After 30 years, the Maryland Port Administration is getting out of the commercial real estate management business. The administration will put management of the World Trade Center in the Inner Harbor out to bid to a private commercial property management firm, according to port spokesman Richard Scher.
“When we got direction to market the building … we felt having a professional real estate firm assist us with the leasing and marketing of the building is the right way to go,” Scher said.
The 32-story, 330,000-square-foot office, designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei, is owned by the port authority, which in February announced it would drop plans to sell it. The MPA has managed the building since its completion in 1977.
Since February, Scher said the building has lost three tenants, re-signed two and gained four new ones, including the state Department of Business and Economic Development, which plans to move in next October.
Scher said specifics of the bid and a timeline for its release had not been finalized.
The building was closed for a month in 2003 after Hurricane Isabel flooded its lower levels, and the state?s previous administration had circulated plans to sell the building.
“That obviously created some hesitation on the behalf of some tenants, many tenants perhaps, to re-sign,” Scher said.
That applied to prospective tenants as well, according to Bill Miller, senior vice president with commercial real estate firm NAI KLNB. Miller said he had shown the property several years ago.
“To show it was difficult, and they couldn?t really answer questions if you said you wanted a five-year lease,” he said. “It obviously needs a hands-on approach.”
A lack of on-site parking is a problem with the building, but its location and visibility as a Baltimore landmark could overcome that flaw for prospective tenants, said Bradd Caplan, project manager for H & H Rock Properties.
Companies bidding on the management contract would submit detailed plans and strategies for the building, Caplan said.
Scher said the future of the building does not rest on the bid process ? if a suitor isn?t found, the port administration would retool its request and try again.
“We feel pretty strong that this is the way to go,” Scher said.
