The Maryland Department of the Environment just signed a 10-yearlease for 262,300 sf at the Montgomery Park Business Center lastweek. The department headquarters and 900 employees will relocatefrom Point Breeze Business Center in southeast Baltimore inNovember 2001.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recentlyawarded $9 million to the City of Baltimore to renovate theart-deco warehouse at 1000 S. Monroe St. into the plannedMontgomery Park Business Center. It is the largest singlebrownfields assistance project that HUD has undertaken.

The entire project is designed to turn the eight-story,1.25-million-sf structure first built in 1925 into an office andhigh-tech complex for about 5,000 workers. It is expected to cost$75 million over 10 years. Part of the city's West Side EmpowermentZone, city officials hope to create 1,400 new jobs for localresidents and stimulate additional investment worth millions ofdollars, said Richard Escalante, an economic development officerworking on the project for the city. The project is owned andoverseen by Baltimore developer Himmelrich Associates Inc.