OWINGS MILLS, MD—Spec office development remains rare, especially outside of core city areas. The exception seems to be transit-oriented projects, as is the case in this Baltimore suburb.

Construction has begun on a four-story, 200,000-square foot mixed-use office and retail building within Metro Centre, a 1.2 million square foot project within the Owings Mills Town Center being developed by David S. Brown Enterprises.

Howard Brown, chairman of David S. Brown Enterprises, says that it is the company's practice "to maintain available inventory on-hand to immediately respond to opportunities."

Increasingly, he continued, "Businesses are making real estate decisions based on the availability of public transportation amenities." Metro Centre has a heavy rail component and offers connections throughout the region, he said.

Metro Centre at Owings Mills currently consists of two five-story retail and residential buildings, totaling 56,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 232 apartments on the upper four floors. It also includes the 120,000 square foot County Campus building, home to the largest branch of the Baltimore County Public Library and a new satellite location of the Community College of Baltimore.

Earlier this year, David S. Brown completed a road connecting Metro Centre to the Owings Mills Town Center and to the northwest Baltimore County community.