After sitting mostly empty for a decade, the largest Carroll County development project in years appears close to landing a developer.
Warfield Development Corp., which oversees the 560,000-square-foot Sykesville complex, has tentatively agreed to terms with a developer, said Brad Rees, head of the Warfield board.
Rees said he would not name the developer because the deal is not final.
“The basic terms have been discussed and agreed on,” Rees said. “We?re just trying to get them down on paper.”
The town inherited the complex, a former state psychiatric hospital, in 1995, and the property has been appraised at about $11 million.
Only two companies lease space at Warfield: Carroll Dance Studio and the national headquarters for Nexion Corp., a nursing home management company, have been there for about a year.
Rees expected more businesses to start filling the complex within two years.
“We still have a long way to go, but it certainly is the next big step in getting this thing going,” Rees said. “It?s pretty exciting.”
The town has continued to work toward adding a park and tunnel beneath Route 32 to connect the town to the complex.
Sykesville and Carroll County have disagreed for months over how to develop Warfield. The town has favored a piecemeal approach, and the county has pressed to hire a master developer.
Warfield?s board comprises nine members appointed by the Sykesville Town Council, although it is separate from the town.
The board was negotiating with Manekin LLC until the developer backed out of discussions earlier this year. Manekin said it wasn?t getting enough money from the board to develop the complex?s infrastructure.
Rees has said that Manekin remained interested.
