BALTIMORE, MD-St. John Properties is moving forward with the development of ten multi-story and single-story office, R&D/flex and retail buildings in six business communities in this state. The building will be underway by mid-September. Totaling more than 250,000 square feet, the buildings will be located in such submarkets as Reisterstown in Baltimore County to Annapolis in Anne Arundel County.

The most ambitious element to St. John Properties' plans is that the buildings are being developed on spec.

"Our research indicates sustained pent-up demand for strategically-positioned office and retail space throughout the Central Maryland and Northern Virginia marketplaces, and we are aggressively reacting to this trend with a combined half-million square feet of new product this year," Jerry Wit, SVP for St. John Properties, says in a prepared statement.

Macroeconomic indicators that company likes, he says, include the "sustained velocity" of new residential housing starts, which is promising for the retail sector, the expanding healthcare industry and cyber-security initiatives in and around federal government facilities.

The projects will include:

• In the Reisterstown/Owings Mills section of Baltimore County, St. John Properties will develop two flex office buildings on Easter Court, in addition to a 12,675 square foot retail building and a 14,280 square foot one-story office building in Reisterstown Crossing.

• A 8,125 square foot retail building at 4001 North Point Boulevard in the Dundalk section of Baltimore County.

• Near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, St. John Properties plans to build a 24,190 square foot office building at Rt. 100 Technology Center, as well as a 13,325 square foot retail building at BWI Technology Park II on West Nursery Road at MD Route 295.

• Three new single-story and two-story office buildings, totaling nearly 100,000 square feet of space, at Annapolis Commons, a new business community that is situated on Harry S Truman Parkway near Riva Road.