News

  • Reimaging Baltimore

    Reimaging Baltimore

    Adaptive reuse brings new vision, new life to struggling areas For one happy, furry, carb-filled day last August, the building that has driven and symbolized the economy of Canton for more than a century went to the dogs. An industrial engine for nearly a century, the adapted, mixed-use Can…

  • CRE Concepts: Mini-warehouses show big potential

    CRE Concepts: Mini-warehouses show big potential

    The tall, white interior walls are interrupted by splashes of colorful, graffiti-inspired painting. There are offices, a conference room, loading docks, industrial storage, workspaces with skylights, coffee service in the kitchen and a cluster of entrepreneurs hustling to grow their small businesses. This is not your typical warehouse. In the…

  • State Circle: Opportunity zones spurring investor interest in Baltimore projects

    State Circle: Opportunity zones spurring investor interest in Baltimore projects

    This article appeared in the March/April 2020 issue of NAIOP-MD InSites Newsletter Buoyed by new clarity around federal tax laws and a stream of calls from investment funds, economic development professionals are anticipating new infusions of capital into real estate projects around Greater Baltimore. Federal officials finally approved regulations for…

  • Industry Roundtable: Office, industrial and retail leasing professionals

    Industry Roundtable: Office, industrial and retail leasing professionals

    Bill Holzman (left), Vice President, Retail Leasing, St. John Properties; Kate Jordan (middle), Principal, Lee & Associates | Chesapeake Region; and Michael Tait (right), Leasing Manager, The Howard Hughes Corporation, gathered in Downtown Columbia to discuss leasing pace in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. marketplace, drivers expected to impact absorption in 2020…

  • CRE owners wrestle with opportunities and complexities of rooftop solar

    CRE owners wrestle with opportunities and complexities of rooftop solar

    On the rooftops of three St. John Properties’ buildings, a sustainability initiative has been playing out for a decade. While investigating what sustainability practices made sense for its properties, St. John installed a 125-kilowatt solar array atop three, full-service, Class A office buildings in 2010. The systems which consist of…

  • Stemming the tide: Robust processes needed to manage flood risk

    Stemming the tide: Robust processes needed to manage flood risk

    Before the end of 2020, parts of Baltimore’s waterfront could set a record by experiencing “sunny day flooding” at least 30 times within a year, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict. In Annapolis, City Dock has already exceeded that frequency of sunny day floods. Consequently, the city…

  • Market deterioration from COVID-19 drives global demand for stimulus packages

    Market deterioration from COVID-19 drives global demand for stimulus packages

    Spencer Levy, Chairman of Americas Research for CBRE, says “it is always darkest before the dawn” and explains that the recent market deterioration as a result from COVID-19 has caused an “unprecedented and unified global response from the United States Government and the governments of foreign countries to provide a…

  • State ramps up COVID-19 information and services for businesses

    State ramps up COVID-19 information and services for businesses

    March 19, 2020 – Secretaries Kelly Schulz (Commerce) and Tiffany Robinson (Labor) hosted a March 16, 2020 conference call to brief business leaders on state actions relating to COVID-19 and how businesses can cope with the outbreak and the state of emergency.  The two agencies are posting on-going updates…

  • Bill that would have applied sales tax to services dies in committee

    Bill that would have applied sales tax to services dies in committee

    March 5, 2020 — A bill before Maryland’s General Assembly which would have expanded state sales tax to cover services, was unanimously rejected by a House subcommittee late Wednesday night. Earlier in the week, NAIOP Maryland testified to the House Ways and Means Committee that House Bill 1628  could…

  • If you ask me…

    If you ask me…

    Perspectives from NAIOP-MD Members Harborplace, the symbol of Baltimore City’s renaissance, needs help. What is your vision? Brendan HarmanVice PresidentMacKenzie Capital, LLC “Harborplace partly made its name due to its free entertainment on the promenade, and a return to this concept would increase activity and drive…