WASHINGTON, DC—Madison Marquette has appointed Peter Cole to be Managing Director, Head of Development, Eastern Region. He'll be based out of the local office, which is a good thing as one of his chief tasks will be to oversee Madison Marquette's stake in The Wharf.

But Cole has also been tasked with something far bigger -- which is saying something given the immense size of The Wharf. He'll be restarting a number of the company's development projects that it put on hold during the recession, Amer Hammour, chairman of Madison Marquette tells GlobeSt.com. These include 1 Light St. in Baltimore, Asbury Park in Asbury, NJ, and Richwood Village in Harrison Township, NJ.

"On the East Coast especially we had several projects that we started in the 2000s and because of the recession went dormant or stalled or we decided not to push forward," Hammour said.

"A lot of these projects were already entitled and some had pre-leasing in place. We decided that some of these projects, which are in different stages, are now a go."

Madison Marquette didn't dismantle its development talent bench -- it still has project managers and construction managers on staff. But as these other projects ramp up the company will probably be adding to its headcount in these areas, Hammour said.

In Baltimore, the company owns through an affiliate the site at 1 Light Street. Proposals for an apartment tower have been made and the beginning of the year a proposal was put to the city's zoning board for an office tower. Other proposals have been for apartment projects.

There is clearly a lot of interest in what will happen with the site, Hammour said. "After we announced Peter's position we got maybe a hundred calls asking if this meant we were moving forward with 1 Light Street."

The company is, he said -- but it is not ready to announce specific plans. It's entitled for tower is all he will say, and designs are being drawn up. In Asbury Park, NJ, the company is prepping to move forward with phase 2 of 400,000-square foot mixed-use developed called Asbury Park, Hammour said. "Now's the right time to begin development again there."

The company will be moving forward with other projects in New Jersey as well: Richwood Village in Harrison Township, and Montgomery Promenade in Montgomery Township. Richwood Village is a one-million-square foot mixed use project that will have a new town hall, regional medical center, 600 student elementary school and retail, dining and entertainment uses. The project is close to the Rowan University West Campus Expansion.

The Montgomery Promenade development will be a 270,000 square foot town center style retail project.