Strong Demand Fuels Spec Construction at Baltimore Crossroads

BALTIMORE—Strong office space demand in Baltimore County has prompted development firm St. John Properties, Inc. to commence construction on three additional speculative office buildings at the Baltimore Crossroads in White Marsh.

The decision to break ground on the three properties that total approximately 90,000 square feet of office space came after St. John's secured lease deals totaling more than 100,000 square feet of commercial and R&D space at the master-planned community on Route 43 in the fourth quarter of 2014.

“Continued leasing momentum at Baltimore Crossroads provides us with tremendous confidence to pro-actively increase the product inventory at this business community,” says Richard Williamson, senior vice president of leasing for St. John Properties. “The White Marsh and eastern Baltimore County marketplace is attracting strong interest from numerous audiences, as evidenced by the pending arrival of a new, major retail outlet center, the construction and leasing of several large distribution buildings, the continued increase in residential units and the highway improvements underway along Interstate 95.”

St. John Properties has constructed 17 buildings totaling more than 500,000 square feet of commercial office, R&D/flex office and retail space at the business community near I-95 since 2008.

The new speculative buildings St. John Properties is constructing are: 11560 Crossroads Circle, a 23,630-square-foot single-story office building; 11570 Crossroads Circle, a 25,600-square-foot single-story office building and 11675 Crossroads Circle, a 40,080-square-foot R&D/flex office building. All three will be constructed to achieve LEED-Gold certification, company officials say.

St. John Properties and Somerset Construction, in conjunction with Elm Street Development Co., have carved out a 200-acre section of the business community to create “Greenleigh at Crossroads,” a “new urbanism” styled development that will feature approximately 1,500 new residential units, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and apartments; a multi-story office component totaling 500,000 square feet of space and 100,000 square feet of retail space. The first phase of that section is expected to break ground in early 2016.