you actually get a phone call back from prospective tenants when you mention Havre de Grace, Fidler said.

Where commercial leases in Harford brought about $15 per square foot last year, renters are now paying about $20 per square foot, Fidler said.

All of a sudden we are on the radar screen for a lot of national retailers that never would have given Harford a second look, he said.

While the BRAC recommendations have certainly helped, Fidler attributes the interest to residential growth, which has in large part been spawned by post-Sept. 11 military spending. The increased military spending benefited jobs and contractors that feed off the Aberdeen Proving Ground and Edgewood Arsenal, even before the BRAC recommendations came into play.

BRAC is the icing on the cake, Fidler said. But Havre de Grace has put itself on the market by encouraging military-related and high-tech business development.

Rather than allow its work force to commute to Montgomery, Anne Arundel or other counties that have also been reaping the benefits of increased military spending, the county put a premium on keeping its workers within the county.

About 48 percent of Harford workers commute to jobs outside the county, according to recent Census Bureau data.

But new office parks, such as the Water's Edge Corporate Campus in Belcamp, which is expected to create as many as 2,000 jobs in the county, are helping the county reach its goal.

Before [Harford was] seen more of an area for warehouse and flex space, said Turner, whose company developed Water's Edge.

Now we're getting a lot of consultants coming in, companies are locating here. People are realizing that a great deal of their work force lives in Harford County and it's a great place to locate.