St. Johns Properties Inc., a Baltimore-based developer of flex, office, warehouse and retail space, has completed the expansion of Lisbon Center, a retail shopping center located at the intersection of Interstate 70 and MD Route 94 in Howard County.
As part of the $800,000 expansion, the company has added more than 8,000 square feet of space to the project, bringing the size of the total center to more than 54,000 square feet of space.
The tenants who will occupy the new space are Woodbine Wine & Spirits, Subway and Dunkin Donuts. Pizza Hut, McDonald?s, AT&T Wireless and Sandy Spring National Bank of Maryland currently occupy an older section of the center, which will undergo a $2 million architectural makeover in the coming months.
“We?ve been there for 15 years. This is just an updating and expansion of the center,” said Jerry Wit, the company?s senior vice president of marketing and leasing. “It?s really gone from a rural crossroads center, and now it?s growing as the population around it has grown.”
Wit added that previously the center?s major tenant was a 14,000-square-foot foodretailer, and that because of its small size and limited selection, shoppers were doing their major grocery shopping in nearby Mt. Airy. He said it was this fact that ultimately led to the first phase of the expansion project in 2005.
That part of the expansion, which cost about $4.3 million, added a 35,000-square-foot Food Lion that was completed in April 2005.
“Once Food Lion, came, Subway wanted to be there and other tenants expressed interest,” Wit said. “With Food Lion there is much more traffic. The Food Lion is reinvigorating the center.”
Winfield Kelly, owner of Woodbine Wine & Spirits, said the center?s expansion was needed as more residents have moved to the once-rural area in recent years.
“The additions they?re putting in now will hopefully bring more life to the area,” he said. “The expansion is another reason for people to come here; it?s more convenient for them and they?ll have more to choose from.”
Wit said that while no definite plans have been slated, the center could undergo further expansion totaling between 8,000 and 10,000 square feet as there is still additional company-owned land to be developed surrounding the center.
On St. John Properties
» Founded in 1971 as MIE Properties
» Owns and has developed more than 12 million square feet of flex, warehouse, office and retail space in Maryland, Colorado, Louisiana, Virginia and Wisconsin.
» As of year-end 2005, its portfolio was 97 percent leased.
» The company?s total real estate investments are valued at more than $1.1 billion.
