CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is moving its downtown offices to Canton, but the terms of the lease and any economic incentives paid by the city to the health insurer are unknown.
More than 350 workers for CareFirst will pack their bags and move from 100 S. Charles St. to the 1st Mariner Tower by fall 2007. Construction on the 17-story building will be completed this summer.
CareFirst will occupy three floors and lease 90,000 square feet of the building, which is located at 1501 S. Clinton St.
Whether the move is saving the nonprofit money is unknown. The specific terms and length of the lease were not disclosed.
“We?re not ready to talk about that right now,” William Jews, president and CEO of CareFirst, told The Examiner before a public announcement of the move.
The city actively wooed CareFirst to stay in Baltimore and gave the company some incentives, said Jay Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp.
“There were modest economic incentives,” Brodie told The Examiner, but he declined to give specifics.
Edwin F. Hale, president of Hale Properties LLC and chairman and CEO of 1st Mariner, said he received “not a penny” from the city for the tower project. So far, 85 percent of the tower has been leased. Tenants include CareFirst, Thomson Prometric, and About Faces Day Spa and Salon.
During the presentation at the site, Jews said he decided to move employees of the CareFirst downtown office to the new location for several reasons.
“We selected Canton Tower at Canton Crossing because of its convenient access to I-95 and downtown,” he said.
Jews added that state-of-the-art security, parking and amenities for the insurer?s workers were also instrumental in the decision.
Mayor Martin O?Malley, who also spoke at the presentation, praised the move. “It was important to keep CareFirst in Baltimore,” he said.
In addition to the office tower, Hale Properties plans to build 500 condos in Canton and a second office building. The company will also build two waterfront hotels and a power distribution center with retail shops and restaurants. “They couldn?t be happier in Ed Hale City,” Mayor Martin O?Malley quipped before the announcement.
The CareFirst file
» Operating for 71 years
» Insures 3.4 million individuals and groups in Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Delaware
